COLUMBUS, Ohio – St. Ignatius fans had chanted "this is our house" at times during the OHSAA hockey state tournament over the last two days. Nationwide Arena may as well be the Wildcats' house, as they won their fourth consecutive state title with a 7-2 win over Dublin Jerome in Saturday's state championship game.
St. Ignatius (27-10) got out to a fast start and had a 1-0 lead before some fans were even to their seats. Michael Boehm found junior forward Matt Sullivan and Sullivan rifled a shot past Jerome goalie Mark Bishopp just 1:06 into the game. Getting off to a fast start was something the Wildcats had talked about before the game.
“We were all pumped up to play,” junior Alex Bilardo said. “In the locker room, we were saying “get ‘em going, get ‘em going and it happened for us.”
The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead at 8:07 of the first period, when their methodical power play ended with a goal by Joey Trobenter. The junior forward then scored the eventual game-winner 20 seconds into the second period to give St. Ignatius a 3-0 lead.
“I think me, Alex and Charlie (Klenkar) just played our game,” Trobenter said. “It ended up going to me in the (goal) column, but it was a line effort.”
Charlie Erbs added a goal at 2:49 of the second period and it looked like the rout might be on for the Wildcats at 4-0. But later in the second period, Jerome scored two goals in 14 seconds as Matt Kish scored a power play goal at 10:44 and then Nick Augenstein scored on a breakaway to cut the St. Ignatius lead to 4-2.
The goal by Kish was the first goal allowed by St. Ignatius goaltender Benny Savarino in nearly 116 minutes, as the senior was coming off two shutouts in a row for the Wildcats. The last goal he had given up was in the final minute of the district semifinals to Olmsted Falls.
“After the second one, my defense came over and told me we were fine, we were still up two goals,” Savarino said. “They had some momentum but we did a good job of closing out that period with just the two (goals allowed).”
St. Ignatius' response came moments after the second intermission, as Trobenter took advantage of a turnover and recorded the 11th hat trick in OHSAAA state championship game history with a goal 22 seconds into the third period.
“When we went into the intermission, we weren’t letting it get to us,” Trobenter said. “On that play, I read the (defenseman) and picked off the pass and just went top shelf.”
Greg Langermeier scored at 7:27 to make it 6-2. It was the second straight season in which Langermeier scored in the state championship game after he tallied the game-winner in double overtime in last year’s state title game win over Toledo St. Francis de Sales.
The final goal was scored by another player who also scored in last year’s state championship game, as Cam Kurtz scored 11:27 into the third period. The goal was the third of the state tournament for Kurtz, who scored twice in Friday’s state semifinal win over Sylvania Northview.
Seven goals are the most scored by a St. Ignatius team in school history in a state championship game. That wasn’t the only history made by the Wildcats on Saturday, however. The championship makes St. Ignatius the first team to win four straight state hockey titles in OHSAA history, but the significance of the accomplishment had not yet sunk in for St. Ignatius coach Pat O’Rourke after the game.
“We were just preparing for this game and thinking about the game,” O’Rourke said. “Now that we have, at some point it might soak in but for me it hasn’t yet.”
Now that the win is in the books, O’Rourke and his Wildcats have a 140-mile bus trip home to soak it all in.
Ryan Isley is a freelancer from Akron.
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