With seven championships coming into this weekend’s OHSAA state hockey tournament, St. Ignatius is hockey royalty in the state of Ohio.
Yet before Sunday, the Wildcats hadn’t won a title since 2019, a streak of frustration that weighed on head coach Pat O’Rourke and his players.
Consider that frustration gone. St. Ignatius never trailed in today’s state final, capturing championship No. 8 with a 4-1 win over Hunting Valley University School in front of two rowdy groups of fans at Nationwide Arena.
“There were tears of joy (today), but we’ve cried the tears of despair, the realization that your season is over or your career is over in the case of the seniors,” O’Rourke said. “They have the scars. They have all the battle wounds. Everybody was out there soaking shots today, wearing shots. They did everything they had to do to win, and I couldn’t be happier and I couldn’t be prouder.”
Brady Esenwine scored twice for St. Ignatius, while Nolan Ignacio started the scoring and Justin Frederick added the empty-net goal that sealed the deal. Goalie Noah Filizetti was beaten just once, turning aside 22 shots, including 11 saves in the third period.
St. Ignatius adds the title to championships won from 2016-19 as well as 2014, ‘10 and ‘00.
“Obviously we’re at the rinks together every day of the week, but when we’re not on the ice, we’re with each other outside the rink, being at each other’s homes, just hanging out,” captain Dario Piazza said of the team. “It really builds our brotherhood.”
Ignacio got things started for the Wildcats with 3:21 left in the first period, slaloming all the way through the University School defense with St. Ignatius on the power play and lifting a shot over goalie Noah Caballero.
Esenwine then scored a pair of key goals to extend the St. Ignatius lead to 3-0. He blocked a shot with University School on the power play and then finished the shorthanded breakaway to make it 2-0 at 10:51 of the second, and Esenwine later slipped a rebound past Caballero just 18 seconds into the third period to make it a three-goal lead.
University School’s Luke Palmer cut the St. Ignatius lead to 3-1 when he scored at the midway point of the third, and the Preppers pulled the goalie for the final four minutes looking for more, but St. Ignatius played strong defense the rest of the way.
University School finishes the season 36-4-0 and lost in the state title game for the second straight season.
“I feel like us seniors set a pretty good standard,” said Preppers captain Luca Garofalo. “(Head coach Andy Gerow) said in the locker room that when we came into this program, it wasn’t really what it was in previous years. I know a lot of guys, myself included, we wanted to get the program back to what it is – one of the best teams in the state, winning the district year after year. That’s what we did.”
But there could be only one state champ, and on this day, it was St. Ignatius.
“I’m just really happy for the players,” O’Rourke said. “They were wonderful all year long. They played a great game today. They saved their best for last. Everything was perfect. We were physical. That was the name of the game. From the get go, we just jumped out and we were aggressive, and I’m so proud of them.”
