ON AIR: Recent Episodes
Ohio Hockey Digest
In connection with Ohio Hockey Digest, current Ohio high school hockey coaches Tim Sullivan and Jason Levanduski bring their ideas and opinions to the masses of the great state of Ohio. The Ohio Hockey Digest On Air Podcast will focus on the greatest game going and all levels of hockey being played across the state, but also touching on pop culture, interviews, and other entertainment. Growing the game of hockey the best they can in the state of Ohio. If you don’t know, they will make you know! Produced by Daniel Humphrey. New episodes released every Friday.
Lake Erie Monsters Vice President Jock Callander holds the International Hockey League's all-time scoring record with 1,402 points. His prolific career saw him score 100+ points five different times in the IHL, and he would have scored more if not for spending parts of five seasons in the NHL with the Pittsburgh Penguins - including being a part of their 1992 Stanley Cup championship team.
Toledo Walleye head coach Dan Watson joins us fresh off the team's thrilling run to the ECHL's Kelly Cup Final. The former Toledo Storm defenseman transitioned into coaching with the Walleye and has accumulated a 347-227-93 record since being elevated to head coach in July 2016. Watson played seven professional seasons in the AHL, UHL, and ECHL and was named the 2004-05 ECHL defensive player of the year with the Long Beach Ice Dogs.
Strongsville's Dylan Duke was a member of the United States National Team Development Program for two years and has represented the U. S. internationally twice, including at the 2021 IIHF U18 World Championships. He was drafted by the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021 and scored 10 goals as a freshman this past season at the University of Michigan.
Younger brother Tyler followed Dylan’s footsteps to the USNTDP, is eligible for the 2022 NHL Entry Draft coming up two weeks from now, and will join the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Fall.
Kerry Bowman and Emily Curlett will lead the newly formed Tier I AAA girls program for the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets that is set to begin with a 14U team in the 2022-23 season. Bowman, a former NCAA and pro player, will take the lead as the girls hockey director and 14U head coach. Curlett recently helped the Ohio State Buckeyes to a historic season as they captured the program's first ever NCAA championship, as well as the WCHA playoff title.
The boys sit down with Rob MacKinlay to discuss the non-profit Hockey Players in Business and their upcoming event on June 15. They then dive deep into the Toledo Walleye's run to the Kelly Finals with beat writer Mark Monroe.
Ryan Ward’s hockey journey has taken him to Bowling Green, the OHL, and the pro ranks in both the AHL and NHL, working both behind benches and as a video coach. Now, he takes the helm of the Youngstown Phantoms as the sixth head coach in team history. He tells us how he got started in the game, the different roles he held along the way, and looks ahead to a busy summer building the Phantoms roster for the 2022-23 USHL season. We also get a drop-in guest as fantasy hockey owner Tyler Whidden joins us to drink from the trophy he earned as champion of the BHL.
The boys sit down wth Bob Krosky of the Cleveland Barons to discuss the success of the past season and some young talent drafted recently in the OHL. They also catch up with John Malloy to discuss his Gilmour Lancers run to the school's first-ever state championship.
We sit down with a friend of the show Russ Sinkewich to discuss upcoming spring and summer schedules for the Ohio Hockey Project. We are also joined by Youngstown native and current starting goaltender for the ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones Michael Houser to talk growing up in the game, his junior career with the London Knights, making his NHL debut, and his current playoff run with the Cyclones.
John Carroll University head coach Scott Shantery and team captain Brian Russell join the show to look back on the Blue Streaks' run to the championship in College Hockey Mid-America and their upcoming appearance at the ACHA Division I tournament.
Join us as we welcome a panel of media representatives from around the state to preview each of the four OHSAA district playoff brackets leading up to next months state tournament in Columbus. Panel expected to include: Mark Monroe, Toledo Blade; Chris Lillstrung, The News-Herald; Dave Purpura, This Week News.
It's an all-goalie episode! Toledo native Klayton Knapp is a former Tri State Spartan now plying his trade in the NAHL with the Austin Bruins. We had to push his appearance back a week because he was selected to play in the NAHL's Top Prospect event!
Freshman goaltender River Ambroz backstopped the Amherst Steele Comets within a goal of the Baron Cup Final with a 45-save effort in a double-overtime victory over Rocky River before Amherst's OT loss to #1 seed Hudson on Saturday night.
The storied program at Bowling Green has emerged from a year-long hiatus and the death of coach Jamie Ruffner to be a Top 10 team in the state with aspirations of a run in the Sylvania District Tournament next month. We will talk to head coach Connor Rogowski about the journey he and his team have gone through over the past three years.
Jon Doehr of the Hobey Baker committee gives us some insight on the award for college hockey's top player, tells us how high school coaches can submit their players for the Hobey Baker High School Character Award, and talks some college hockey in general.
