Click here to read the 1/25/12 This Week Newspaper article on the varsity team.

THE HILLIARD JV TEAM ROCKED THIS WEEKEND WITH TWO WINS!

Wildcats Junior Varsity won HUGE against the Northeast Storm this past Saturday with a score of 11-0.  In the first period, our only 8^th grader, Daschel Fortner, scored first (assisted by Cole Gillfillan).   Captain Scott Starbuck put two goals in the net with great teamwork from Devin Burnside and Tristan Fortner.  T. Fortner took the pass from Daniel Brashear to score his own goal.  Jared Vaught slipped one in to make it 5-0 at the end of the first period.  The second period started strong with a goal from Gillfillan off a pass from Vaught, followed by a great defensive score from Collin Reber, assisted by T. Fortner.  Starbuck scored his third goal with teammates Devin Burnside and Daschel Fortner assisting.  Vaught scored again with a short-handed goal to finish the period 9-0.  Vaught scored a third goal in the third period off a pass from Starbuck.  Congratulations to both Vaught and Starbuck on their hat tricks!  The final score of the game came from Devin Burnside, assisted again by Vaught and Starbuck.  Andy Munson in net got the shutout with 15 shots on goal.

On Sunday, JV took on the Upper Arlington Golden Bears, and Hilliard came out on top 5-1.  T. Fortner started out the first period with an unassisted goal.  Burnside fired one in next, assisted by Kenny Kane on defense.  Thirty-eight seconds into the second period, Burnside hit the net again off a pass from T. Fortner.  Twenty seconds later, Vaught scored with great teamwork from Matt Medich and Daniel Brashear.  The final Hilliard goal came from Tyler Hernandez, assisted by Burnside and Starbuck.  Morgan Robison played a great game in goal and let in only one of the 23 shots on goal.

Cats Put Together Outstanding Mid-Winter Week with a 2-0-1 Effort

Worthington: No hint of dog days for the Cats this January as they skated six strong periods on the way to a win and a tie in GCHSCHL play and a non-conference conquest of Eastwood Sunday afternoon at the Chiller Ice Works.

The capper featured balanced scoring on the way to a 9-1 grounding of the Eagles. Three first-period goals were more than enough for Hilliard to notch its 26^th win of the season. Drew Kennedy, Kyle Majher, and Colin Kalnasy each solved the visitors’ goaltending for scores boosting the Blue to a lead it never surrendered.

Four more in the second added to the cushion with Majher scoring two to complete his hat trick and joined by Kenyon Clevenger and Matt Kausel. In the third, Clevenger and Kausel each connected again, along with Alex Campbell.

Less than twenty-four hours earlier, Hilliard won a decisive 6-1 decision over Westerville at Easton, frustrating Warcat hopes for the upset. Westerville, winners against second-place Newark the previous evening, looked to have the jump scoring off a neutral zone turnover just twenty-nine seconds in, but another strong first fifteen minutes from the Wildcats stabilized the situation.

Clevenger and Majher (2) were the scorers to post Hilliard to a 3-1 advantage it never surrendered. And the margin only increased in the second with Brian Starbuck, Andrew Telfer, and Kausel each connecting for the final count. Mack Burton turned aside twenty shots in the win.

The week’s headline game came Thursday night in Newark with the league and state’s number one and two teams locking up in another even affair that ended in a 2-2 draw. The first period closed at 1-1 with Kyle Majher carrying Cat hopes from Kennedy and Telfer. In the second, the Generals took the lead, 2-1, and were holding on until Clevenger scored from Aaron Applegarth at 13:49 for the equalizer.

With the weekend results, Hilliard improves its record to 26-3-2-1 on the season with two games ahead next Saturday and Sunday against GCHSCHL rivals Athens and Pickerington. Please consult your schedule for locations and face-off times!    

January meeting minutes are now available under the Parents section.

Cats Elevate Play Despite Settling for Second in MLK Tournament  

Cleveland: Looking to face the highest levels of competition possible, the Hilliard Wildcat varsity stepped up its game to come within a whisker of capturing first place honors in last weekend’s MLK Tournament in Cleveland.

