Local Teams Face Unprecedented Season End with Positive Outlook
Mar 27, 2020Gilmour Academy and St. Ignatius were set to drop the puck in the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s State Semifinal on Saturday, March 14, but instead the teams faced an unexpected ending to their season. Two days before the tournament was set to take place, OHSAA followed the lead of many other sports organizations postponing, and eventually canceling, the 2020 State Ice Hockey Tournament due to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite the season’s abrupt conclusion, Gilmour and St. Ignatius traveled memorable roads to the State Semifinals that players and families can remember with pride. Both schools’ seasons featured numerous high points and challenges that brought the respective teams closer together in order to overcome obstacles on the road to success.
Gilmour Academy
According to Gilmour’s Head Coach John Malloy, a major highlight from this campaign was watching his team improve as the season progressed.
“We play a very challenging league, independent and tournament schedule,” explained Malloy. “Most of our losses were self-inflicted, taking an unnecessary penalty, not scoring on our own power play, or ill-advised turnovers. What was most gratifying was watching how the team kept working on improving in those areas and, as a result, close games turned into our wins.”
As a team with a lot of depth, Malloy was faced with the challenge of shifting lines and player’s positions in order to find a winning formula. With about 10 games remaining in the regular season, the coaching staff and players began to embrace the new combinations, including four seniors who served in critical roles for Gilmour.
“Justin Evans was a talented offensive force leading our team in scoring and points. [While] he scored some amazing goals for us, [he also contributed as] a great passer who made his linemates better. [We also had] Jake Howse [who] was out most of the first half of the season with a concussion, and we just were not as good of a team [without him]. His return provided a defensive presence that helped solidify our defensive corp,” said Malloy. “Tony Iacobell was a solid presence the entire year giving us a little of everything. He could skate the puck up from his defensive position, create offense with his shot, but he was also our top lock down defenseman. Finally, there was Bryce Hofstrom who is an extremely consistent, hard-working defensive forward. No matter who we put on his line, he would make sure that they did their job defensively.”
St. Ignatius
St. Ignatius’ Head Coach Pat O’Rourke considers his team this season an absolute pleasure to work with and one of the best teams he’s ever coached. While St. Ignatius enjoyed numerous season highlights, like sweeping the Pittsburgh Predators AAA 18U team and the A21 Academy of Windsor, along with going 4-0 at a tough Toronto Tournament, it was the team’s culture that stood out to O’Rourke.
“There were a couple of times we were down a goal or two and came back to win and the boys never got down on each other - they stayed positive and kept fighting to try to win the game,” said O’Rourke. “Other than that, it was not really a stressful year and that is due to the culture that these young men helped develop and some unbelievable work ethic.”
Helping establish the team’s culture through leadership were 21 seniors consisting of 15 skaters and six team managers. O’Rourke pointed out that while they may not have been on the ice, the team managers, Patrick Keane, Josh Maciu, Max Marazzi, Jack O'Rourke, Ethan Schum and Mac Spellacy, were very much part of the team and included as such.
“[On the ice we had] Aidan Millett, Cam Kurtz, Alex Bilardo, Matt Sullivan, Danny Cook and Rory Zawadzki as some of our top-scoring forwards. All of them were prolific this year and provided us with three lines that could score, which made us very tough to match up against,” said O’Rourke. “Greg Langermeier, Michael Boehm, Charlie Erbs and Clay Gazdak were some of our top defensemen who were capable of initiating the offense as well as being team leaders. Zak Kovatch was our starting goaltender and was having a stellar year, including two shutouts of St. Edward.”
Other seniors who added to the program were Joey Morford and Christian Radke as two-way players that killed penalties, won face-offs, blocked shots and did anything that the coaching staff asked of them. Additionally, Ryce Federle and Matt DiMarco were constantly on the ice and known to the team and character guys in the locker room as well.
Hockey Leading to Life Lessons
In addition to forging successful routes to the semifinals, both coaches shared similar outlooks when it came to turning the end of this season into a significant learning experience. Building beyond on-ice cultures, Malloy and O’Rourke used hockey to teach their players about life.
The local athletes were able to absorb lessons about ‘striving to be the best not only on the team, but also in school and society’, as well as learning to ‘take it one game at a time and control the controllable’ whether it be on or off the ice.
“[The decision to cancel] was out of our hands and there was nothing we could really do about it. Plus, it was absolutely the right decision by the Governor,” said O’Rourke. “All we could do since we were already at the rink for what was going to be our last practice of the year was to try to take a little control of the situation. We made the best of it by playing a little hockey together one last time.”
“I sent the team a message, ‘…This moment is also a reminder that there are unforeseen life changing events that emerge when we least expect them. It is in these moments where we have an opportunity to find a deeper meaning and purpose. Instead of wallowing in sadness about our misfortune, use this extra time to do some good in the world…’,” said Malloy.