Brendan Furry, currently a sophomore for the nationally-ranked Minnesota State Mavericks and part of the 2015 state title team for Toledo St. Francis, tells the improbable story of his development path that switched away from a plan to play for the BGSU club team to a USHL tryout, eventually leading to multiple offers from elite NCAA programs and a key role on one of the top teams in college hockey. A truly amazing story.
Jeff Christian's professional career spanned 21 seasons and included stints in the NHL with the New Jersey Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Arizona Coyotes as well as Cleveland and Cincinnati in the old IHL and the Youngstown Steelhounds of the Central League among other stops in the American, International and Central pro leagues and Europe. He also coached the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL on a memorable playoff run.
Mentor native Joe Sherman joins us in the studio to tell stories from his learn-to-skate days all the way to refereeing the NCAA Frozen Four.
Andy Gerow of University School and Parma's Joe Gaudino give us the outlook for their teams as we preview the Great Lakes Hockey League and the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League. Gaudino's Redmen opened their season by winning the Normandy Thanksgiving Tournament.
A pair of head coaches of teams that won their first six games of the season - Olentangy Berlin's Tim Pennington and Kevin Berry of Archbishop Alter - join us as we talk about the southern teams in the OHSAA (Capital Hockey Conference & Southwest Ohio High School Hockey League).
The Tri-States Collegiate Hockey League (a.k.a. the "T-Show") is a 10-team league comprised of ACHA Division II schools in and around Ohio - including six in the Buckeye State. We are joined by commissioner Tim Driscoll as we talk to coaches and players around the league about what drew them to the league and their specific schools and preview the 2021-22 season. Guests include: Ohio State head coach Greg Corcoran, Dayton blue liners Charlie Huscroft (Walsh Jesuit) & Matt DiMarco (Cleveland Wildcats), Miami forward Hunter Wallace (Ohio AAA Blue Jackets), Xavier head coach Drew Kariofiles & Musketeers netminder Jack Frambes (Moeller HS)
Zachary Nowak enters his seventh year of coaching with the Kent State ACHA club hockey program and his first year as the Head Coach for the Kent State D1 club hockey team. Zack began his hockey career in the Cleveland area, playing his high school hockey at Lake Catholic. After high school, Zack attend Kent State University and was a star goaltender for the D1 ACHA team. Zack was voted as Team MVP twice (2014, 2015) and named alternate captain his senior year. Through USA Hockey, Zack serves as Mid Am's Goaltending Coach-in-Chief as well as a Coach Education Mentor.
Brett Harkins is from one of Ohio's most productive hockey families. He developed at St. Edward and Bowling Green State University before embarking on a 15-year professional career that brought him around the world, but included stops in Cleveland, with the Lumberjacks of the IHL and Columbus, where he played 25 of his 78 career NHL games. He currently scouts the college ranks for the Boston Bruins.
Strongsville native Alaina Giampietro has starred for the Gilmour Gladiators the past two seasons. Her scoring touch attracted the attention of USA Hockey for the U18 National Festival. She recently committed to play collegiately at The Ohio State University.
Former Columbus Blue Jackets forward Jody Shelley began serving as the club's television color analyst on Bally Sports Ohio in 2014-15. In addition to his broadcast duties, the Columbus fan favorite is also actively engaged in various business and community initiatives for the organization.
Shelley retired in 2013 after a career that spanned 16 years and over 600 NHL games. He wrapped up his NHL career with 18-36-54 and 1,538 penalty minutes in 627 games. He also appeared in nine Stanley Cup Playoff games with San Jose and Philadelphia.
Join us for a "very Cincinnati" episode of the Ohio Hockey Digest On Air podcast when we speak with Matt Thomas, the head coach of the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL, new 'Clones broadcaster Andrew Mossbrooks and Jim Mitchell of the Cincinnati Jr. Cyclones - the newest members of the USPHL.
Sophia Bellina has stopped pucks all over the place – for the Cleveland Barons, Gilmour Academy and the Pittsburgh Pens Elite. This past season she took her gear to Indiana to play at Culver Academy for their U18 Girls Prep team.
She is keeping her game sharp this summer by stymying shooters in Ohio Hockey Project’s Futures Hockey League as she prepares for her next trip – to the Rochester Institute of Technology – where she will begin her NCAA Division I career in the fall.
He may consider himself "just a nobody from Centerville, OH", but Nate Leaman has gone from humble beginnings hockey-wise to being one of the top coaches in college hockey. He tells us about his journey from learning how to skate at 13 to an unlikely junior and college playing career to realizing his passion was not environmental science and volunteering with Shawn Walsh at the University of Maine during their national title run in 1999. After taking "the job nobody wanted" at Union so he could be a head coach, and breathing new life into that program, he led a similar resurgence at Providence College which includes winning the 2015 NCAA Championship. Last December, he guided Team USA to the gold medal at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Tournament – a role he will reprise in 2022...and he openly admits having a soft spot for players from Ohio...
