Ramirez Wrap-up
The St. Francis DeSales Varsity ice hockey team (2-7-1-1, 0-2-1-1) took part in the Annual Landon Ramirez Invitational this past weekend. The tournament is in memory of 2000 Worthington Kilbourne graduate and former team Captain Landon Ramirez.
A final record of 1-2 fails to show the hard work and effort put in by the St. Francis DeSales Stallions. A hard fought win over the Troy Trojans (4-5-0-0) was bookended by losses to Thomas Worthington (4-6-2-1) and Moeller (8-3-0-0).
The 12 Points of Christmas
The forward line of Ben Janszen (senior), Dominic Locilento (junior) and Josh Stemen (junior) had a big weekend racking up 12 points including 6 goals.
Game 1
The Stallions weekend started will non-conference play against Capital Hockey Conference (CHC) foe Thomas Worthington. This was the first time the two met this year.
"The only constant is inconsistency"
DeSales was back to their "Jekyll and Hyde ways" on Friday night. A strong showing in the third period was not enough to overcome a sluggish first period that saw Thomas take a 2-0 lead.
The Stallions came out for the second period with more life. Except for a fluky goal they played a great period of high school hockey.
The third period was all Desales style hockey. The Stallions' forwards fore-checked hard, the defense was solid and the goaltending was stout.
The DeSales blue-collar style of fore-checking put Thomas Worthington on the defensive. After a long shift spent mostly in the Worthington end of the ice, the Cardinals attempted to clear the puck in desperation. Stallions' defenseman Ryan Williamson (sophomore) solid point play resulted in the puck staying in the Cardinals zone. Ben Janszen fighting for, and winning, the puck down low fed it Josh Stemen in the slot whose low wrist shot slid through the Thomas goaltenders five-hole and brought the Stallions to within two.
DeSales continued to pepper the Cardinals goalie throughout the third period, even pulling Salerno for an extra skater with less than a minute remaining. Yet, the final score remained at 3-1 in favor of Thomas Worthington.
DeSales headed to the locker room looking to rebound the next night against the Trojans from Troy.
Assistant Coach Edwards on his players ability to overcome adversity; "I'm proud of the way our guys took a rough first period and turned it around in the second and third."
The Stallions came out looking to carry the momentum from the third period of the previous night into their Saturday evening game against the Troy Trojans from the South West Ohio High School Hockey League (SWOHSHL).
"The only constant is inconsistency"
This was the first time the Stallions have faced the Trojans in regular season play and the first time this year against a SWOHSHL opponent.
Needing someone to step up and keep the fire burning Desales got their lift from speedy and aggressive play from defenseman Matt Farkas (senior).
DeSales pounded away at the Trojans physically and with shots on net. The first period ended with a scoreless tie and all the momentum in the Stallions corral.
The game did not stay scoreless for long as Colton Mieskoski (junior) would hit a forgotten Taylor 'Mighty" Janszen (junior) on the back side for a one-timer past Troy goalie, Conner Carney to go up 1-0.
Troy had little time to recover. Less then two minutes later Dominick Locilento put the puck in the net with an assist from Ben Janszen.
Giving 2 Unanswered
Up 2-0, DeSales was feeling good until the Trojans made it known they weren't ready to give up by scoring two of their own to tie the game.
Ben Janszen would get another assist, this time Josh Stemen was the recipient of the pass and put his second goal of the weekend by the Trojan goalie to put DeSales up 3-2 in the third period.
Tied Again
Troy refused to go away and quickly tied the game up at three a piece.
Locilento and Janszen would pair up again for Locilento's second goal of the game and the game winner.
Good Defense, Good Goaltending
The Trojans pulled their goalie for a sixth skater in a last-ditch effort to tie the game. The Stallion defense was strong and goaltender Pat Slattery was played very well.
Rookie's Hat Trick
Locilento iced the Trojans with his third goal of the game, an empty netter shot from the DeSales end of the ice.
A Steep Hill to Climb
Team Captain, Corbin Steinhaus on beating Troy; "Last season Troy was our first game and we lost badly. That's why beating them felt so good because it showed us how far we have come as a team and the progress we have made."
