Academy places second in Walter F. Ehrnfelt Memorial Tournament. (Twitter@CAIceHockey)
Over winter break, the Academy Ice Hockey team was active, losing to Olentangy Braves 2-8, beating Gahanna in their final meeting of the year 6-3, sweeping the series between the two teams, and edging out a victory against Olentangy Berlin, 4-3, to finish 2018 on a high note.
To start 2019, though, Olentangy Orange crushed the Vikes 8-1. Then, Academy went back to its winning ways in a narrow 4-3 win at Athens in an 8-5 thrashing of Sciotoand two close wins, one ended 6-5 against Olentangy Braves JV and the other 5-4 against Bishop Watterson. But the final game of last weekend was a 4-2 loss to the Thomas Worthington Cardinals.
This weekend, from January 19-21, the Vikings, coming off of four wins in their last five games, traveled to Strongsville to compete in the Walter F. Ehrnfelt Memorial Tournament.
Their first opponent of the tournament was Sycamore. The Vikes quickly gained the lead against the Aves, scoring three unanswered goals in the first period until the Cincinnati school found the back of the net to put themselves back into the game. The Aves carried this momentum into the second period, holding Academy’s advances until Senior co-captain Cole Walker scored, bringing his tally to two for the night with 6:14 to go in the second. For the rest of the period, the Vikes couln’t capitalize on their chances and went into the locker leading 4-1. The three goal deficit seemed to discourage Sycamore, and three minutes into the third, Academy scored to make it 5-1. Then again to make it 6-1, then three more times to win the game 9-1. Scoring against Sycamore were Campbell Gwin’21 (twice) and Cole Walker’19 with a hat trick. The next day, Academy faced Harbor Creek in the second round of the tournament.
The Vikes continued their high-scoring play from the night before, getting a goal four minutes in and not stopping for the rest of the first, ending the period 4-0. While Harbor Creek held them until halfway into the second, there was no stopping the Vikes, who doubled their lead going into the third. The Vikes scored a ninth to start the period, but the rest of it was back and forth, with Harbor Creek scoring. Then senior Tyler Schlonsky scored his third of the night, finishing with his first ever hat trick. Harbor Creek pulled back a second to end the game 10-2, another huge win for the Vikes. Academy played its third round matchup against Perrysburg in the afternoon.
Academy’s assistant captain Jacob Sardo’19 opened the scoring for the third straight game, but Perrysburg quickly tied it up and added a second to take the lead. Co-captain Gunnar Geiger’19 scored twice to put the Vikes ahead. The first period ended 3-2 after a goalless power-play for Academy. Two minutes into the second, Cole Walker made up for it, hitting the puck home to take the Vikes up by two. A goal from Perrysburg to end the second showed that they weren’t backing down so easily. This attitude paid off for the Yellow Jackets, as they tied it up in the third. The Vikes fought hard, but Perrysburg kept the momentum, going on to win 6-4. Academy had a second chance, as it faced off against Perrysburg again in the finals the next day.
The Championship Game of the Walter F. Ehrnfelt Memorial Tournament between Columbus Academy and Perrysburg played out similarly to their match the night before. The first period was back and forth, ending 3-2 in favor of the Vikes. In the second, Perrysburg tied it up, and the teams seemed equally matched. A goal for the Vikes to start off the third seemed to give Academy a second wind in the hard-fought match. This is where the comparison between the two games ends.
With 52 seconds to go in the third, Perrysburg, who took out their goaltender to have six players attacking, slipped in another goal, sending the game to sudden death overtime. The Vikings fought hard and came close, but in the end, the Perrysburg Yellow Jackets came out of overtime on top, winning the tournament.
The Vikes played well in all four games, scoring 27 in the tournament. Not only did they play well, but they did so as a team, with seven different players finding the net over the course of the tournament. For its first varsity tournament, Academy held its own and came out with an impressive second place victory.
Academy plays DeSales at home on Friday night for Senior Night on February 1 and at Bishop Watterson on Sunday, February 3.
