SOUTHWEST OHIO HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY LEAGUE TOURNAMENT
At Hobart Arena, Troy
Saturday
12:30 p.m.:
Centerville/Sycamore winner vs. Troy/Cin. St. Xavier winner
2:45 p.m.: Springboro/Alter winner vs. Beavercreek/Oxford Talawanda winner
Sunday
10:15 a.m.: Championship game
COLUMBUS DISTRICT PAIRINGS
All games at Ice Haus, Columbus and the Chiller, Dublin
Area teams in first round
Friday, Feb. 18
Troy vs. Columbus DeSales, 8:30 p.m. (Chiller)
Saturday, Feb. 19
Troy/DeSales winner vs. Olentangy Liberty (12:45 p.m., Ice Haus
Centerville (No. 6 seed) vs. Sycamore/Cin.Elder winner, 5:30 p.m. (Ice Haus)
Springboro (No. 4 seed) vs. Cin. St. Xavier/Oxford Talawanda winner, 7:30 p.m. (Ice Haus)
Beavercreek vs. Olentangy, 3:30 p.m (Chiller)
Alter vs. Worthington Kilbourne, 5:30 p.m. (Chiller)
Sunday, Feb. 20
Beavercreek/Olentangy winner vs. Upper Arlington 3 p.m. (Ice Haus)
Alter/Worthington Kilbourne winner vs. Dublin Coffman, 5 p.m. (Ice Haus)
SPRINGBORO — Earning respect from the opposition has already made it a great high school hockey season for Springboro.
Now the Panthers hope to extend their success into a collection of trophies in postseason competition.
From a program almost extinct four years ago, Boro hockey has built a 24-5-2 record. It won the North Division championship of the Southwest Ohio High School Hockey League.
The Panthers are the No. 1 seed in the league’s postseason tournament that began Thursday night. The semifinals and finals are Saturday and Sunday at Troy’s Hobart Arena. They are also the highest-seeded Dayton-Cincinnati area team at No. 4 in the Columbus District tournament. Competition in that event begins Feb. 18. The winner will advance to state Final Four March 12-13, also played in Columbus.
Dublin Jerome was the No. 1 seed in the district, Dublin Coffman No. 2 and Olentangy Liberty No. 3. All are suburban Columbus schools. Boro was No. 4 and Centerville No. 6.
“Getting seeded that high for a Dayton area team is pretty special,” said fourth-year coach Tony Morris. “It shows we have the respect of the other programs we play. That’s something you have to earn on the ice.”
The Springboro program went through some rough times in the 2007-08 season. Some players were caught partying on a overnight road trip. The roster suddenly dropped from 34 to 12 and there were strong feelings in some parts of the community to scrap the program.
“That was a tough first year,” said Morris, who played club hockey at Wright State. “I’m just happy some people in the administration had faith in our coaching staff that we could make the program work.
“We’ve been able to build the numbers in the program back up and kids have been doing a great job of understanding our system.”
Boro’s top scorer is senior D.J. Hume. He came out for the high school team after playing with a travel team the last two seasons. Thus far he has 48 goals and 38 assists. Joining him on the first line are sophomores Grant Hazel (15 goals, 23 assists) and Austin Reynolds (27 goals, 21 assists).
The second line is junior Andrew Straus (12 goals, 6 assists), junior Phillip Kanis (6 goals, 9 assist) and senior Matt Wourms (4 goals, 6 assists). The third line is senior Joey Urman (6 goals, 3 assists), senior Pete Schaaf (1 goal, 4 assists) and senior Ian Cook (2 goals, 1 assist).
Freshman Nick Barry, junior Joe Affourtit, junior Connor Herman and freshman Ryan Cash (3 goals, 5 assists) rotate in and out of the lines.
Defensemen include senior D.J. Studzinski (7 goals, 22 assists), his sophomore brother Travis (8 goals, 32 assists), senior Sam Berg (4 goals, 11 assists) and freshman Nate Tragesser ( 4 assists).
The goalies are senior Tyler Oldiges (2.75 goals against average) and junior Stefan Schuetz (1.79 gaa).
“We’ve got a couple of pretty talented players. But mostly we just grind and out-work at lot of teams,” said Morris. “One of our big strengths has been depth. Most clubs have a good first or second line. We’ve gotten great production from all three of our lines, especially in the third periods, which has made the difference in a lot of games.”
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