The St. John’s Jesuit hockey team broke their 14 game winning streak (dating back to last season) but still won the first annual Jesuit Hockey Tournament at Kent State University.  The Titans defeated Cleveland St. Ignatius 5-2 in the finals to win the tournament and avenge a loss from the day before. 
 

The varsity icers didn’t come to the tournament with their A game and had to fight through several mistakes against a resourceful Cincinnati St. Xavier team.  Several errors resulted in goals against but the Titans came away with a 7-5 victory to start the weekend.  Saturday morning, the Titans came out and played much better defensively at the start but couldn’t get the offense going against St. Ignatius.  The game was tied 0-0 after two periods with both teams playing tight defensive hockey.  Some costly penalties in the third resulted in three goals for the Wildcats and SJJ lost their 1^st game of the year 3-0.  It was St. John’s first loss since early last February. 
 

The Titans didn’t take the loss lightly as they came out for Saturday evening’s game against Walsh Jesuit with much more energy and purpose.  The Titans got the offense rolling early to take a 4-0 lead after the 1^st period as Kyle Knox notched two goals in the period.  They kept the momentum going as they defeated Walsh 11-2 with Ray Morris and Knox both recording hat tricks.  The win put the Titans in the finals for a rematch with St. Ignatius.  The Titans came out very aggressive but it resulted in two early penalties.  The Wildcats took advantage early scoring two quick power play goals to take a 2-0 lead.  SJJ quickly scored a power play goal of their own and followed that up with another goal to tie the score 2-2 after one period.  The varsity icers took control of the game in the second period with physical play and a strong forecheck to go up 4-2 after two periods.  The Titans outshot the Wildcats 17-4 in the period while displaying their strongest effort of the year to date.  It was more of the same in the third as the Titans scored another goal to make the championship a 5-2 win for St. John’s Jesuit.  Ray Morris and Kyle Knox once again led the offense with two goals apiece.  Chase Parsell also tallied one while Dan Johnson dished out four assists in the game. 
 

All in all, the Titans displayed their strongest performances over the last half of the weekend and hope to carry that into a very important conference weekend coming up.  Congratulations to all on another fine accomplishment to start the season.  Stay hungry and keep looking forward.