Game 3 - Semi-final Game
Though the Stallions were aiming for the championship game they came up short in their final test of the weekend against the Moeller Crusaders.
Game 3 - Semi-final Game
St. Francis DeSales came into the game high off of their win over Troy and looking to roll through another tough SWOHSHL opponent.
A hard fought game by the Stallions was marred by a loss of composure in the second half of the second period.
From the onset, the game went back and forth. Moeller interrupted the end to end hockey game when a forward broke free and put the puck past goaltender Patrick Slattery (junior) to take the lead, 1-0.
Dealing with Adversity
DeSales came out for the second period; playing hard, fast and tough.
Mid-way through the period Josh Stemen would knot the score at 1-1 on assists from Ben Janszen and Colton Mieskoski. It was a high effort rebound goal; Stemen stuffed the puck between the post and the Alec Mathias pad. Once again the Stallions came back from adversity.
The Stallions joy was short lived as a poor change during a penalty kill allowed Moeller an unabated breakaway and the lead.
Moeller Momentum
Moeller completed the second period with a two goal lead after picking up a loose puck in front of the DeSales net. Down 3-1 the Stallions headed to the locker room to re-group.
A New Team, a New Attitude
In past years, the Stallions would have come out for the third period like a broken mule. Content with letting an opponent like Moeller role over them. But not this year!
The Stallions players came to the ice for the third interlude to prove they could deal with any and all adversity including defenseman Ian Schnied (junior).
During the second period a body check resulted in his possible broken hand, yet realizing his team needed him he returned mid-way through the third. When asked about it after the game Schnied said, "It felt great to join my team in our attempt to come back and help the team as much as I possibly could."
Sophomore defensemen, Jake Vasbinder and Ryan Williamson picked up the slack as Schnied had his injury attended to.
Though Moeller would score one more goal and Desales would score none, the third period is one that will be remembered by the coaching staff. Said Coach Maxwell "These young men could have folded after that second period but they didn't. They dealt with adversity and came out to play great hockey in the third period."
The Stallions finished their weekend 1-2-0 and 2-7-1-1 for the season to date.
When asked to asses the tournament as a whole, Captain Corbin Steinhaus had this to say "I felt as if we were in a position to win every game this weekend and losing close games never feels good. However, we gained a lot of experience playing against non-conference teams and different systems that will help us the rest of the year."
Weekend Notes
Junior goalie Patrick Slattery got his first real test of the season playing the full 45 minutes against state powerhouse Moeller. Said Coach Edwards "Pat has worked hard this offseason and in practice. He asked for this shot and he got it because he deserved it. Although the score said 4-1 against us, Pat showed that he is a high caliber goaltender that gives our team something few teams have, the confidence to start either goalie against any team we face this season."
After scoring 4 unassisted goals the weekend before the Stallions had assists on 6 of 7 goals on the weekend. The lone unassisted goal was a clearing attempt by Locilento that hit the boards at the right angle and slid into the net.
Senior Ben Janszen is quickly becoming known as the Setup Man. Janszen accounted for 6 of the teams 8 assists, during the Ramirez Tournament.
After a Hat Trick in the Troy game Dominic Locilento had this to say about Ben, "If Ben and I weren't line mates, I would not have had a hat trick Saturday night. I would have had a one-goal game that was an open netter and we may not have won the game. I knew before the season started that Ben was going to be my go-to guy. I know it's only going to get better as we keep learning each other's styles of play"
After a rough start to the season the team is developing some good chemistry with each other. Captain Corbin Steinhaus had this, "For most of us we have been playing together now for three or four years and I believe it is beginning to show, not just on the ice but we're more of a family off the ice as well."
Weekend Notes
The Stallions will participate in the Annual Adam Allgeyer Tournament. The Stallions will start against the club team from Centerville at 7pm on Friday, December 14th at 7pm at the Dublin Chiller. Conference foe Dublin Scioto is up next for an 8pm game on Saturday, December 15th at the Chiller North. The final round robin game is against the Hilliard club team and will take place early Sunday morning at 7:50am at the Dublin Chiller. The championship game of the tournament will be held Sunday at 12:40pm, also at the Dublin Chiller.
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