Four evenly-matched high school programs to vie for the crown in games Saturday and Sunday
It’s anyone’s game this weekend as four teams will battle for the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s 48th state ice hockey championship at Nationwide Arena.
There will be a good mix of experienced teams and new blood, starting with Cleveland St. Ignatius, which hopes to defend the eighth state title in school history won last March. A veteran Toledo St. Francis returns to Columbus for the second year in a row and hopes to win its fourth crown, while Upper Arlington makes its fifth appearance at states and Mentor is headed to the capital city for the first time ever.
It’s been a battle at the top of the state rankings all season, with no clearly dominant team expected to pull away, which should make for some fun hockey at the home of the Blue Jackets.
Tournament information follows with capsules of each team below.
Saturday, March 8
11 a.m. – Semifinal Game: No. 1 Upper Arlington vs. No. 4 Mentor
2 p.m. – Semifinal Game: No. 2 Toledo St. Francis vs. No. 3 Cleveland St. Ignatius
Sunday, March 9
1 p.m. – OHSAA Championship Game
Both semifinals and the championship game will be streamed live on the NFHS Network.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students (Friday’s ticket is good for both semifinal games). To order, visit Ticketmaster.com. Tickets may also be purchased at the Nationwide Arena Box Office.
State tournament coverage, information and ticket links
Upper Arlington goaltender Mason Herndon earned first-team All-Ohio honors this year while posting a 1.87 GAA and .945 save percentage.
© COURTESY OF UPPER ARLINGTON HOCKEY
The Columbus region was as strong and deep as it’s ever been, and the Golden Bears were able upend Blue Jackets Cup winner Olentangy Liberty to capture the region and get back to the state tournament for the first time since 2022. One of Central Ohio’s top programs over the past few seasons, Upper Arlington is making its fifth appearance in the state tournament but seeks its first title.
With 12 seniors on the varsity roster, the Golden Bears are led by a pair of first-team All-Ohio players in forward Connor Hagkull and goalie Mason Herndon as well as second-team all-state defenseman Henry Thackeray. Defense is the team’s forte, as UA allowed just five goals in three state tournament wins and kept Olentangy Liberty’s high-flying offense at bay enough to earn the regional crown.
“When we’re playing our best, we’re aggressive,” head coach Craig Hagkull said. “We have a fair amount of team speed. We’re not super big, but we play physical, and then I would say our identity is we’re fast and aggressive but we play hard in all three zones. We’re not a team that’s just going to try to beat teams 6-4 or 6-5. We’re going to play hard in all three zones and be real solid defensively and then capitalize on our chances.”
State tournament results (Columbus region): 2-1 win over Lewis Center Olentangy Orange in the quarterfinal; 2-1 win (5OT) over Columbus St. Charles in the semifinal; 5-3 win over Powell Olentangy Liberty in the regional final
Top scorers: 22 Connor Hagkull (22-23-45), 16 Benjamin Spence (19-25-44), 15 Tate Rook (17-22-39), 26 Max Bloomfield (14-13-27), 12 Jason Davis (12-15-27)
Top Goalie: 35 Mason Herndon (24-6-2, 1.87 GAA, .945 save percentage)
Coach Hagkull on the matchup with Mentor: “They’re really disciplined defensively. They pack it in around their goalie and in the defensive zone and try to keep you on the perimeter, so we have to try to get to the middle. The big thing is we have to limit their chances, but we have to get pucks on net and get guys to the front for traffic. U School had a fair amount of shots blocked (by Mentor in the regional final), but the shots they got through that there were rebounds, Mentor did a really good job of limiting second chances. That’s thankfully one of our strengths is we go hard to the net and score a lot of goals in dirty areas, and we have to keep doing that.”
Toledo St. Francis forward Jaxon Duncan was named first-team All-Ohio after notching 62 goals and 107 points this season for the Knights.
© IMPULSE SPORT
Making their fifth state tournament appearance in the last six years, the 2021, 2015 and 2011 champs were the class of northwest Ohio, going undefeated against teams from their region throughout the season. St. Francis also downed St. Ignatius by a 6-5 score in overtime Jan. 3. That should portend an entertaining rematch in this semifinal, and revenge could be on the mind of the Knights, as they dropped a 6-4 final to St. Ignatius in last year’s state semifinal.
The Knights bring the tournament’s best offense to Columbus as they average nearly six goals per game this season, thanks in part to first-team All-Ohio forwards Jaxon Duncan and Drew Tucker.
“One thing I like about our team is the camaraderie,” head coach Chris Varga said. “We play like we’re a family. We stick up for each other. We play hard. The biggest thing is you’re playing against Ignatius and we have never beaten them as a program down in a final four in hockey, so that’s in the back of our mind. A lot of kids know about it. Hopefully we can go up and do our job.”
