Hockey skates into post-season
Although the team was defeated in the state tournament, they became champions of their league. This is an important accomplishment for the team, especially for freshmen who participated in the tournament for the first time. It is important for upperclassmen as well, considering that this year the team progressed farther in the tournament than in recent years. Photo courtesy of McDaniel’s Photography.
The Varsity Hockey team competed in both league and state tournaments to conclude their season. Through winning their SWOHSHL Gold League Championship, they advanced to the state level, but were defeated after the first round against Moeller.
The team faced off against LaSalle for the first game of the league tournament on Sat. Feb. 14 and dominated 3-0. Goal scorers in the game include sophomore Richard Nardi, junior Jason Beaudry, and senior Brandon Demaio.
The next day, they continued to the league finals, against Alter, a team that they had tied with on Senior Night 0-0. Fortunately, they were able to redeem themselves with another 3-0 win. Goal scorers were Demaio and Beaudry.
These two games were also the goalie freshman Noah Kinsinger’s second and third “shutout” of the season. This means that no goals were allowed throughout the entire game, and is a great accomplishment as a goalie.
Because of this accomplishment and others, both Kinsinger and the team have been nominated for team and athlete of the week honors on jjhuddle.com, a site for Ohio school sports news. The winners are based on votes by the public.
As league champions, the Aviators soon advanced to the state championship tournament, starting with a game against Moeller on Fri. Feb. 20. This game completed their season with a score of 9-2 Moeller. Both goals were by Nardi.
“We had some of our best games of the season during the league tournament, and although we weren’t able to hold Moeller we were still able to play well against a difficult team,” junior Maxwell Gottliebson said.
