by No. 1 seed St. Ignatius Wildcats took on No. 8 seed Benedictine Bengals in the regional quarterfinal of the OSHAA Hockey playoffs. The Wildcats displayed an absolute offensive masterclass to punch their ticket into the regional semifinals. St. Ignatius had eight different players get into the scoring column winning the contest 11-1.
St. Ignatius was controlling the puck early and was dominating on offense. The Wildcats came out shooting a ton of shots on goal, but Benedictine’s senior goalie Finn Titas was playing amazingly to start the first period. However, senior Nolan Ignacio was able to get the Wildcats on the board after scoring and made the score 1-0 at the 8:12 mark.
The first period started very fast and continued throughout the first period. St. Ignatius was still controlling the puck very well and having their way on offense. Junior John Bzovi had a breakaway which led to a wide-open goal, but Titas had a huge save. Despite the one-sided first period that the Wildcats had, Titas was playing super well, and the Bengals were going into the second period down 0-1.
The Wildcats started the second period how they started the first period, controlling the puck very well. However, senior Ryan Kehres was able to stop the momentum the Wildcats had by putting the Bengals on the board just two minutes into the period. This made the score 1-1 early into a very energetic and intense start to the period.
The momentum shifted about halfway through the period and Benedictine was starting to gain control of the puck. However, sophomore Aiden White was able to score the second goal of the game for the Wildcats, putting them up 2-1 with eight minutes left. Bzovi was able to score once again for the Wildcats as Titas lost the puck just over a minute after the last goal. This made the score 3-1 with St. Ignatius on top.
The Wildcats were having their way on offense. St. Ignatius had two more goals scored in the span of two minutes by sophomore Kyle Rucinski to put the Wildcats up 4-1 and sophomore Tj Hulec to put the Wildcats up 5-1 with four minutes remaining in the period. St. Ignatius was putting it on the Bengals late into the period. Ignacio was able to score one more time for the Wildcats as the period ended, giving him his second goal of the game and putting the Wildcats up 6-1 going into the final period.
The offensive masterclass by the Wildcats continued just a minute and a half into the period, seeing junior Nick Miller score put the Wildcats up 7-1 in the final period. This enforced the running clock as the Wildcats went up 6 and they showed no signs of slowing down. White came right back down and was able to set senior Sam Elwell up with a great open shot that led to yet another goal for the Wildcats.
Elwell was able to make the score 8-1 for the Wildcats and they continued to put points on the board late into the final period. Just a minute and a half after Elwell’s goal, sophomore Zachary Bleick was able to get into the scoring column and put the Wildcats up 9-1 with six minutes remaining. St. Ignatius would go on to score two more goals by Ignacio giving him a hat trick for the game and putting the Wildcats up 10-1. The next and final scorer of the game would be senior Gino Piazza making the score 11-1.
The player of the game for the St. Ignatius Wildcats was Nolan Ignacio with 3 goals and the player of the game for the Benedictine Bengals was Ryan Kehres with 1 goal.
