Olentangy Liberty, Dayton big winners in Blue Jackets Cup action

The Olentangy Liberty High School hockey program is one of the most consistently successful in Central Ohio, but unfortunately for the Patriots, they haven't been playing horseshoes or using hand grenades.
As close as the program had come in recent years to a Blue Jackets Cup championship or a bid to the state tournament, that level of success had eluded the Patriots. Nothing was more painful than the 2021-22 season, as last year, Liberty lost the Blue Jackets Cup final in overtime to Olentangy Berlin, then dropped the OHSAA regional final when Upper Arlington scored a goal with 4.9 seconds left.
There would be no disappointment this season, though. After getting through the entire Capital Hockey Conference season unbeaten in 16 games, Liberty left nothing to chance in the Blue Jackets Cup presented by OhioHealth to cap the season, outscoring foes by a combined 21-0 to win the school's second-ever Cup win.

In a rematch with Berlin in the Blue Jackets Cup final on Feb. 12, Liberty scored once in each period to capture a 3-0 victory.
"For the whole hockey community at Liberty, which is a big part of the high school now, it feels really amazing," head coach Kevin Alexander said. "It's a monkey off our backs for sure to finally get one of these Cups."
Liberty captured its first Blue Jackets Cup at the varsity level since 2011, with the team's depth wearing down Berlin.
Jake Bachus got the Patriots on the board with 4:42 left in the first, as Brian Savage got the puck to the net before Bachus put the rebound of Eric Bauermeister's chance past Berlin goalie Kai Nelson. The Patriots doubled the lead when Charlie Hughes passed up a scoring opportunity to feed Andrew Leonard, whose shot from the left circle beat Nelson midway through the second to double the lead.
Goalie Robert Cook made some big stops late in the second and early in the third on Berlin's Myles Edgson, then Liberty put the game on ice with 4:31 to go when Savage scored.
While it was the Patriots' first Blue Jackets Cup win in 12 seasons, team members said they had worked to achieve the feat for quite some time.
"We have a lot of team chemistry," defenseman and co-captain Jacob Kempa said. "Everyone has played together -- I played with five kids on the team growing up. My D partner, I've played with for about 12 years. We have a lot to play for. We all love each other. We're great friends. There's a lot on the line."
Olentangy Liberty now moves on to the OHSAA tournament, which the team began Sunday with a 17-0 victory over Troy to advance to the quarterfinals of the Columbus bracket. Action will continue until the state final four is contested March 11 and 12 at Nationwide Arena.
Liberty has made appearances in the state tournament thrice before, qualifying in 2011, '13 and '17. Having made it through the conference schedule and Blue Jackets Cup unscathed, the Patriots have their eye set on big things.
"It's a great steppingstone for sure," Hughes said. "For us, we really think we can win a state championship, and we're just going to keep working every day until we do that."

Dayton Adds to Trophy Case

The Blue Jackets Cup also included a division for club teams representing the Ohio Scholastic Hockey League around the state.
The Dayton Stealth varsity team won the cup for the third year in a row Sunday, defeating the Newark Generals by a score of 2-0.

Head coach Kelly Friedman was proud of his team, which was 17-1-0 in the regular season in conference action.
"It's exciting," Friedman said. "This is one of our major first steps. We always say win the league, let's win state, and then place in the top 10 at nationals, so this means a lot. Especially because I know a lot of people kind of look at us differently because we are technically not in Columbus, we drive an hour and 20 minutes to be here -- the league is special to us, so that's really cool for us to win it."
Landon Bechtolt, a third-year forward on the team and the squad's leading scorer, spoke about what the win means for the Stealth.
"As a team and as an organization, it is a huge deal to win again this year," he said. "It draws in a lot of attention and grows the game even more. It's really exciting. It's hard to be able to win three years in a row."
Dayton now moves on to the state Buckeye Cup tournament this upcoming weekend before nationals in March.

Other Action

There were two other Blue Jackets Cup champions, as there were junior varsity competitions for both the Capital Hockey Conference and the OSHL.
The victors of each of those tournaments will be familiar, as Olentangy Liberty won the CHC JV bracket, while Dayton captured the OSHL JV tournament. Liberty downed Upper Arlington by a 5-4 final to take the CHC crown, while Dayton took the OSHL by beating Athens by a 3-2 score in overtime.
In addition, Dublin Jerome won the consolation division of the CHC varsity Cup action, downing St. Xavier by a 3-2 score.
Caitlin Foley contributed to this report.