Parma native Alex Nedeljkovic starred for the Cleveland Barons and represented the U. S. at the U18 and U20 levels before going on to great success in the Ontario Hockey League and the American Hockey League. He earned Goalie of the Year honors at both levels and guided the AHL's Charlotte Checkers to the 2019 Calder Cup championship. "Ned" saw significant action in the NHL this season with the Carolina Hurricanes, posting a 15-5-3 record with a 1.90 goals-against average and .920 save percentage. He then started nine of the team's 11 games in the Stanley Cup playoffs (2.17/.920). He is one of three finalists for the NHL's 2020-21 Rookie of the Year.
The Athletic's Aaron Portzline previews what has the potential to be a wild and wacky summer in Columbus as the Blue Jackets juggle a coaching search, free agency and the draft along with negotiations (or trades) with several core players. No shortage of topics for the veteran hockey scribe!
At the risk of beating a dead horse, we will convene a panel of (TBD) high school coaches from various levels of the competitive spectrum to discuss the need for an alternative format for the high school post-season in Ohio. We will try to come to a consensus on a specific format to propose to the OHSAA. Potential guests: Our own Tim Sullivan (St. Edward), Pat O'Rourke (Saint Ignatius), Kyle Botos (Avon), Kevin Fisher (Perrysburg), Tim Pennington (Olentangy Liberty), Kevin Brown (Toledo Whitmer) & Steve Bogas (Mayfield)
The Wooster Oilers and Columbus Mavericks are two of six franchises that have joined the USPHL in and around Ohio in recent years. We check in with Wooster owner Marty Kerr and head coach Jordan Roemer to talk about the Oilers' return to the ice in 2020-21 and their plans for Year Two. Nate Handrahan took over behind the Mavericks bench last year and tells us about the players he has been signing - including many Ohioans - for the upcomign season.
Former Cleveland Baron Andrew Perrott 13U player Andrew Perrott saw his fourth season in the Ontario Hockey League wiped out by COVID-19 but was outspoken in the need for the league to return to play. After heading to Slovakia to play pro hockey, he has returned and is part of a group of junior players organizing a pre-draft showcase in Erie, PA (May 31 - June 13) for 2021 draft-eligible players and players who lost their final season of junior hockey to the pandemic. He is the son of former Cleveland Lumberjack (IHL) player and NHLer Nathan Perrott.
Greg Gutterman is the head coach at Beavercreek High School. The Beavers are the two-time defending champions of the Southwest Ohio High School Hockey League and also host the "POD" Tournament along with Archbishop Alter. The POD Tournament ("POst-District") gives teams in the SWOHSHL - and "White" and 'Blue" teams from around the state - an opportunity to conclude their season in a competitive environment they do not experience in the OHSAA District Tournaments.
It's a landmark episode #50! We'll look back at some of our favorite clips from the podcast and just generally BS about The Year That Was in hockey
We check in with Seanna Conway (Gilmour Girls U16), Darryl Noren (Ohio AAA Blue Jackets U18) and Patrick Metzger (Team Ohio U16 & U18) before they depart for their respective USA Hockey National Tournaments.
Spencer Cox grew up in Westerville, OH and played for the AAA Ohio Blue Jackets before heading to Culver Military Academy. He talks to us about his COVID-impacted development path, which took him through several twists and turns through Tier I and II Junior Hockey this year before he landed with the Chippewa Steel of the North American Hockey League, where he was able to secure an NCAA commitment with the fledgling DI program at Long Island University.
Chris Bergeron has been a fixture in Ohio hockey going back to his time as the captain of the first Miami University team to win a conference championship and go to the NCAA Tournament. He played pro hockey in Toledo and Cincinnati then went on to play an important role in the "Golden Area" of Miami hockey as an assistant coach before breathing new life into a Bowling Green teetering on the edge of extinction. Now in his third stint in Oxford - this time as the head coach of the RedHawks - he has a clear picture of where Miami hockey belongs, but also provides a very candid assessment about where the program is two years into a rebuild.
Joe Battista is a Professional Speaker, Success Coach, Owner of Pragmatic Passion Consulting, and Author of “The Power of Pragmatic Passion: 7 Common Sense Principles For Achieving Personal and Professional Success.” Joe, a former ACHA coach at Penn State and VP of Hockey and Administration for the Buffalo Sabres, was instrumental in securing an NCAA Division I team and a new arena at PSU. He is also currently the Vice President of Business Development and an Executive Coach for the National Athletic and Professional Success Academy (www.napsacademy.org).
Rick Gotkin has been the head coach of the Mercyhurst University men’s hockey team for 33 seasons. He is the only coach in NCAA history to take a team to the NCAA Tournament at all three levels, and has guided the Lakers to over 500 wins, six NCAA tournament appearances and five league championships.
