The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Thornton Park title a big win for Mentor
Mentor knows its way to Thornton Park in Shaker Heights by now. But there is one part of that rink that was unfamiliar to the Cardinals — the winner’s circle. Until now, that is. Mentor went 3-0 to take the Thornton Park tournament — Shaker’s annual pre-Christmas and mid-December fixture — defeating Strongsville in its opener and a pair of Red North foes in less than 24 hours in the host Red Raiders and Rocky River. The Cardinals (10-3) dispatched Shaker, 3-2, and topped River, 2-1, in overtime Dec. 17 in the tournament final.
Alec Weaver, who scored the game-winning goal against River with eight seconds left in OT, was named tournament MVP, and fellow senior Jacob Tackett was named outstanding goaltender.
“It’s a huge stepping stone for us,” Mentor coach Paul McKito said. “To win the first game against Strongsville and get a little momentum going, and then to come back the next day and play Shaker in their rink and in their tournament — a place that’s always very, very hard to play in whether you’re Mentor, Rocky River or any other team. It’s just a tough building to play in.
“And it was a huge boost for our kids. We thought we were playing a pretty good brand of hockey, but that (Shaker) win — it’s making believers out of the kids. They had lofty goals from the beginning of the season here, and it gives them a big boost of confidence going into (the River game) and how good we could really be. It just set the tone for the weekend.”
Mentor has won 10 of its last 11 dating to Nov. 25, the lone loss being avenged against Shaker, to which the Cardinals fell in league play Dec. 8.
Coming into this year, Mentor had made the championship semifinal round at the Thornton Park tournament just three times in its 11 appearances since 2000 — never advancing to the tourney final in that span.
And to defeat Shaker and River — a pair of squads with whom the Cardinals have had a lot of trouble over the years — was also a big deal. The 3-2 victory over the Red Raiders in a semifinal was their fourth in 28 tries dating to the 2000-01 season and first since Dec. 19, 2013, snapping an 11-game losing skid to Shaker. Mentor had defeated River once in its last 21 tries before the OT win in the Thornton Park final.
Of the Cardinals’ top four scorers, three are underclassmen. Evan McBride, who showed promise as a sophomore last winter, has a team-high 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) and had five helpers in the Thornton Park tournament, including on Weaver’s game-winner against River. Sophomore Kyle Backston has seven goals and 14 assists, and freshman Andrew McBride has recorded seven goals and nine assists.
In the defensive zone, standout blueliner Jack Perish returns, and the penalty kill has been outstanding in the early going, firing well over 90 percent.
Combined with veteran performers such as Weaver (10 goals, nine assists), who paced the Cardinals with 36 points a year ago, and Tackett, a returning first-team News-Herald all-star between the pipes, Mentor is finding its stride.
“It’s great for this year, and it’s great for the future of the program,” McKito said of the underclassmen mixing in well. “The younger players who are stepping up are good hockey players. Growing up, they played in some big games along the way. To step up and be a contributor at the varsity level as underclassmen is a huge step for the program. They’ve adjusted to the speed and
pace of the game already 13 games into the season here.”
For more from McKito, listen to the full audio interview at News-Herald.com.
Week that was
A look at some notes and headlines from area teams this past week:
• Benedictine and Chagrin Falls are used to each other by now. The all-area matchup has occurred 11 times in the last four seasons, including the Bengals’ 6-4 White South win Dec. 16. Matt Carson had a hat trick, including the goahead and insurance goals 61 seconds apart in the third period.
• Brush scored its first four goals of the season in an 11-4 Blue South setback to Garfield Heights.
• Kenston is in the midst of a seven-game winning streak after taking the Kent holiday tournament over the weekend. This marks the Bombers’ longest win streak since they won 12 straight from Dec. 6, 2013 to Jan. 3, 2014.
• An anomaly worth noting: Lake Catholic played five games in five days, including nonleague contests with club program Team Audi of Mentor and Shaker Heights and three games at the Thornton Park tournament. The Cougars have not had such a stretch before in the last 17 seasons according to the venerable shutout.com database.
• Mayfield has scored 28 goals in three wins and just eight goals in five losses. Ethan Macula scored four goals in an 8-2 Blue South victory over Elyria Catholic on Dec. 17.
• Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin snapped a five-game losing skid with a 4-1 win over White South foe Canfield. Connor Zoul scored two goals and had an assist for the Lions.