Lake hockey wins first White Division championship

By: 
J. Patrick Eaken

        For the first time in program history, the Lake club hockey team won the Northwest Hockey Conference White Division playoff championship.
        Lake finished 23-2, sharing the regular season title with Sylvania Southview. After splitting regular season games, Lake defeated the Cougars 6-3 in the playoff final.
        Lake’s only two losses were to Southview, 4-3, during the regular season and to NHC Red Division team Anthony Wayne, 7-0.
        Lake won the Cleveland Rock ‘N Roll Tournament, defeating the Corning Hurricanes from New York three times, 5-1, 6-2 and 4-1, the Buffalo Stars, 14-1, and the Webster Cyclones 6-1. Lake coach Craig Horvath was impressed with his team’s win but is looking to upgrade the schedule.
        “We played well down there, but we are always looking for better competition,” Horvath said. “The thing that bothers me is I don’t like to talk about how great a year we had when the competition is just not there this year.
        “It’s just a great group of kids. You hate to brag and say that we’re 23-2 but it’s the competition. I think we might have learned something as coaches this year for next year, and that is we need to sub out, get out of our area, and play (lines differently).”
        Lake also won the Spartans Cup in Lansing, Michigan with a 5-0 win over the Traverse City West Prep North Stars, 7-2 win over Elyria and 8-2 win over the Soo Major Titans from Ontario.
        The team had three players who attend Lake — Colton Lowe, Kreig Boisselle and Michael Tolles. Tolles finished the season with 15 goals and 23 assists, Boisselle had 17 goals and 12 assists and Lowe had seven goals and 11 assists. Tolles says it was an extraordinary season.
        “My season with Lake has been great. We have fun every game and every practice we go out and work hard. There’s nothing bad about playing for Lake. It’s just that it’s fun to be around,” said Tolles, a second team all-NHC White Division defenseman.
        Tolles, a sophomore, said it was when Lake defeated Southview, 7-3, early in the season that he knew his team was going to have a good season. Southview has been White Division runner-up two of the last three years.
        “Our first win against Southview — that was a big win for us. That really showed us during our season that we had something to work for,” Tolles said.
        Also playing for Lake was starting goalie Logan Urbanyi (Northwood) who also had four assists when not in goal. Others included Nick Rombach (Woodmore, seven goals, two assists), Ray Wagner (Cardinal Stritch, 20 goals, 40 assists, second team All-White Division defenseman), Griffin Hales (Clay, 17 goals, 18 assists) and Ben Loomis (Genoa, six goals, six assists).
        Loomis, a freshman, got hurt during Lake’s 8-1 White Division playoff semifinal win over Clay, which was difficult for his father, Brian Loomis, the game’s scorekeeper. One year earlier Ben had been playing bantam hockey, which has no checking, to varsity hockey, which does allow checking.
        “That kid will be OK. He’s just got to get a little stronger,” Lake assistant coach Ron Kenney, a Genoa resident, said. “He’s always in the right spot, he does the right things, and that’s a positional player without question.”
        Leading the team in scoring was Wauseon senior Chase Soltis with 61 goals and 43 assists, and his younger brother Clay Soltis had 33 goals and 28 assists. Combined the Soltis brothers accounted for 165 points in one season.
        Chase was voted the White Division Player of the Year and was a first team White Division forward.
        The playoff win over Clay was a physical game that saw 26 penalties, four ejections and another player removed because he reached the penalty limit. Chase showed off his uncanny skills while scoring on a penalty shot. He finished that game with a hat trick, plus he had two assists.
        “Some of the goals that Chase scored were like amazing,” said Kenney. “His eye-hand coordination is excellent. He’s quite a player, that kid. On that penalty shot, he almost lost the puck, but he got it back.”
        Horvath added, “Chase had 76 goals last year. It was unbelievable, and he’s over 60 this year. He’s way up there. In the two years that he’s played with us he’s put a lot of goals up there and his brother Clay does very well, also. We’ll lose (Chase) but his brother is pretty darn good. They’re fun to watch”
        Chase and Clay scored two goals apiece in the White Division championship win over Southview, plus Chase had two assists as the brothers accounted for six points in that game. There were four players from Northwest Ohio Athletic Conference schools, including one each from Patrick Henry (Jardine Henry) and Archbold (Zoey Tuckerman).
        “Owen Jardine (15 goals, 27 assists) is just another kid who just kind of brings it all. Ray Wagner, a Stritch kid, also brings it,” Horvath continued.
        Jardine and Clay’s Corey Krieger were voted second team All-White Division forwards. Clay hockey player Alex Taylor was voted the Dunn Sportsperson Award, named for early NHC commissioner and Bowling Green Bobcat advocate Marvin Dunn, who died in 2018.
 
 

Category:

The Press

The Press
1550 Woodville Road
Millbury, OH 43447

(419) 836-2221

Email Us

Facebook Twitter

Ohio News Media Association