At the start of the season, St. Charles head coach Danny Greiner tasked his team with a goal – be the hardest working high school team in the state.
That’s hard to quantify, but we do know there are very few earlier risers than the Cardinals.
The team’s practices at the OhioHealth Ice Haus are set for 6 a.m. each morning, an early time for any of us let alone a group of high school students.
“I’m someone who works the whole year, all through the summer, through the winter, through the whole season,” goalie Dylan Fansler said. “We have 6 a.m. practices. Our team comes in at 6 a.m. this Tuesday. It’s just a big deal for us to work hard. When we’re out there in a game that’s 5-4, a game that we’re up 3-0, we’re working as hard as we can.”
St. Charles proved that hard work translates to any time of day Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals captured the CHC Red Division division of the Blue Jackets Cup presented by OhioHealth, downing Upper Arlington by a 5-4 score in a back-and-forth championship game at the Ice Haus.
The CBJ Cup victory came amid an excellent season against Central Ohio foes for the Cardinals – who went 15-1-0-0 in Capital Hockey Conference regular-season action, outscoring league opponents 55-19 – and provided St. Charles with its second-ever trophy, with the first coming in 2014.
“It’s one of our four goals for this year,” Fansler said. “We’ve achieved two of them so far. We want the regional, we want the state. We have two more to go, and it’s been great. We haven’t won this since 2014. I don’t even know any of the people who won it back in 2014, so it’s pretty awesome.”
Jack Jensen and Will Howard each scored two goals, while Patrick Megahan also tallied for the Cardinals, who converted on three power plays. Despite the fact St. Charles gave up more than two goals to a CHC opponent for the first time all season, Fansler came up big in the key moments as the Golden Bears pushed in the latter half of the game.
St. Charles never trailed, leading 5-2 early in the third period, before defending state champion Upper Arlington rallied. But with the OHSAA tournament on deck, St. Charles – which opened the tournament with wins over Cincinnati Moeller (5-1) and Dublin Jerome (1-0) – showed in a key moment that it can win any type of way.
“It’s playoff hockey,” Greiner said. “The more games we can play against a great team like that – every time we’ve played this year, it’s a one-goal game. They’re gritty battles. One was in OT, that (game Sunday) took until the final buzzer. I think that’s the type of test that we need to face as we head into the playoffs.”
St. Charles has leaned on a veteran defense, including alternate captain Fansler in net and captain Tommy Scharfenberger on the blue line, for much of the season, but the offense was a big part of Sunday’s victory.
Jensen put the Cardinals on the board first just 4:47 into the game after St. Charles forced a turnover in the neutral zone, as Howard fed the puck across to the right circle for Jensen to wrist off the bar and into the net behind UA goalie Finn Otis.
Megahan doubled the lead 7:17 into the game when he found a loose puck in the right circle and put it past Otis.
“It’s huge,” Greiner said of the early advantage. “It’s great for their morale and confidence to be able to take a little deep breath knowing we’re not do-or-die every shift, that we have some breathing room to make mistakes and be a little more aggressive. I think that was really crucial to us grinding it out.”
From there, two of Central Ohio’s best hockey programs battled it out in a game of momentum swings. Just 2:02 into the second, Ben Spence put Upper Arlington on the board with a power-play goal, as his shot from the top of the zone deflected past Fansler.
St. Charles responded with its own power-play goal with 6:19 on the second period clock, as Howard’s shot from the top of the zone got past Otis to make it 3-1. Spence responded for UA just 26 seconds later, as captain Henry Thackeray’s breakout pass got him behind the defense and he beat Fansler past the glove.
The Cardinals then scored a key power-play goal with just 57.5 seconds left on the second-period clock to make it 4-2, as Harry Hadden’s pass across the top of the crease sat on a platter for Howard to put past Otis.
Fansler made a couple of big saves on a UA power play that stretched from the late second into the third, then it appeared the Cardinals put the game away a few minutes later when Jensen scored through a screen on the power play to make it 5-2.
But the Golden Bears battled back, as Tate Rook scored a pair of goals. His first with 8:31 left was a loose puck that bounced home in the crease, and Rook made it a one-goal game on the power play with 3:38 to go as he scored through a screen from the right circle. Upper Arlington took a late too many men penalty, though, as Otis scrambled to the bench and the Cardinals were able to hold on.
At the final buzzer, St. Charles players streamed from the bench to celebrate in the crease before singing the alma mater with the CBJ Cup trophy in tow along with the school’s student section.
“It’s great that we made history this year,” Howard said. “There couldn’t be a better group to do this with. We need to keep doing that. This is only one of our goals. We gotta keep going.”
Celebrating its 25th year, the Blue Jackets Cup presented by OhioHealth matches the high school teams in the area for a championship ahead of the upcoming state tournament. Dublin Coffman captured the CHC White Division title as well Sunday, downing Thomas Worthington by a 3-1 score.
Blue Jackets Cup action presented by OhioHealth continues next week as the CHC junior varsity and Ohio Scholastic Hockey League varsity titles will be on the line.
The OHSAA tournament kicks off later in February, with the state tournament taking place March 14-15 at Nationwide Arena.