He is a member of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey Rules Committee, has coached several “USA Select” National Festival Teams, has been a featured speaker at many USA Hockey coaching clinics and symposiums, and has served on the Hobey Baker Award Committee, the American Hockey Coaches Association Division I Committee, the US College Hockey Online.com National Poll Committee, the Division I East region advisory committee, and the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine College Hockey Poll.
Ohio High School Athletic Association Executive Director Doug Ute tells us how he navigated a very eventful first six months in office and addresses some of the key issues relating to high school hockey in Ohio, including the state tournament venue and creating a second division of competition. Then we had an entertaining roundtable discussion with the four district champion coaches ahead of this weekend's Ohio "Frozen Four" in Columbus.
Ani FitzGerald was born in Shaker Heights and competed for five seasons at Gilmour Academy, leading the Lancers in scoring four times and leading them to a Mid-Am District Championship and the program's first-ever USA Hockey Nationals. She is a three-time USA Hockey National Development Camp attendee and is currently in her freshman season at Northeastern University.
Cole Bell joined the Ohio Bobcats for the 2019–2020 season as the head coach of the Division I team after spending the previous two seasons as the head coach at the University of Jamestown. In his two years at Jamestown, Coach Bell guided the Jimmies to two National Tournament appearances. As a player, Bell played for Lebanon Valley College at both the NCAA DIII and ACHA D1 levels. During his senior year at Lebanon Valley, he was selected to the ACHA All-Star game.
We will look back at which teams took home hardware in the Baron Cups, Cleveland Cup, Blue Jackets Cup and SWOHSHL tournaments, and look forward to the four OHSAA District Tournaments that will be starting up in four three rinks across the state!
The T-Show may be shut down for the year, but Bowling Green's DII ACHA team is back in action. Head coach Jake Rishel and senior defenseman Bobby Edwards join us to talk about getting the Falcons back on the ice during COVID and Edwards' role in getting the historic Cleveland Heights program back on its feet.
A lifelong hockey devotee, Tony Brown's passion for hockey and broadcasting have taken him from Minnesota to Central New York, West Texas, Omaha, Indianapolis, and the great city of Cleveland. A 2010 graduate of the prestigious S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, Brown's hockey roots stretch deep into his native Minnesota, the undisputed "State of Hockey."
Brown is entering his sixth season as the radio and television "Voice" of the AHL's Cleveland Monsters as the team's Senior Manager of Broadcasting/Team Communications.
Dave Starman has been a college hockey goalie, a coach and a scout at various times in his life in hockey, but he is best known as the voice of college hockey and the IIHF World Junior Championships. This season he called more than half of the games in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's "Pod" for NCHC.tv and Team USA's games at the 2021 WJC for the NHL Network.
Our panel of fantasy hockey "experts" give you tips on how to start up a league, make the one you are in better, or just make your team more competitive this year. Scott Harrington, Tyler Whidden and Skip Snow are veteran fantasy leaguers with connections to a hockey league that is still going after 26 years!
Rob Sangster us in his 8th year as head coach of the St. Charles Cardinals. He played in the Ontario Hockey League with the Kitchener Rangers and the Ottawa 67’s, was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks and played for the Columbus Chill at the end of this professional playing career. He is also the owner of The Hockey Training Center in Columbus.
Jeff Svoboda has been the team reporter for the Blue Jackets for since December 2018, providing news, analysis and features about the organization at BlueJackets.com. Prior to that he served as sports editor of the Toledo Blade as well as a staff writer at Buckeye Sports Bulletin, where he covered Ohio State hockey for 10 years. He's also a bad D League goalie on weekends.
Long-time listener, first-time caller. For the last 15 years Chris Cogan has been at the helm of the Rocky River Pirates and has seen his teams win numerous Baron Cup titles, GCHSHL Red Division championships and a berth in the 2013 Frozen Four. He is also a local connoisseur of area restaurants' nacho dishes.
Join us as we preview the Padua Holiday Hockey Tournament - the Grand Daddy of Ohio in-season high school tournaments with many of the top teams from the Cleveland (Holy Name, Padua Franciscan, Shaker Heights, St. Edward, University School), Columbus (Olentangy Liberty, St. Charles and Upper Arlington) and Toledo (Findlay, Sylvania Northview, Toledo St. Francis and Toledo St. John's) areas. Tournament director Sean Evans will be with us, along with Dave Purpura from This Week News to help us cover the Columbus entries and Mark Monroe of The Toledo Blade to provide some insight on the Toledo-area contenders.
Bob Turow is commissioner of the United States Premier Hockey League which consists of 600 teams and 12,000 players at various age levels, including five Tier III Junior franchises in the Ohio Hockey Digest coverage area: the Columbus Mavericks, Fort Wayne Spacemen, Lake Erie Bighorns, Toledo Cherokee and Wooster Oilers.
