PRPC favorite in Jackets Cup, has Buckeye Cup hopes

As seen in ThisWeek News
Thursday, February 15th, 2007

ANDERS LARSON
ThisWeek Staff Writer

By David Rea/ThisWeek Ryan McMullen (left) of PRPC beats Newark's Zach Prouty to the puck during a game Jan. 25 at Newark. The Ice Prowlers won the league title and will contend for the Blue Jackets Cup. They have hopes to win the Buckeye Cup as well.

AT A GLANCE: Below are the final standings and coming schedule for teams in the Greater Columbus High School Club Hockey League: PRPC -- 41 points (18-1-5). PPRC has qualified for the Buckeye Cup Ohio High School Club Hockey State Championship. ATHENS -- 39 points (18-3-3). Athens has qualified for the Buckeye Cup. NEWARK -- 31 points (15-8-1). Newark has qualified for the Buckeye Cup. WESTERVILLE -- 27 points (12-9-3). Westerville will qualify for the Buckeye Cup unless Hilliard/Southwest, Olentangy or Northeast wins the Blue Jackets Cup, in which case that team will take Westerville's spot. HILLIARD/SOUTHWEST -- 17 points (7-14-3). Must win the Blue Jackets Cup to qualify for the Buckeye Cup. OLENTANGY -- Nine points (3-17-3). Must win the Blue Jackets Cup to qualify for the Buckeye Cup. NORTHEAST -- Two points (0-21-2). Must win the Blue Jackets Cup to qualify for the Buckeye Cup. Today -- First round games: Athens vs. Northeast, Newark vs. Olentangy, Westerville vs. Hilliard/Southwest. PPRC has a bye and will play Westerville or Hilliard/Southwest in the second round. Friday-Sunday -- Second round through championship Of note: The Blue Jackets Cup is a double-elimination tournament. Westerville has won the past two years.

It's not uncommon for the team that gets the hottest at the end of the season to be one of the favorites heading into any postseason tournament.

But when a team that has been in first place for two months still manages to play its best hockey late in the season -- like the Pickerington/Reynoldsburg/Pataskala/Canal Winchester Prowlers of the Greater Columbus High School Club Hockey League have done -- it becomes the overwhelming choice to take the Blue Jackets Cup.

The Blue Jackets Cup will get under way today with three first-round games. The Prowlers, who earned the No. 1 seed by going 18-1-5, have a bye. They will play Friday against Westerville or Hilliard/Southwest.

Headed by first-year coach Jay C. Catherine, the Prowlers have won their last 17 games and have not lost since Nov. 3. Even with the Prowlers' success, Athens and Newark are not far behind in the standings, a fact that is not lost on Catherine.

"You look down the numbers, and I think there's eight points or something like that separating first through fourth place," Catherine said. "Each team, head to head, when you look at the standings on that, has kind of stepped up. Even Hilliard, they don't have as many wins as Athens or Newark, but they're one of those teams that some of their players can just get going."

Athens, which handed the Prowlers their only loss 4-2 on Nov. 3, is in second place with a 17-3-3 record. Athens finished with 39 points, two behind the Prowlers.

Newark has won 10 of its last 13 games and passed Westerville for third place in the final two weeks of the season.

Newark lost to Athens 3-2 on Feb. 8 and beat Olentangy 4-2 last Sunday to finish 15-8-1 with 31 points.

In addition to the GCHSCHL season, Newark has played 20 games in the Buckeye Travel League in the Midget 18 division. Coach Don Jennings said the experience of playing against top travel hockey teams undoubtedly has paid off this season.

"We are not an 18 AA level (the highest playing level), but we certainly ran up against some great competition there, which has improved our stamina and our expectations," Jennings said. "So it's been a very busy year for us, but the boys have done very well."

Perhaps the most dangerous team outside of PRPC could be Westerville, which opened 8-0-2 before fading for a fourth-place finish. The Warcats have lost 10 of their last 14 games, but they have won the last two Blue Jackets Cups, and last year they took the Cup despite a fourth seed.

The Warcats are led by forwards Joseph Perruzzi and Ben Collins, who rank second and fifth in the league in total points. Only Cody Berkebile and Adam McGrath of the Prowlers have combined for more points this year.

The league has added a twist this year, stipulating that if a team ranked below the top four wins the Cup, that team will take the spot of the fourth-place team in the Buckeye Cup Ohio High School Club Hockey State Championship.

Jennings and Catherine agreed that the team with the best shot of earning that last spot is Hilliard/Southwest. It has one of the league's top offensive threats in Tim Hahn, but it struggled to a 7-14-3 record and finished with 17 points, 10 behind Westerville.

Olentangy, which finished fifth with a 3-17-3 record, has been solid defensively but is scoring just 2.64 goals per game.

Northeast did not win a game during the regular season and managed just two ties, and is probably at least a year away from being a contender for the Blue Jackets Cup.

Jennings said that beyond the Blue Jackets Cup, this is as likely a year as any for a team from the GCHSCHL to win the Buckeye Cup. In the two years the Buckeye Cup has been played, Athens has reached the final four. Athens lost to North Royalton 3-1 in a semifinal in 2005 and lost to Medina 2-1 in the championship last year. Westerville also reached a semifinal last season, losing to Medina 4-1.

The favorite around the state seems to be West Chester Lakota West, which won the Cincinnati Amateur Hockey Association and is 24-0-0. The Firebirds went 0-3 in the Buckeye Cup last year.

With Berkebile and McGrath as well as two of the league's best goaltenders in Justin Lohrman and Dan Smith, PRPC ought to have the best shot to come out of the GCHSCHL and win the Buckeye Cup.

"From day one, our players wanted to bring the Blue Jackets Cup back to Pickerington and be the team to bring the first Buckeye Cup to Columbus," Catherine said. "That's just been something all season long they've been focused on."

Catherine said that in the past two Buckeye Cups, the Prowlers have struggled coming off of emotional championship losses to Westerville in the Blue Jackets Cup. Last year, several players also chose to play in their travel league state tournament instead of with PRPC in the Buckeye Cup. Catherine doesn't believe that will be an issue this season.

"At this point, I think they want to stay on board. They know there's something special this season going into the tournament, so I think they really want to be a part of that."