By MATT SEXTON
WNJ Sports Writer
WNJ Sports Writer
COLUMBUS – Toledo St. Francis de Sales head coach Chris Varga finished his press conference following Saturday’s OHSAA ice hockey title game by presenting the game puck to his goalie Kade Phipps.
Phipps stopped 23 of 24 shots he faced Saturday at Nationwide Arena, pacing St. Francis to a 3-1 victory over Lakewood St. Edward for the school’s second state championship.
There was no save bigger than one in the first period that they’ll be talking about for years to come.
After taking an early 1-0 lead, St. Francis found itself pinned in its own zone about six minutes in. St. Edward got a great shot off, which Phipps steered aside but right to an open shooter on his left.
Somehow, Phipps went post-to-post, making a glove save that would even make Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky proud.
“That’s what we expect out of Kade,” said Varga. “Both of our goalies have done that for us all year. Us coaches sat down and talked about who would start and who would finish. When you make a save like that, I think we made the right decision.
“To be honest, I wouldn’t expect anything less. The guy’s a gamer.”
A little more than two minutes after Phipps remarkable save, St. Francis made it 2-0 after Matt Barrow found some space to the right of goal and sniped a shot over St. Edward goalie Warren Hill.
“All year, it’s been important for us to get the first couple goals,” Varga said. “We try to get a team on their heels right away. St. Eds is a great team. If they scored first or scored two on us, this could have been a whole different scenario at the end.”
Meanwhile, St. Edward was struggling to get any kind of offense going. Head coach Troy Gray credited St. Francis for making things hard on his team.
“We were just trying to get a little too pretty with some situations,” said Gray. “We were controlling play at times in the second period. We just weren’t getting pucks to the net.”
St. Edward finally got the break they were looking for early in the third. After St. Francis’ Brendan Lascola was called for hooking, the Eagles went to the power play.
It took just 23 seconds for the Eagle special teams to score. Colin Price came around the front of the net and ripped a shot over Phipps at 2:30 of the third to pull within one.
“(St. Francis) took a penalty against our hard work,” Gray said. “Hard work turned into a PP. We capitalized on the opportunity. Colin made a great play.”
Varga settled his team down after allowing the goal.
“I said ‘don’t worry about it,’” Varga said. “It’s ok. We’ve been scored on before. We’ve been behind before. We’ve came back and won. These guys have played hockey for years. They’ve been on both sides of the spectrum.”
Not to be overlooked at the other end, Hill made 38 saves and kept his team in the game when they couldn’t get much going offensively.
St. Eds finally got another break when Jay Denman was whistled for roughing with 1:31 remaining. Just 21 seconds into the power play, St. Edward pulled Hill to give itself a six-on-four advantage.
However, a turnover in the neutral zone allowed Mike White to skate in and bury a shot into the empty net to clinch the state title for St. Francis with 36.4 remaining.
“That’s a good hockey team,” Gray said of St. Francis. “They have a lot of talent on that team. We were fighting them and just came up a little short. I’m super proud of these kids.”
St. Edward, in its 17th state finals appearance, finished the season 26-9-4. St. Francis, winning its second state title in three appearances, finished 32-5-1.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Varga. “The kids came to the school for the education and a chance to play hockey. They got a bunch of kids together, believed in themselves and worked hard through the ups and downs.”
Summary
@ Nationwide Arena, Columbus
Toledo St. Francis de Sales 3, Lakewood St. Edward 1
St. Edward – 0 – 0 – 1 – 1
St. Francis – 2 – 0 – 1 – 3
St. Francis – 2 – 0 – 1 – 3
FIRST PERIOD: Scoring – 1, St. Francis, Jay Denman (Kyle Bloom), 3:25. 2, St. Francis, Matt Barrow (Mike White) (PP) 8:26. Penalties – Collin Mitchell, SE (Interference) 8:01; Grant Schoeck, SF (Hooking) 9:01. SECOND PERIOD: Scoring – None. Penalties – None. THIRD PERIOD: Scoring – 3, St. Edward, Colin Price (Collin Mitchell, Alex Sabitsch) (PP) 2:30. 4, St. Francis, Mike White (Kyle Bloom) (EN) 14:24. Penalties – Brendan Lascola, SF (Hooking) 2:07; Will Armbruster, SE (Hooking) 10:31; Jay Denman, SF (Roughing) 13:29; Will Armbruster, SE (10-minute misconduct) 14:24; Collin Mitchell, SE (10-minute misconduct) 14:24.
Shots on goal: St. Edward 11 – 8 – 5 – 24. St. Francis 14 – 15 – 12 – 41. Power plays: St. Edward 1 for 3; St. Francis 1 for 2. Goalies: St. Edward, Warren Hill (40 shots-38 saves). St. Francis, Kade Phipps (24 shots-23 saves). T: 1:55.
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