PRPC finishes runner-up to Warcats in Blue Jackets Cup

As seen in ThisWeek News
Thursday, February 23, 2006

Jeff Hunt
ThisWeek Staff Writer

By Ann Tormet/ThisWeek Tyler Walcutt (left) of Pickerington/Reynoldsburg/Pataskala/Canal Winchester controls the puck with Westerville's Joseph Mulderink closing in on defense during the championship of the Blue Jackets Cup last Sunday in the Dispatch Ice Haus. The Ice Prowlers lost 4-2.

AT A GLANCE: Westerville 4, PRPC 2 Below are the final regular-season standings for the GCHSCHL, followed by the results of the Blue Jackets Cup club division double-elimination tournament: Team W L T Pts. Athens 16 6 2 34 PRPC 14 7 3 31 Westerville 13 7 4 30 Hilliard/Southwest 13 7 4 30 Olentangy 11 12 1 23 Newark 8 12 4 20 Northeast 0 24 0 0 RESULTS: Feb 16: First round: Game 1 -- (5) Olentangy 4, (4) Hilliard/Southwest 2; Game 2 -- (3) Westerville 3, (6) Newark 2 (OT); Game 3 -- (2) PRPC 11, (7) Northeast 3 Last Friday: Losers bracket first round: Game 4 -- Newark 9, Northeast 0;Winners bracket semifinal: Game 5 -- (1) Athens 3, Olentangy 1; Game 6 -- Westerville 6, PRPC 5 Last Saturday: Losers bracket quarterfinal: Game 7 -- Olentangy 5, Newark 4 (OT); Game 8 -- PRPC 6, Hilliard/Southwest 0; Winners bracket final: Game 9 -- Westerville 4, Athens 3; Losers bracket semifinal: Game 10 -- PRPC 4, Olentangy 3 Last Sunday: Losers bracket final: Game 11 -- PRPC 4, Athens 3 (OT); Championship: Game 12

Nick Merz will be the first person to admit he's not a goal-scorer. But being a defenseman, he's not supposed to light the lamp.

However, the Westerville North High School junior can say he scored what proved to be the winning goal as third-seeded Westerville defeated second-seeded Pickerington/Reynoldsburg/Pataskala/Canal Winchester 4-2 last Sunday in the Dispatch Ice Haus to give the Warcats their second consecutive Greater Columbus High School Club Hockey League Blue Jackets Cup championship.

Merz blocked a clearing attempt at the blue line, wheeled to his shot-side and then flipped a wrister. The shot eventually found its way past PRPC goaltender Justin Lohrman (Pickerington North), who appeared to have a handle on the puck before it squirted between his right pad and the post.

The goal put Westerville up 3-2 with 2 minutes, 44 seconds left in the third period. Justin Sachs (Westerville South) added an empty-net goal with 42.7 seconds left.

Even well after the game was over and the team was celebrating in the locker room, Merz struggled for words.

"I can't even think of a word right now," Merz said. "I was just trying to get a shot on the net."

"He has played hard all year, and he's a defenseman," second-year coach Bryan Larrison said. "And our defensemen have scored 35 to 40 goals this year, so he stepped it up at the point. He threw it up on the net and it went in. That's the way it goes in the game of inches."

Merz, who played for a travel team last season and missed the team's first Blue Jackets Cup title, entered the game with four goals and seven assists in 30 games.

Westerville, which has won six in a row and seven of eight to improve to 18-9-4, took a 2-0 lead in the first period on power play goals by co-captain Aaron Archibald (Westerville South) and Sachs.

PRPC, making its fourth-consecutive trip to the Blue Jackets Cup final, cut the deficit to a goal when Adman McGrath (Pickerington North) scored on a 5-on-3 power play with 6:32 left in the second period.

McGrath then tied the game with a short-handed goal with 8:07 left in the contest.

Archibald, who also assisted on Sachs' empty-net goal, said repeating as champion was important to the program.

"We really stepped up our game," said Archibald, who entered the postseason with 10 goals and 18 assists for 28 points. "We really wanted to focus on defense and grind it out."

Warcats goalie Bill Sorokas (Westerville Central) stopped 19 of 21 shots. Lohrman faced 32 shots and made 29 saves.

Of Westerville's four tournament victories, three were by one goal and two were in overtime, including 3-2 over Newark on Feb. 16 in the first round and 4-3 over top-seeded Athens in the winners bracket championship last Saturday as co-captain Sean Hundley scored the winning goal.

A 6-5 loss to Westerville in a winners bracket semifinal sent PRPC to the losers bracket, where the Ice Prowlers, who dropped to 18-13-3, fought their way back, beating fourth-seeded Hilliard/Southwest 6-0 and fifth-seeded Olentangy 4-3 before downing regular-season champion Athens 4-3 in overtime in the losers bracket final last Sunday morning as Nick Hess (Pickerington Central) scored the winning goal.

"I thought Pickerington really came back after losing to us," Larrison said. "They beat Hilliard 6-0 and Olentangy 4-2 and then had to beat Athens in overtime. I thought they had the legs cut out from under them, but they kept battling (against us) and I was impressed with their play."

The championship game was the fifth contest in 41 hours for the Ice Prowlers.

A year ago, the same two teams had to play three overtimes before Westerville prevailed 4-3 to win the championship as Tony Franco scored on a breakaway on PRPC goaltender Miles McGrew.

# BUCKEYE CUP -- Athens, PRPC, Westerville and Hilliard/Southwest will represent central Ohio in the second Buckeye Cup, a 12-team club league state tournament. The playoffs will be March 10-12 in Columbus with sites to de announced at a later date.

The top four regular-season teams from the North Coast High School Hockey League (NCHSHL) and the Cincinnati High School Hockey League (CHSHL) also will play in the event.