“What We do in life Echoes in Eternity” - Maximus Decimus Meridius, Gladiator (2000).
What the 2016-17 Saint Ignatius hockey team accomplished this season will truly echo in eternity. The Wildcats became the first team in school history to bring home back-to-back state hockey championships.
The Wildcats’ crusade for a gold trophy began on Saturday afternoon with a State Semifinal matchup against the University School Preppers, a team with whom they split the season series one to one.
Just a shade under two minutes into the game, freshman Michael Boehm kicked off the contest with a beautiful goal over the outstretched blocker of the Preppers’ senior goaltender Jackson Polish. Boehm, whose early first period goal was assisted by Bain Kurtz and Matt Wiegandt, has been an instrumental part of the second line’s success since his January call-up, who has added onto the two-headed monster of Bain Kurtz and Michael McCaffrey.
The first period continued evenly for the next five minutes until US defensemen George Brinn found Tommy Nook, who released a tough shot which was saved by Savarino. However, Preppers’ stalwart JD Clemens found the rebound and knocked it over the red line to even the score at one apiece. Roughly four minutes later, Rory Kelly found defensemen Reid Anderson, who unleashed a shot from the point that found twine over Savarino’s shoulder through a screen in front. The remaining five minutes couldn’t find a Wildcat goal, so both teams retired to their Nationwide Arena locker rooms with the score US 2-Saint Ignatius 1.
Both Benny Savarino and Jackson Polish proved themselves to be top-tier goalies in the second period, seemingly participating in a “whatever you can do, I can do better” contest that saw the opposing goalies make 17 second period saves combined throughout 14:59 seconds of play. That is, until George Brinn of University School found the top shelf of the net where Grandma hides the cookies with one second left in the stanza. University School held a 3-1 lead with 67% of the game completed, just 15 minutes away from returning to their second consecutive State Championship game.
Of course, that would be if your Wildcats had nothing to say about it.
Just 2:30 into what at the time looked like it could be their final period of the season, Benji Rechin found Andrew Zedella off a crisp pass, which Zedella sent to streaking forward Chris Revnew. Revnew uncorked his signature hard wrist shot from just inside the blue line and his shot left Polish dazed and confused, seemingly in shock that Revnew’s shot found twine, but that is exactly what it did.
Revnew had brought the Wildcats within one, and the Boys of Winter had 12 minutes to do what they did all season – come back from a deficit. Ten full minutes later, after multiple excellent chances by star players such as Cullen Frebes and Bain Kurtz, the two Mc’s, McCaffrey and McGowan, got the puck up ice to senior defenseman Andrew Zedella, who placed a shot over the blocker shoulder of Polish and sent the Wildcats fans into an uproar and the game into overtime.
For the next 61 minutes and 11 seconds of the Wildcats’ season, sophomore Benny Savarino was stellar in the net. Savarino would face 40 shots from this point on, and only one of these shots beat him. And it wasn’t on Saturday night.
Savarino shut down shots from stars JD Clemens, Tommy Nook, and Ethan Whetstone for the remaining three overtimes, and gave his team a boost of confidence, and after many ever-so-close opportunities to end the game by both teams, 11 seconds into the third overtime, Mike McCaffrey skated behind Polish’s net, and passed it in front of the net to teammate Bain Kurtz.
Kurtz proceeded to catch that pass off his stick and put it home to send the WIldcats back to the championship game. Kurtz star-dusted all the way over to the ‘Cats’ student section.
On Sunday, the WIldcats had to face Ohio’s No. 1 ranked team, Toledo St. Francis de Sales, for all the gold in the world that mattered to the 40 men who laced their skates up that day. The Knights of St. Francis were favored in this contest after they routed Olentangy Liberty in the earlier semifinal, 8-2.
Seth Whitney had a different opinion on who the No. 1 team in the state was. Before you could say “State Championship game,” Seth Whitney scored the opening goal of the contest off a weird bounce off the boards. Whitney ends his Nationwide Arena career with three goals against the Knights.
Not to take away the light from the other 19 men who dressed, but the State Final was the Benny Savarino Show. Savarino stopped 30 shots from the Knights’ high-powered attack, and with the help of everyone, even forwards such as Benji Rechin who blocked two shots, the WIldcats held the Knights to only one goal.
Senior Connor Koehnke added two goals and an assist to end his career with 75 goals and 75 assists. Connor McGowan and Michael Boehm added goals of their own to clinch the championship.
The Saint Ignatius Wildcats’ Hockey Team are the defending OHSAA Back to Back Champions of Ice Hockey.
Here is a quick breakdown and congratulations to every man who made this Wildcats team special this year.