Maumee, OH native Ben Schoen is entering his third season with the Youngstown Phantoms of the United States Hockey League. He recently signed with Penn State with the intention of playing for the Nittany Lions in the Big 10 next season.
Chagrin Falls, OH native Curtis Hall played for the Cleveland Barons and Youngstown Phantoms, making the U.S. World Junior team and getting drafted by the Boston Bruins before heading to Yale University.
COVID-related cancelations and conference re-alignments are among the topics we cover in our timely conversation with College Hockey News managing editor Adam Wodon. We also check in with Miami University head coach Chris Bergeron to talk about the state of the re-build in Oxford.
Cover high school sports for 20+ years and you accumulate some stories. Chris Lillstrung shares some from his time at The News-Herald where he has watched all of the top players and teams on the East Side of Cleveland for more than two decades. The award-winning scribe talks about the biggest games he witnessed in person, the top rinks and concession stands in the area, and some of the more outrageous interactions he had with parents over the years.
Amateur hockey. Professional results. Erik Cagnina has developed a platform that allows game events to be tracked by a team volunteer in real-time and process them to generate reports, integrated with video, to help teams improve play and develop players. Athletic Performance Insight (www.athleticperformanceinsight.com) is a powerful tool that can help coaches at any level.
Cleveland native and NHL Network analyst Mike Rupp reflects on his 14 years in the NHL and a few of the crossroads that almost derailed his career before he was able to make his NHL debut, earn that second game, and eventually score the Stanley Cup clinching goal for the New Jersey Devils in Game 7 of the 2003 Stanley Cup Final. He also shares some thoughts on developing young players including the fact that you need time away from hockey!
Former NHL defenseman Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre recalls being a part of the Columbus Blue Jackets expansion team, playing professionally in Europe later in his career, the never-ending search for good Poutine, and how he transitioned into the media with FOX Sports Ohio. He also shares some thoughts on recent Columbus moves in the NHL Entry Draft and free agency.
Ty Eigner is a 1993 graduate of BGSU who spent the nine years as an assistant coach for the Falcons before being named head coach in April of 2019. Eigner has accumulated almost 25 years of coaching and administrative experience, playing three years at the professional level. In his first season at the helm of the Falcons, Eigner pushed Bowling Green to a 21-13-4 record, marking the team's sixth consecutive 20-win season. Eigner served as Bowling Green’s captain for the 1992-93 season, and was a member of the program’s last two NCAA tournament teams prior to the 2018-19 season.
Enrico Blasi was the head coach at Miami University for 20 seasons, forging "The Brotherhood" and making the Redhawks perennial NCAA contenders. Blasi took over the reins at his alma mater in 1999 as the youngest head coach in Division I hockey and earned 2010 College Hockey News National Coach of the Year honors, the 2006 Spencer Penrose Award from the American Hockey Coaches Association (AHCA) for National Coach of the Year, and five CCHA Coach of the Year Awards as the team qualified for the NCAA Tournament 10 times in a 15-year span, captured three regular season and two conference tournament crowns and appeared in two NCAA Frozen Fours.
Entrepreneurs Jarred and Brandon Smith both played at Gilmour Academy before moving on to play college hockey at Brown and Miami, respectively. While playing in the pros for a few seasons. While they were still playing, they started experimenting with making their own sports drink. That became their full-time job as they co-founded NOOMA (www.drinknooma.com) and developed all-natural sports drinks.
John Haferman is the Executive Director of Columbus Ice Hockey Club and the Director of Hockey for the City of Columbus Recreation and Parks Department and 2020 Finalist for the NHL's Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award. John has spent over 30 years serving the City of Columbus and growing the game of hockey via the 28 rec centers operated by the City. In 1999, he co-founded Columbus Ice Hockey Club to grow the game of hockey among the city's diverse population and exposing over 5,000 kids per year to skating and hockey. CIHC has been able to provide over $300,000 in scholarships to help keep hockey affordable to its members.
Hockey playing brothers Freddy and Charlie Gerard of Rocky River both rose through the ranks of the Cleveland Barons AAA program on their way to junior hockey in the USHL, and eventually, four-year NCAA Division I careers at Minnesota State and Ohio State, respectively. Now, as they embark on their pro careers, they are also developing their own apparel line, boom boom tuck. (www.boomboomtuck.com).
Team Ohio general manager and U18 head coach Patrick Metzger goes back into the history of the program and details its evolution from a showcase tournament team to split-season, and now a program that offers full-season AA youth teams. He talks about some of the great players who have come through the program over the years and re-lives the near misses at the national tournament that eventually led to a national championship in 2019.
