As players and staff members from the Dayton Stealth took a celebratory picture with the Blue Jackets Cup presented by OhioHealth on Sunday, they held up five fingers.
If the Stealth had a motto this year, it might have been “one for the thumb.” Their Cup win over Hilliard was the team’s fifth straight victory in the Ohio Scholastic Hockey League’s varsity final, further cementing Dayton as one of the top programs in the state.
“When I inherited the program, it had been a while since they won it,” head coach Kelly Friedman said. “From the high school varsity all the way down to our learn to play, in Dayton, everybody wants to be a Stealth. We’re excited about it. We’re in a really good spot.”
The OSHL varsity champion during the regular season with a 7-1-0 record, Dayton earned the tournament win in emphatic fashion, outshooting the Wildcats by a 58-18 margin in the final and never allowing Hilliard much breathing room with the puck. Were it not for the heroics of Hilliard goalie Michael Slivon, who made 55 saves in the losing effort, the Stealth could have pulled away even further.
Dayton got two goals from Eli Thompson and a tally from Kiel Patton, while goalie Cameron Faught made 17 saves.
“That was phenomenal,” Friedman said of his team's performance. “Every time we play Hilliard, it’s always a battle. They find a way to step up and play us hard. We talked about being relentless, we talked about going 100 mph, we talked about shooting pucks, crashing nets. I was really, really happy. I thought we came out with more energy and everybody did their job, and that’s why we had success.”
Dayton began the scoring 1:47 into the game, forcing Hilliard into a turnover at the netfront, with Patton skating onto the loose puck and putting it past Slivon.
Hilliard was able to respond, though, scoring a power-play goal with 9:15 left on the first period clock. Dylan DeForest fed Cooper Burgei in the left circle for a one-timer, and while Faught got a piece of Burgei’s shot, it still found its way into the net.
Dayton took the lead for good with 4:33 left in the first, as Harris Vogelgesang fed Thompson for a breakaway right down the middle of the ice, and the Stealth captain made no mistake with a shot past Slivon.
The Hilliard goaltender was masterful in the second with 24 saves on 25 shots against, including a point-blank denial of Patton and a breakaway stop against Lincoln Littlejohn. But with just 37.4 seconds left in the second, Thompson doubled Dayton’s lead with a rocket from the slot that hit the bottom of the crossbar and rattled into the net behind Slivon.
“That kid is money,” Friedman said of Thompson. “Every time we’re in a situation, Eli is the kid that always pulls through. He goes 100 mph. He’s our captain, and he’s a guy that understands what it means to wear the ‘C.’ We’re excited for Eli.”
Dayton had to kill three penalties in the third period but was able to do so to cement the victory, posting a 15-5 edge in shots in the final frame.
The OSHL is a USA Hockey-sanctioned High School Combined Division league participating in the Mid American (MIDAM) District. Its players are high school-aged students from Central Ohio. Its member teams are broken up into districts to allow players who do not attend a high school with an Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) sanctioned varsity program to play at a competitive high school level.
Dayton downed Pickerington (17-0) and Newark (3-1) to get to the final, while third-seeded Hilliard (3-2-3 in regular season play) downed the Northeast Storm (4-3) and second-seeded Miami (3-2).
In the handshake line after Sunday’s Blue Jackets Cup presented by OhioHealth final, some members of the Hilliard team told Freidman they would see him in a few weeks. That could be the case, as the squads advance to the Buckeye Cup that will crown the best team in the state.
The top-ranked team in the state, Dayton will try to add to championships won in 2021 and ‘23 at the event in Cleveland in two weeks, while Hilliard will look to defend its Buckeye Cup crown.
“We fought, kicked and screamed to get that No. 1 ranking back,” Friedman said. “This is our fifth year being ranked No. 1 going into state’s. We have two state championships and hopefully this year we can make it three.”
Before the game, St. Charles defeated Upper Arlington by a 6-3 score in the final of the Capital Hockey Conference’s junior varsity division of the Blue Jackets Cup presented by OhioHealth. The OSHL JV final will be next Sunday.
