PRPC dominates in Blue Jackets Cup
Defeats Newark to capture Blue Jackets Cup

As seen in ThisWeek News
Thursday, February 22nd, 2007

JARROD ULREY
ThisWeek Staff Writer

By Ann Tormet/ThisWeek Adam McGrath (right) of PRPC scrambles in to take the puck from Newark's Thomas Hickey in the championship of the Blue Jackets Cup last Sunday in the Dispatch Ice Haus. PRPC won 6-2.

By Ann Tormet/ThisWeek Max Matsanoff (left) of PRPC and Newark's Drew Link scramble for the puck during the championship game.

By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek Sean Hagerty of Hilliard/Southwest moves the puck in front of PRPC's Geoffrey Killian during the Blue Jackets Cup club hockey tournament last Friday at the Chiller North. The Wildcats lost the second-round game 7-0.

AT A GLANCE: At a glance Below are results from the Blue Jackets Cup tournament, which was held Feb. 15 through last Sunday: First round -- Winners bracket (Feb. 15): Hilliard/Southwest 5, Westerville 4; Newark 6, Olentangy 3; Athens 3, Northeast 1; losers bracket (last Friday): Olentangy 7, Northeast 4 Second round -- Winners bracket (last Friday): PRPC 7, Hilliard/Southwest 0; Athens 5, Newark 0; losers bracket (last Saturday): Olentangy 4, Hilliard/Southwest 2; Newark 5, Westerville 4 Third round -- Losers bracket (last Saturday): Newark 5, Olentangy 2 Semifinal round -- Winners bracket (last Saturday): PRPC 6, Athens 0; losers bracket (last Sunday): Newark 2, Athens 1 (OT) Championship (last Sunday) -- PRPC 6, Newark 2 Of note: PRPC, Athens, Newark and Westerville have qualified to the Buckeye Cup state tournament, which will be held March 2-4 in Cincinnati.

After it lost to Westerville each of the past two seasons in the championship game of the Blue Jackets Cup tournament, the Pickerington/Reynoldsburg/Pataskala/Canal Winchester club hockey team didn't enter the tournament this year with any lack of motivation.

The Prowlers earned the No. 1 seed after winning the Greater Columbus High School Club Hockey League regular-season title and easily made that ranking stand up. PRPC will play in the Buckeye Cup state tournament March 2-4 after outscoring its three opponents in the Blue Jackets Cup 19-2.

"We just kept doing what we've been doing all year," said senior defender and captain Brian Rossi, whose team has won 19 consecutive games and is 25-2-5 overall. "Everything has just been going right for us. With us losing to Westerville the last two years, we kind of used that as motivation. That was always in the backs of our minds."

In the championship game last Sunday against Newark in the Dispatch Ice Haus, the Prowlers built a 2-0 lead after one period. They then took a 3-0 advantage 38 seconds into the second period when Adam McGrath scored off passes from Cody Berkebile and Ryan Straker.

Although the Generals' Preston Russ scored a short-handed goal with 10:39 to go in the period, PRPC controlled the action throughout the game's remainder and won 6-2.

Taylor Kantor and Berkebile scored in the first period for the Prowlers. Luke Wilkins, McGrath and Berkebile scored in the third period. Senior Justin Lohrman made nine saves.

Also scoring for Newark was Graham Judge, and goaltender Andrew Clark had 29 saves.

"In the second period, we just got really a great goal from Adam McGrath," PRPC coach Jay C. Catherine said. "He just really showed his stick-handling ability. They did get a short-handed goal about five minutes into the period which gave them a bit of a spark, but in the third period our speed got the better of them and there were a lot of penalties on Newark."

PRPC won Blue Jackets Cup titles in 2003 and 2004 before losing to Westerville 4-3 in the final in 2005 and 4-2 in the final last season. The Prowlers were the No. 1 seed in 2005 and the second seed a year ago.

Athens was the second seed this season but lost to PRPC 6-0 in a semifinal. Then in the losers bracket, the Bobcats lost to Newark 2-1 as Joe Parini scored the winning goal with 1:08 left in overtime.

Berkebile led the Prowlers during the tournament with six goals and McGrath added four.

"Really the play of our captains, Berkebile (at forward) and Rossi on defense and our goalkeepers, Justin Lohrman and Dan Smith, who we pretty much alternated every night, (they) were key for us," said Catherine, whose team will play Massillon Jackson at 7:30 p.m. March 2 in the first round of the state tournament. "We go four lines deep."

PRPC will play the Columbus Capitals U-16 AA team this weekend to help it prepare for the Buckeye Cup. Also advancing were Newark, Athens and Westerville.

Newark and Athens each had qualified for the state tournament before the Blue Jackets Cup.

Fourth-seeded Westerville qualified despite going 0-2 at Blue Jackets Cup, losing to No. 5 Hilliard/ Southwest 5-4 on Feb. 15 and Newark 5-4 in a losers bracket game last Saturday.

Medina is the defending state champion, and both PRPC and Westerville are expected to play them in round-robin games. Each of the 12 teams in the Buckeye Cup will play three round-robin games March 2 and 3, and the top four in points will advance to the final four March 4. In the round-robin, teams get one point for every period won and two points for every game won for a total of five available points per game.

Perhaps the biggest surprise at the Blue Jackets Cup was the play of sixth-seeded Olentangy.

After the Braves lost to Newark 6-3 in the first round, they edged the Northeast Storm 7-4 in the first round of the losers bracket and then upset Hilliard/Southwest 4-2. Olentangy lost to Newark 5-2 in the third round of the losers bracket to finish 9-21-3.

Olentangy's Brandon Urhammer was the leading scorer of the Blue Jackets Cup with seven goals, including four on power plays.