COACHES:
Congratulations to Coach Pat O’Rourke and the rest of the coaching staff featuring Brian Schoenholz, Brian Holtz, Joe Geither, Paul Chase, and Robert Gramc on their fifth program state championship. Each one of these men dedicated countless hours since last March to perfect their rosters and lines to complete the ultimate goal of winning another state championship to bring to the school and team all of them have loved since they walked the halls of Saint Ignatius or entered the program.
MANAGERS:
Congratulations to all four of the managers who volunteered tons of weekends to film, fill water bottles, and make sure that the players got the best experience possible. Seniors Brian Cook and Anthony Casola helped out the team in all the odd jobs you could think of to help the program lift their second consecutive state title. Junior Matt Bagley helped out not only during games as well, but also helped execute practices daily. Freshman Pat Keane started his four year Wildcats’ hockey journey as a statistician, and videographer for the Ice Cats as well, performing all the jobs needed by the coaching staff.
PLAYERS:
The biggest congratulations imaginable to the men who donned the Blue and Gold in quest for the 5th program state championship. They will be broken down into category by class:
SENIORS:
This senior class is the first hockey class in school history to win three state championships. This is a class that is now the winningest class in history.
Grayson Gerard and Andrew Zedella are one of the best D-pairs the school has ever seen, complementing each other’s playing styles so well. Gerard is one of the most physical players to ever put on a Wildcats’ jersey, and Zedella is one of the top offensive defensemen in the past few years and conjures up memories of Sam Nader. Zedella’s game-tying goal in the State Semifinal showcased his impressive ability. Matt Wiegandt is a four year letter who has my vote for the Wirtz Athlete of the Year. He has been a staple of the WIldcat defense since his 2014 call up.
Benji Rechin is a top-tier two-way forward, which is showcased by his goal-scoring ability as well as his blocked shots on the penalty kill in the last three games of the year. Seth Whitney is a top example of wearing the “C” without stitched lettering, and had a huge influence on the younger players in the locker room, as well as clutch incarnate. Whitney has scored some of the biggest goals for the Wildcats in the last 13 months.
Danny Corrigan was a nice late season callup with play-making ability, and a top-tier work ethic. Danny acted and carried himself as a great example for younger players. JK Von Keyserling, despite his injury, was a great example of how to act on and off the ice, and always did exactly what the coaches told him to do, and will be missed. Chris Revnew may be one of the smartest kids this writer has ever met. Revnew also had one of the hardest shots I’ve ever seen, and he used it to beat Polish in the second biggest game of the year.
Cullen Frebes is another example of a great two-way forward, as well as a great leader for all the younger kids in the locker room. Steven Neff was another great locker room leader, as well as one of the hardest worker and hardest hitters on the team, always bringing 100% effort to every practice and game. Connor Koehnke is not only a class act to the highest extent of the phrase, but also one of the most gifted players to ever play for the WIldcats, and a very accurate shooter.
UNDERCLASSMEN:
The remaining 14 men are all hungry to make it three consecutive state championships, but still they need to be done justice.
Billy Baumann is quick and energetic on the ice and was a top role player for the Cats this year, and picked up a major assist on Boehm’s State Final goal. John Coughlin has tons of potential as a defenseman and has one of the top poke checks in the state. Michael Boehm is a young forward to look out for in the future, already putting up big numbers since his January callup, and will be a great leader. Greg Langermeier will be a defensive stalwart of the WIldcats for the next three years and along with his hard-hitting and hard slap shot, will be a great locker room leader.
Eric Lile has shown his God-given talent, as a playmaker and goal scorer, and with more ice available to him next year, Lile will become a top scorer for his final two campaigns. Michael McCaffrey and Bain Kurtz will be the team leaders next year both on and off the ice and have already shown their ability in both categories and will lead the young ‘Cats team next year to the Promised Land. Their line, along with Boehm, has the capability of putting up video game numbers. Two-way forward and goalscorer Connor McGowan is looking to continue his success next year for the WIldcats, and help lead the other top scoring line. Santino Pignatiello will be thrown into a top defensive spot which he is very capable of filling, as shown by his play in the final three games of the season.
Aedan Conway and Andrew Denk both play hybrid roles which they can be thrown into at any time, and will be “jack-of-all-trade” type players next year for the Wildcats. Ryan Von Keyserling and Nick Bernstein will both be given the task of shutting down opposing offensive attacks on days Benny Savarino isn’t in net, and both are capable of completing the task.
Benny Savarino will captain the ship for the second consecutive year in between the pipes for the boys in Blue and Gold and is put in the unique position of the opportunity to be the first player in team history to be able to win four rings if he can finish off his junior and senior years. Savarino is a young star and is more than capable of doing what is needed for the Wildcats to bring home number 6 next year.
To conclude, a final congratulations to everyone who was involved this year, and for a final time until next hockey season, this is Jack O’Rourke, signing off.