Sylvania Northview head coach Steve Elliott provides a common thread through the storied program, having served as a long-time assistant under Jim Cooper, and then Mike Jones, before ascending to the head coaching position in 2016. Steve reflects on some of the big games he has been a part of in Northview history, the Wildcats' trademark physical brand of hockey, and shares some thoughts on ways the game could be improved for kids in Ohio.
Solon's own EMack Bentley takes us through his path to NCAA Division III hockey starting with the Cleveland Barons, junior hockey in New Hampshire and Texas, and finally onto the campus at Middlebury College in Vermont where he heads into his junior season and is able to combine high-level hockey and academics.
Aidan Spellacy and Quinn Warmuth both played at Saint Ignatius and ended up playing NCAA Division I hockey at Robert Morris University, but they had different experiences in between.
Spellacy recounts his three-year stint as captain at Saint Ignatius, playing in the famous seven-OT tie in the state title game in 2014, and a successful junior career in the NAHL before becoming RMU's Rookie of the Year as a freshman in 2018-19.
Warmuth talks about leaving home to play junior hockey at 17 and getting traded three times and playing for five different teams in four years before being summoned to Robert Morris in the middle of the 2019-20 season.
Steve Morris is Miami University's all-time leading point-scorer (202) and a two-time team captain of the Redhawks that was elected into Miami's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1994. Since 2002, he has been the head coach at Amherst Steele. The Comets will move up to the Red Division of the Greater Cleveland High School Hockey League this season after winning three consecutive Baron Cup II championships to go along with matching Southwest Conference Tournament titles in 2018, 2019 & 2020.
Head Coach Jeff German has been around the game of hockey for over 40 years, as a player and as a coach. He took over the team in 2015 and continues a strong commitment to establishing Denison University among the nation's top ACHA hockey schools. Growing the program exponentially since taking the helm, Coach German has established a team culture of both academic and athletic excellence. North Olmsted native Tim Gettinger came up in the Cleveland Barons AAA organization before moving on to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the Ontario Hockey League where he wore a letter for three seasons and was captain of the team that advanced to the 2018 OHL championship series. He has played in NHL games in each of his first two years pro and joined the New York Rangers in the Toronto Bubble during the NHL Return to Play.
2018-19 was A Year Without Hockey at Bowling Green High School, but the iconic OHSAA program returned to the ice last season. Head coach Jamie Ruffner and senior defenseman Dylan Cox join the podcast to talk through the process of breathing life back into the Bobcats. Trailblazer Steve Rymsha becomes the first On Air guest to earn a two-part interview. He wraps up his discussion with The Boys about what to focus on when coaching youth hockey, what scouts are looking for in prospects and what he likes about working for Warrior Hockey.
Nick Petraglia spent 20 years on the campus of Miami University before his recent move to the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets where he is Executive Vice President. He looks back on the things he learned from some great coaches in Oxford as a student-athlete, coach and administrator and looks forward to what lies ahead for the AAA Blue Jackets. Warrior Hockey rep Steve Rymsha regales The Boys with stories from his playing days in Junior B, college, the North American minor pro ranks and Europe - from inspiring pre-game speeches in the ECHL to almost signing away his NCAA eligibility because of his dad's poorly-timed bathroom break, being chased around a rink by the guy he was traded for in the Central League and being shunned by grocery clerks in Germany.
Mike Chiellino is in his seventh season as the head coach of the Gilmour Academy boys prep hockey team. Named the 2017 Midwest Prep Hockey League (MPHL) Coach of the Year, his expertise on the ice has allowed him to assist numerous players of his advance to Junior, NCAA, ACHA and even professional hockey, including the NHL. He was a regional scout in the United State Hockey League (USHL) with the Central Illinois Flying Aces, and currently works as an evaluator for the Mid-American District (Ohio, Western Pa., Ind., Kentucky, W. Va.) Select Camps. Olentangy Liberty head coach Kevin Alexander was a Division I collegiate hockey player and four-year starter for the University of Illinois at Chicago. During his collegiate career, this left winger helped UIC to become a perennial top ten program. After his collegiate career he played professionally for the Greensboro Monarchs and Columbus Chill. Coach Alexander has been instrumental in the success of Liberty’s program in recent years by helping them reach the State Frozen Four in 2017 and a District Runner-Up finish in 2018. Sam Turner starred for Olentangy Liberty from 2014-2018 and now patrols the blue line for Ohio University's DI team. Andy Keeler will be a senior goaltender for the Patriots in 2020-21.
Lake County native Lauren Bernard represented USA Hockey at the 2019 U18-World Championships in Japan, winning the Silver medal. She skated for the Pens Elite program out of Pittsburgh, PA before heading to Clarkson in 2019 where she made an impact offensively and defensively playing all 37 games. Put up 13 points and posted the third best plus/minus for Clarkson at +23, tops on defense. Before deciding on Clarkson, which has made eight consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, Lauren was also recruited by Providence, Vermont, Quinnipiac, Yale, Penn State, Ohio State, Minnesota State, Boston University and Cornell.