Sunday afternoon’s championship game between Hilliard and the Bluehawk U-18 team was dead-even through two periods before three goals in rapid succession sank Hilliard’s hopes for the title. The 3-0 outcome, however disappointing, did not diminish the team’s accomplishments on the road to the showdown with Dayton.

In the tournament opener Friday night in Chagrin Falls, the Cats skated past the St. Ignatius junior varsity in a fast-paced, hard hitting affair. The next step down from Ohio’s top ranked high school program, St. Ignatius jayvees never led in the contest thanks to timely scoring and staunch defense from Hilliard. Two first-period goals from Brian Starbuck and Andrew Telfer set the stage for a wild finish. Scoring on a 5-on-3 power play with just over two minutes to play in the third, St. Ignatius could not get the tying goal past Cats’ netminder Mack Burton, and when Kenyon Clevenger took Aaron Applegarth’s pass to go the length of the ice for the score, the verdict was in.

Saturday morning, Hilliard took its 1-0 tournament record to Euclid to face the Bluehawks in the regular round robin, and fans were treated to a tight-checking contest not decided until the third period. Dayton opened the scoring early in the second, but Matt Kausel tied the game eight minutes later to set up a dramatic closing stanza. Just the one goal in the final period....and it belonged to Dayton at 3:56 to give the Bluehawks a 2-1 advantage. Try as they might, Hilliard could not get the tying goal past tournament MVP Josh Slusser in the Dayton net, setting up a must-win against Batavia (NY) Sunday morning.

The only issue in doubt at Gilmour Academy was whether the Batavia penalty box would be spacious enough to accommodate its many visitors after Hilliard struck for five goals in the first period. Markers from Alex Campbell, Gus Oberdick, Applegarth, Telfer and Drew Kennedy proved more than enough to ice an 8-3 victory and second shot at Dayton in the afternoon championship bracket. 

With the weekend results, Hilliard improves its record to 24-3-1-1 overall going 3-2-1 since the Christmas break. Next up, a battle of one versus two in the state and GCHSCHL standings when the Cats travel to Newark for a date with the Generals on Thursday night.

If you are currently signed up with Kroger to raise money for Hilliard High School Hockey Club, you will need to re-enroll beginning 4/1/11.  Please remember that unless you re-enroll, Kroger will no longer be donating to the organization based on your spending at Kroger.

Congratulations to the varsity team for winning the league championship - the CBJ Cup!  

The Hilliard Wildcats clinched their first ever Bluejackets Cup in the clubs history Sunday afternoon with a 6-2 win over the Northeast Storm in the Championship game. The Cats went undefeated in the tournament by beating the Delaware Tribe 12-1 on Thursday, Northeast Storm 3-1 on Friday and got into the championship game by beating Athens 2-1 on Saturday. Goalies Doug Martin (2-0-0) and Gage Robison (2-0-0) both went undefeated, while seniors Casey Fulton lead Hilliard in team tournament scoring with seven points (2-5-7) and Matt Hannan led in goals scored with four (4-1-5). The Cats finished the only undefeated team of the double elimination tournament going 4-0.

On Sunday in the 6-2 win,  the Wildcats dominated the first two periods by getting off to 4-0 lead over the Storm and got goals from six different players in the contest. Sophomore Kyle Majher led the Cats with three points (1-2-3) including a shorthanded goal, while senior Casey Fulton (1-1-2) and sophomore Gus Oberdick  (0-2-2) added two points each. Other goal scorers included Nick Connor, John Bailey, Matt Kausel and Andrew Telfer. Goalie Gage Robison got his second win of the tournament (2-0-0) and beat the Storm in both games. Senior defenseman Josh Coe received MVP honors for the game for his outstanding defensive efforts. "It was an entire team effort from a team that worked extremely hard all year to achieve this goal of a Bluejackets Cup, its a great group of guys that did a remarkable job of keeping focus during this tournament", said Coach Mead after Sunday's win.