The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mentor wants continued progress
Cards were 22-10-1 with big tournament wins
The last time before this season Mentor was in a Kent District semifinal, its current seniors were in elementary school.
The Cardinals are hopeful the rebuilding job taken on by those seniors leads to an elementary position today — continually forward.
Before bowing out with a 4-0 setback to Walsh Jesuit in a Kent District semifinal, Mentor played its part in shaking up the bottom half of the bracket with a 3-2 upset of Gilmour — the most recent example of progress in a bounceback campaign.
Three years removed from a six-win campaign, the Cardinals finished 22-10-1, winning the Adam Hamilton Memorial, Thornton Park, Lake Catholic Holiday and Pioneer Classic tournament titles and making Baron Cup I.
“We had some really good senior leadership this year,” Mentor coach Paul McKito said. “Going way back to the summertime, getting the kids to commit to being a good hockey club this year and start early and making a commitment as a group to working really, really hard.
“I have got to give those kids credit, our group of graduating seniors this year. They’ve really set a tone for the younger guys on what to expect, and it’s a really good vibe for teaching them on what they need to do going forward as they become upperclassmen here as well.”
With veteran performers such as Alec Weaver at forward, Ryan Ross and Nathan Remington on defense and Jake Tackett in goal, the Cardinals became as much of a Red North and area factor as they have been this decade.
They defeated Shaker Heights at the Thornton tournament, just their fourth win in 11 years against the Red Raiders and snapping an 11game losing streak against Shaker.
They defeated Rocky River, also at Thornton, for just the second time in their last 24 tries. Beating Shaker and River hadn’t occurred in the same season for Mentor since 2009-10.
The Cardinals won 20 games for the first time in 13 years, nearly making a charge at its most wins in a season this millennium by its vaunted 2003-04 squad that went 25-9-1.
“We talked about it before, 6-27 when this group were freshmen to having a year like this year, get to the district semifinals, it just shows how hard they worked over their careers to get where they are and the amount of commitment they have to be a really good hockey club,” McKito said. “If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: Our staff is proud of where we came this year. A lot of signature wins under our belt. Four tournament championships. And I can’t say one bad thing about this group this year.”
Ross hopes that progress translates over, particularly with a young group that has shown a lot of promise. Junior Evan McBride, freshman Andrew McBride and sophomore Kyle Backston are building blocks at forward, along with junior Jack Perish on defense.
“Just the friendships I’ve made — that’s the biggest takeaway,” Ross said. “But obviously, winning four tournaments, especially Shaker’s on their home ice. The tournament has been around since the ’70s, and Mentor has never won that, I don’t believe, so that was obviously pretty cool. You feel like a superstar for a little bit.
“Most of the kids out there right now, they’re playing with the seniors as juniors and sophomores. There’s more underclassmen than upperclassmen out there with us. So my message to them is just to keep playing the way they’ve been playing. They’re only going to keep getting better from here — bigger, faster, stronger. I’m not worried for them at all next year. I know they’re going to kick butt.”