University of Akron head coach Matt Koch “Coach Cookie” has over thirty years of coaching experience. He has coached every level of hockey from Mites to College. Coach Cookie is a Level 5 USA hockey coach. Cookie believes that while it is important to win games and become better hockey players, his primary job is to help young men graduate from college in a timely fashion and get a job. Akron assistant coach Greg Revak started coaching the Zips in 2016. Greg's main focus is on developing players individually. Including on-ice skill development, but more importantly, personal development. Coach Revak is an alumnus of the University of Akron, playing three seasons, leading the team in scoring each season he suited up for the Zips. In addition, Greg also played for the roller hockey team on campus.
Tri-States Collegiate Hockey League commissioner Tim Driscoll talks about channeling the competitive fire that he used behind the bench at the University of Dayton and Xavier University into running "The T" and making it the premier ACHA conference, the excitement he feels about bringing the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry to the TSCHL, and looks forward to the league's 2021 tournament at Bowling Green's Slater Arena. Kenny Miller talks about his junior hockey journey that took him from Toledo through Alpena and Marquette in the NAHL before coming full circle back to Toledo with the Cherokee of the USPHL where he has been general manager and head coach since 2013. He discusses what junior hockey managers and coaches look for in players, the differences between the Michigan and Ohio high school scenes and where you can get his mother's egg, cheese and mayo sandwiches
Ben Simon starred for the Shaker Heights Red Raiders and the Cleveland Barons of the NAHL before going on to play at Notre Dame and then a 11-year pro career that included time in the NHL with Atlanta and Columbus. As a coach, he guided the Cincinnati Cyclones to the Kelly Cup Finals and is now the head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL. Simon helped the Orlando Solar Bears win the IHL’s Turner Cup in 2001 before hoisting the Calder Cup with the Chicago Wolves in 2002. He represented Team USA at both the 1997 and 1998 World Junior Championships, earning a silver medal in 1997. Former Bowling Green Falcon and two-time CCHA All-Academic Team member Dan Bylsma is a 2009 Stanley Cup champion and 2011 Jack Adams Award recipient who is in his second season as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings. Bylsma served as head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2008-14. After taking over as Pittsburgh's head coach during the 2008-09 season, Bylsma guided the club to an 18-3-4 regular-season finish en route to defeating the Red Wings in the 2009 Stanley Cup Final. Bylsma who won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach in 2009-10, and owns a career mark of 320-190-55 as an NHL head coach. He also guided the Buffalo Sabres from 2015-2017, and was the head coach for Team USA at the 2014 Winter Olympics. As a player, Bylsma appeared in 429 NHL games with the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Mighty Ducks between 1995-04.
Tyler Harkins came up through the Cleveland hockey ranks with Rocky River, St. Edward, and Team Ohio before moving on to junior hockey. He just finished a successful four-year college career at Ohio University where he racked up 158 points in 126 ACHA games. Russ Sinkewich has worked his entire career as a proud ambassador of Cleveland Hockey. Russ operates the Ohio Hockey Project - including the Summer Elite League and Futures Hockey League - and is Cleveland’s preeminent skill development leader.
Gui (like LaFleur) Bradshaw shares what it takes to be a successful working on-ice official and details the path he took to working in the OHSAA and WCHA women's ranks. He says you need to be comfortable being the bad guy to be a good ref and points out that more players getting into refereeing will make the game better. Don Van Massenhoven shares some stories from his career as an NHL referee, which spanned 21 years and 1,366 games plus Stanley Cup playoffs and Olympics, talks about the importance of not making makeup calls, highlights the upside of one of hockey's most thankless jobs, and details his current duties as the NHL's director of officiating operations.
Gilmour Academy's John Malloy has won more games than any other high school hockey coach in Ohio history, but tells us his focus was never on wins, but on building better citizens and men. He reflects on his start as a figure skater at Cincinnati Gardens, his playing career in the infancy of the program at Miami University and shares some stories from his coaching career at Cleveland Heights and Gilmour. In a very candid interview Patrick O’Rourke, head coach of the four-time defending state champion Saint Ignatius Wildcats, told us he is up for an "unofficial" Frozen Four this summer, revealed that wheels are in motion to move the OHSAA to two divisions for hockey by 2021-22 and shared his experiences - good and bad - with the state tournament being held at Nationwide Arena.
