'Here for a reason': Hilliard club hockey tunes up for high school national tournament
Senior center Dominic DelBoccio fondly recalls the Hilliard club hockey team’s trip to nationals two years ago in Plano, Texas, even though the Wildcats didn’t come home as champions.
DelBoccio and his teammates from the 2021-22 season hope to build on that experience when they travel to West Chester, Pennsylvania, for this year’s USA Hockey high school national tournament, which runs Wednesday through Sunday.
“Going into (suburban) Dallas two years ago, we didn’t really know what to expect because we had never been there, but this year we have an idea of how the teams are,” said DelBoccio, who attends Hilliard Bradley. “We’re not a team that’s going there to lose. I feel like we have a different attitude about it this year.”
Competing in their third consecutive championship game of the Buckeye Cup club state tournament, the Wildcats beat Miami 6-3 on Feb. 25 in Cincinnati to earn the national berth. It was Hilliard’s second state title.
The Wildcats open pool play at nationals at 10 a.m. Wednesday against the Osseo Maple Grove (Minnesota) Saints. They are in the four-team Olympic Division with the Saints, the Idaho Falls (Idaho) Eagles and the Lutz (Florida) Steinbrenner Warriors, and the top two advance to the quarterfinals.
Hilliard went 2-1 at nationals two years ago, finishing ninth of 16 teams after winning its first state title.
First-year head coach Dave Cox was an assistant in 2021-22, providing another layer of national tournament experience.
“We enjoyed winning the state (title) for a little bit,” Cox said. “Now the message is when we went (to nationals) two years ago, as much as we didn’t want it to be, everyone was wide-eyed and ‘oh my, it’s so cool to here.’ We missed advancing (into championship play) by a point. We could have done more damage than we did.
“The guys who were there two years ago have been harping on the younger guys to enjoy this, but do not be scared or intimidated. We’re here for a reason.”
Senior forward Adam VanVoorhis (Davidson) leads the Wildcats (39-13-2) in scoring with 110 points on 41 goals and 69 assists. Senior forward Andrew Masteller (Davidson) has 85 points on 49 goals and 36 assists.
Both played on the 2021-22 team.
“The attitude is pretty good,” Masteller said. “There’s a lot of confidence in the room. Everyone is prepared to play and hopefully bring home a national title. The competition is no better than we are, so we definitely have a shot of doing very well. That’s a huge pushing point for our team. ... The goal is to win a national title.”
DelBoccio has 84 points (34 goals, 50 assists) and senior forward Brady Gedman (Dublin Coffman) has 58 points (31, 27).
Another member of the team two years ago, senior goalie Wes Reichman (Davidson), is 21-4 with a 2.76 goals-against average and .903 save percentage. Junior Michael Slivon (Davidson) is 17-8-1 with a 2.49 goals-against average and .913 save percentage.
Senior defenseman James Tarantine (Davidson) and junior forward Drew Forchione (Davidson) also were on the 2021-22 team.
“The guys who were there two years ago have done a great job with leadership and I don’t expect that to change,” Cox said.
DelBoccio credits Cox and the coaching staff for the team’s continued development.
“We knew (Cox) was going to do some things differently this year and it worked out in our favor,” DelBoccio said. “This year he started to run practice a little different from other years. It went from being more skill-based to more system-based. This helped us a lot, because by the end of the year, we were really good in the defensive zone as well as the offensive zone.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Hilliard Wildcats club team tunes up for USA Hockey nationals