State tournament results (Bowling Green region): 10-2 win over Whitehouse Anthony Wayne in the quarterfinal; 9-1 win over Oregon Clay in the semifinal; 5-1 win over Sylvania Northview in the regional final
Top scorers: 27 Jaxon Duncan (62-45-107), 10 Drew Tucker (53-47-100), 8 Cole Porvaznik (25-52-77), 12 Jamison Rose (29-32-61), 18 Nathan Kozma (14-9-23)
Top Goalie: 29 Carson Dirkmaat (25-6-0, 1.98 GAA, .894 save percentage)
Coach Varga on the matchup with St. Ignatius: “They’ve been there, done that. They know what to expect. We got knocked out in the semifinals (last year), so there was a lot of heartbreak there, but I think we overcame it. The matchup between us, I think we’re pretty equal. We can skate with them, we can shoot with them, we can block shots and so can they. We just need a couple puck luck bounces, and hopefully that goes our way.”
Goaltender Dominic Filizetti was in net for Cleveland St. Ignatius' state title team a year ago and earned third-team All-Ohio honors this season.
© COURTESY OF ST. IGNATIUS HOCKEY
It’s no surprise to see St. Ignatius in the state tournament, as the Wildcats won their eighth championship a year ago and have qualified for the final four seven times in the past nine seasons. St. Ignatius lost a fair amount of senior leadership and experience from last year’s team, but this talented, close squad has come into its own despite its relative youth.
“It’s a new group,” head coach Pat O’Rourke said. “It kind of skews young. I think we have nine or 10 freshmen and sophomores on the team, so they’re very offensive-minded I would say. We’re spending a lot of time trying to make sure they’re understanding their defensive responsibilities, but it’s a great group of kids – really fun-loving, and it’s been fun to be around them. It’s been one of my favorite years.”
O’Rourke said one of the keys to the season has been the move of senior first-team All-Ohio choice Nolan Ignacio from defense to forward midway through the year, while goalie Dominic Filizetti is back in net after winning last year’s state title and was named third-team All-Ohio.
State tournament results (Brooklyn region): 11-1 win over Cleveland Benedictine in the quarterfinal; 9-1 win over Avon Lake in the semifinal; 6-2 win over Parma Padua Franciscan in the regional final
Top scorers: 28 Nolan Ignacio (33-13-46), 71 Cade Bradley (17-25-42), 9 Sam Elwell (23-15-38), 56 Kyle Rucinski (12-15-27), 19 Zack Bleick (14-12-26)
Top Goalie: 39 Dominic Filizetti (20-9-0, 2.38 GAA, .914 save percentage)
Coach O’Rourke on the matchup with St. Francis: “It seems like we’re like the Red Sox and the Yankees. We run into each other all the time down there and during the regular season, too. They’re just some epic games, classics, like overtime, multiple overtimes, and it’s almost always a one-goal game. A lot of times it’s high-event hockey, high-scoring games. Even in years where we think we both have really good goalies, you think it’s going to be a 2-1, 1-0 game and it ends up being 5-4 or 6-5. We’ve had some classic battles. If we’re going to go down there, might as well play them, I guess.”
Mentor forward A.J. Trobenter was named third-team all-state after leading the Cardinals with 33 goals and 64 points on the season.
© KYLIE SHEEHAN
Mentor is the lone newcomer to the state tournament, as the Cardinals have advanced to Columbus for the first time in school history. Head coach Paul McKito pointed to a veteran group of seniors who have put in the work and dedication to take Mentor to new heights.
“It’s a milestone for the program,” McKito said. “The program has been around since 1987, and no team has obviously ever done this before. We made it to a handful of regional finals and haven’t been able to get over that hump, and finally to be able to do that this year, it’s a testament to the kids and their hard work and the support the school has given us over the years in my career here.”
McKito said the calling card of his team is its ability to adapt to whatever style the opposing team is playing, and the Cardinals are led by third-team All-Ohio forward A.J. Trobenter.
State tournament results (Kent region): 5-2 win over Chagrin Falls Kenston in the quarterfinal; 2-1 win over Cuyahoga Falls Walsh Jesuit in the semifinal; 4-0 win over Hunting Valley University School in the regional final
Top scorers: 26 A.J. Trobenter (33-31-64), 14 Dominic Trem (20-41-61), 34 Jake Mackey (25-27-52), 29 Joe Mackey (17-29-46), 6 Nathan Andree (8-27-35)
Top Goalie: 1 Ryan Wilkinson (24-9-2, 2.48 GAA, .907 save percentage)
Coach McKito on the matchup with Upper Arlington: “We never really play each other, so there’s a lot of unknowns. We always tell our kids that if we play a team that we’re unfamiliar with, our biggest thing is to control what we can control – how we manage our minutes, our set faceoff plays, what we do throughout the course of a game, power play, special teams, and try to dictate that and make them adjust to what we do. They’re the No. 1 team in the state for a reason. I’ve seen them live a couple of times over the course of the season, and it’s going to take an effort from us to advance to Sunday, that’s for sure.”