Seven Hills native Lynsey Wallace played for Gilmour Academy as well as four years of varsity hockey on the boys team at Padua Franciscan before walking on with the nationally-ranked women's team at The Ohio State University. Lynsey, who was named to both the WCHA and Big Ten All-Academic teams, is also a member of ROTC at Ohio State, and was the subject of what is still the most read article in the history of Ohio Hockey Digest. R. J. Umberger has been a fixture of the hockey scene in Columbus going back to his NCAA career with the Ohio State Buckeyes. The 16th overall selection of the 2001 NHL Draft, we split his 12-year NHL career between the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers, and now works developing the next generation of players with the Columbus Chill Youth Hockey Association where he is the associate coach of the U16 and U18 teams.
Lee W. Mowen talks about covering high school hockey in Southwest Ohio, especially broadcasting Centerville and Springboro games, tells us how he got into broadcasting and recalls his time covering the Dayton Demons on their championship run in the Federal League. Talawanda bench boss Zach Sens compares winning the SWOHSHL title as a player versus as a coach, talks about how he got buy-in from his players in his first season as the head coach at his alma-mater, and challenges what you might think about high school hockey in the southwest part of the state.
Medina native Dawson DiPietro made his way up through the ranks in Northeast Ohio - Parma Youth Hockey, Cleveland Jr. Barons, Team Ohio and Walsh Jesuit - before playing Tier II junior hockey in the North American Hockey League (NAHL) and moving on to a DI NCAA career at Western Michigan University. In March, he signed an entry-level contract with the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres. OHL and AHL Goaltender of the Year Alex Nedeljkovic grew up in Parma and played for the Cleveland Jr. Barons before heading off to play major junior in the Ontario Hockey League and becoming a second-round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes. Alex, who has scored goals in both the ECHL and AHL, has represented the USA at U18 and U20 world championships and helped the Charlotte Checkers to the AHL's Calder Cup championship in 2019.
Toledo Walleye head coach Dan Watson gets out of his car long enough to tell us about how far the ECHL has come over the years - overall and specifically in Toledo - and to give us some insight on what his game days are like and the challenges and mechanics of assembling a roster at the "AA" level. In a must-listen episode for any young player, Ian Moran of Neutral Zone details the process of scouting young players and provides a very revealing look at what it is scouts are noticing when you don't think they are watching. He also reflects on spending the first two years of his pro career in Cleveland - the last year of the Richfield Coliseum and the first year of "The Gund."
Seanna Conway tells us about all the amazing places the game of hockey took her all around the globe, starting in a hockey-playing family of (mostly) goalies, to playing on the boys team at Gilmour Academy, then on to college in the U. S. and Canada and then Ireland, where she played professionally and internationally on the one and only rink in the country. She also shares her thoughts on girls playing with and against boys vs. girls-only competition. Cleveland Monsters assistant coach Trent Vogelhuber talks about growing up in a youth hockey scene that was just starting to take off after the arrival of the NHL's Blue Jackets, being the first hometown draft pick of the team, and playing for some great coaches with lots of Ohio-grown talent at Miami. He also tells some stories about the Monsters’ 2016 Calder Cup championship, the ensuing parade, and his surprisingly sudden decision to go into coaching.
Mentor Ice Breakers head coach Sebastian Ragno reflects on his young career in hockey, and the path that led to him to be a head coach in the pro ranks at 23 years old, tells us about his goals for the Federal Prospects Hockey League franchise, and updates us on the pieces put in place for the 2020-21 roster. Aaron Portzline gives us a look behind the scenes of the day-to-day life of an NHL beat writer, shares some opinions on the immediate future of the Columbus Blue Jackets and speculates on the viability of Columbus as a divisional hub should the NHL resume 2019-20 regular season play in the coming months.
Absolutely he's from Cleveland! Ohio Hockey Project founder Russ Sinkewich tells us about the path he took from Cleveland-area youth hockey to the pros, including a year playing JV that might have been the most influential year in his development, and what he is trying to add to the hockey ecosystem in Ohio with the Ohio Hockey Project. Russ also talks about how he is continuing to push hockey players to reach their potential with the OHP at Home virtual training sessions during the stay-at-home order.
A former Mr. Hockey for the state of Wisconsin, Matt Buss, ended up in Ohio and the Columbus-area hockey community is the beneficiary. Matt talks about how the strong hockey market in Columbus, with the Blue Jackets, Ohio State, and growing high school hockey, made the area attractive to his hockey-playing family and the sense of accomplishment leading New Albany to their first district title. He also recounts being in Nationwide Arena with the Eagles on a pre-states orientation visit when they learned the tournament had been postponed.
Toledo St. Francis head coach Chris Varga talks about the lack of closure with the state tournament being canceled, his time in the junior ranks, changes he has seen in the game over the years – including the cost of playing – and reflects on winning for the first time at St. Francis.
Ohio Hockey Digest founder Scott Harrington joins the boys to talk about the origins of OHD, the ACHA and high school jersey tournaments substituting for actual hockey this spring, and to reminisce about his stint working in minor league hockey.