COLUMBUS, Ohio – University School hockey went to overtime for the second Friday in a row, but came up just short this time in a 3-2 loss to Dublin Jerome in the OHSAA state semifinals at Nationwide Arena.
Jerome’s Nick Augenstein took the puck, worked his way around a defender and then beat US goalie Critter Coughlin at 5:12 of overtime to win it for the Celtics and sent US to a loss in the semifinals for the third straight year. The loss came just a week after US defeated Gilmour Academy in overtime to win the Kent district final.
“In those moments with two really good teams going at it with their best guys on the ice, it’s usually one bounce or one guy making a play,” US coach Andy Gerow said. “They made one more play than we did."
The Preppers trailed 2-0 midway through the second period when Evan Shea scored for Jerome (35-3-0), but US (19-16-2) continued to fight. John Pape took a pass from Will Lvovich and tallied the first goal of the game for US at 11:13 of the second period.
“Will Lvovich did a nice job battling in the corner and won the battle,” Pape said. “He put it on my tape and I just got it to the net. Will did all the work for that one.”
Just 39 seconds later, Henry Saada found the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2.
“We were talking about either you can go down 3-0 or you can go 2-1, which is huge,” US captain Jack Henry Muha said. “We got John Pape’s goal and from there, we just started the momentum. (Saada) put in a nice goal to make it 2-2 and we just tried to keep the momentum going.”
The never-give-up attitude is something US has had all season, including in the postseason. One of the reasons is that the Preppers play the same whether they are leading by five goals, trailing by five goals or tied.
“No matter what the score is, we have to play our hockey,” Gerow said. “It’s something this team has done all throughout the playoffs, they don’t flinch.”
Coughlin kept the Preppers in the game early and then kept the game tied on several occasions in the third period when it looked like Jerome might score a goal to take the lead. The senior finished the game with 17 saves.
“He has been our rock all season,” Muha said. “We know if we have Critter in net, we always have a chance. When we got to 2-2, we went to Critter and said ‘we got you’ and we know he has us.”
Unfortunately for US, the final bounce of the game went the way of Jerome and ended the Preppers’ season. Despite the loss, US players were proud of the way they played and how they never let up during the game.
“I am proud of our guys and how they battled,” Saada said. “We were down here two years ago, played (St.) Ignatius, were up 3-1, that game went to triple overtime. In that game, we went flat in the overtimes. I am really proud of our guys because we didn’t go flat.”
Ryan Isley is a freelancer from Akron
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