Rocky River junior Bridget Gipper knocks the puck away during a recent practice session at Hamilton Ice Arena. (West Life photo by Larry Bennet)

North Olmsted, River again looking to contend on the ice
By Jim Horvath
Sports
Published Dec. 3, 2008

Some things changed, others remained the same as the 2008-09 high school hockey season opened last weekend.

One of the biggest changes came in the White Division, which merged into one 10-team league for this year. Rocky River, the defending champion of the White Division West, remains as a contender there, along with Olmsted Falls, which tied for second place.

Dropping out of the White Division are the Bay Rockets, who will compete this season in the Blue Division South. They’ll look to compete for a division championship against Midview, Canfield, Garfield Heights, Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin and Orange.

In the Red Division East, things remain the same for 2008-09. Defending division champion North Olmsted returns 10 lettermen from last year’s 23-7 team that made it deep into last year’s state tournament before bowing out to St. Ignatius.

Here’s a look at the how the Westshore’s hockey teams look heading into the season:

Eagles look to repeat in Red East
North Olmsted graduated seven seniors from last year’s squad that finished 8-2 in the division. That squad scored 128 goals and averaged 4.27 goals per game while holding its opponents to 2.17.

“Our expectations are pretty high,” said veteran coach Tim Murphy, who begins his 19th season at the helm of the program.

“We have a fairly veteran team coming back,” said Murphy. “We have a hard-working group here, and we should compete for league championship. We also want to make the Baron Cup and go deep into the tournament.

“We should be a more balanced group offensively this year. Last year, we were a little top heavy,” he added.

Leading that offense will be senior forward Chad Murphy, who had 42 goals and 30 assists last season.  Senior forward Ron Soltesz returns, as does senior defender Matt Konyesni. A pair of sophomore forwards, Mike Konyesni and Ryan Sutton, will look to add to the Eagles’ scoring punch.

Senior Ian Smith, who saw limited action last year, will start in goal for the Eagles.

North Olmsted again will tangle with Benedictine, Hudson and Shaker Heights for the division crown. Murphy said he expects Hudson to provide a challenge for that spot.

Pirates look to continue success
Last year was a watershed season for the Rocky River program. Despite a coaching change early in the campaign, the Pirates finished with the best record in school history at 23-6-1 overall and 8-2 in the division.

Head coach Chris Cogan is back for his first full season as the Pirates’ leader. He’ll be looking for some players to step it up this season after the program graduated 10 seniors.

“We need some of our younger players to step in and produce,” said Cogan. “We need for them to fill leadership roles and take over some spots in our lineup.

“We’re kind of rebuilding, but not really. The players we have are capable of getting the job done for us,” he said.

Cogan does welcome back 11 lettermen from last year’s team that averaged 4.24 goals per game and allowed just 1.86.

Early on, River’s first line looked like this: team tri-captain and junior forward Greg Soltes, along with fellow junior forward Clay Johanson and sophomore center Matt Garibaldi. The second line consisted of senior tri-captain Harry Hoppe, flanked by sophomores Robbie Plagens and Dan Schiau.

On the third line, juniors Travis Pescatrice and Todd Hendricks will join forces with sophomore Kyle Lamb. Defensively, senior tri-captain Joe Emery returns. Senior Nolan Mitchell will move to defenseman this season, while fellow senior Dave Haas, who played club last season, returns to the team after lettering as a sophomore.

River will start a female in goal this season as junior Bridget Gipper takes over. Sophomore Jake Hamilton will back her up.

“She definitely knows the game,” said Cogan of Gipper. “The big thing for her this season will be to get into a rhythm game in, game out. It’ll be a big transition for her early on, but she definitely has the skills and mentality to get the job done for us.”

Joining River in the White Division this year will be Westshore rival Olmsted Falls, along with Amherst, Mentor, Brecksville, Holy Name, Kent Roosevelt, Normandy, North Canton Hoover and Western Reserve.

Bulldogs look for offense in ’08-09
Olmsted Falls will be looking to continue the success the program has had the past two years with back-to-back 18-win seasons.

The Bulldogs went 18-12-1 last season, 7-3 in the division and scored three goals per game. But this year’s team will be without 75 percent of last year’s offensive power due to graduation, according to head coach Brian Thompson.

“We’re going to need people to fill some shoes this season,” said Thompson, who begins his fourth season as head coach and ninth with the program. “We’ll have to remain tough on defense and in goal. That’s where it starts for us, and that’s been a big part of our success the past two seasons.”

The anchor of that defense again will be goalkeeper Patrick Butterfield, who had a save percentage of around 90 percent last season and was first-team league his sophomore year. Senior defenseman Justin Bement returns and will be joined by juniors Collin Brady and Eddie Gerus.

Only one senior is featured on the first two lines for Falls. Co-captain Mike Sturm returns and will be joined by junior Ryan Rex and sophomore  Cory Daugherty on the first line. The second line will have junior co-captain Ryan Petitti and fellow juniors Erik Kolar and Nick Riolo.

Rockets look to compete in Blue South
The Rockets, 13-17 overall last year and 2-8 in the White Division West, feel the move to the Blue Division South will be a good one.

“We expect to be competitive in that division,” said Bay head coach Terry Chadwick as he begins his ninth season.

“There are some really good teams in the Blue North, but I still think we should compete for one of the first two spots in the South. That would get us into the Baron Cup. After that, who knows?” he said.

Bay lost seven players to graduation, but returns leading scorer Buddy Martin. Martin, a senior, had 16 goals and 20 assists last season. Fellow senior Matt McLaughlin will be expected to pick up some of the scoring slack after that, according to Chadwick.

Other front line players looking to bolster the Rocket offense will be juniors Danny Pailes and Corey White, along with sophomores Alex Harris and Luke Heberle. Defensively, senior Matt Notarberardino returns. He’ll be joined by his younger brother Nathan, who is a freshman, along with another freshman, Christian Nye.

Sophomore Dan Scheufler and junior Dominic Zappala were expected to battle it out for the goalkeeper duties, according to Chadwick.