The Lake club hockey team is a perfect 7-0 in the Northwest Hockey Conference’s Blue Division, outscoring opponents 66-17. Overall, the team is 14-6.

For this time under the tutelage of fifth-year coach Craig Horvath, Lake is able to put three to four lines on the ice, while in other years Horvath typically has been limited to two lines.

Not all of his 17 players are Lake student-athletes. Other players are from Rossford and Oak Harbor, but Horvath says three of his most dedicated players are from Lake.

Lake defenseman Mitchell Mauder (5) takes the puck with forward Jeff Wilson (8) at the Huntington Center. (Press photo by Harold Hamilton/HEHphotos.com)

“It’s the best team I’ve had in the five years I’ve been here,” Horvath said. “To be honest, we just have a couple kids that have played a long time, and for the younger kids that are just starting, these older kids that are seniors are taking the freshmen under their wing. These older kids are helping out these younger kids who haven’t played a lot.

“We have a kid who just started playing and never skated competitively before (Lake student Jeff Wilson, a forward). Jeff probably has nine or ten goals,” Horvath said.

Horvath also acknowledges contributions by defensemen Mitchell Mauder and Dylan Mauder, who attend Lake and are brothers. Dylan, a freshman, and Mitchell, a senior, grew up skating in a backyard rink.

“I am blessed to have really good kids — quality kids,” Horvath said. “Not just player-wise, but I’m talking about quality kids who don’t get into trouble.

“The Mauder kids are really good people. I can’t ask anything else out of two kids other than the Mauder kids — they are the best kids and I wish I had 17 of them.”

Most Blue Division wins have come easy for Lake. Lake defeated Ottawa Hills 8-0 and 10-2, defeated Springfield 6-3 and 6-5, and Fremont Ross 14-6 and 14-1.

The team has a game remaining against Ottawa Hills at Sylvania’s Tam-O-Shanter on Feb. 6 at 5 p.m. and the league tournament is Feb. 10-12. On Feb. 24-26, Lake will travel to Cleveland for a weekend tournament.

“It’s the first time we’ve ever had a good enough team to actually leave town and go away for the weekend,” Horvath said.

Lake forward Nick Switala is second in divisional play scoring with 27 points, including 16 goals and 11 assists, trailing Springfield’s Josh Eubank (26 G, 10 A).

Lake defenseman Scott Senci is third (11 G, 8 A) in the division, followed by forward Scott Flowers (4 G, 12 A), forward Kyle Ramer (6 G, 6 A), forward Forrest LaPointe (4 G, 7 A), Mitchell Mauder (4 G, 7 A), forward Salahadin Mustapha (7 G, 3 A), defenseman Jordan Ramer (2 G, 4 A), Dylan Mauder (1 G, 5 A), Jeff Wilson (4 G, 1 A), forward Travis Focht (2 G, 2 A), forward Jordan Dirkman (3 G), forward Tyler Rickman (1 G, 1 A), and forward Malachi McLean (1 G, 1 A). Primarily in goal for Lake is Nick Horsman.

One of the big wins for Horvath’s team came over Anthony Wayne — a team Lake had never beaten since he has been at the helm.

“They always have a decent team and are always in there, but we actually have enough talent and depth that we could actually compete with Anthony Wayne,” Horvath said.

At the Tam-O-Shanter’s annual Thanksgiving Shoot-Out, Lake was beaten badly by Eastwood, but Horvath said his team was just getting to know each other.

“Nobody knew anybody. We didn’t have any lines together, and they beat us 7-0. We were flat, and we’ve grown unbelievably since then,” Horvath said.

Lake had another non-league win over Ottawa Hills in a showcase downtown at the Huntington Center honoring former Clay player Kyle Cannon, who was paralyzed playing hockey.

On Mar. 4, Lake will celebrate its 40th year of hockey, dating back over three decades to its beginnings a varsity program. The team will host an alumni game at the Huntington Center. Horvath says he already has a response from at least six former players to play on the alumni team, but is looking for more.

He says most of his players participate for enjoyment — few have aspirations of advancing to play college or junior hockey.

“It’s so hard to get into the next level. There are a lot of good players who have a lot of heart, and a lot of hard workers, but you just don’t see that happening. If they played even in the Red Division or the White Division, it’s so rare that a kid moves onto the next level. That’s not to take away from the kids,” Horvath said.

Horvath is assisted by his son, Tony, who played his final season for Lake last year, finishing four seasons of hockey on the club team. Another son, Dominic, is a sophomore defenseman playing for St. John’s Jesuit, which is 19-7-1 and 5-1 in the Red Division, good enough for second place behind the state’s No. 2 ranked team, Sylvania Northview.

Horvath would love to see Lake bring hockey back as a varsity sport, but he says the team continues to thrive on its own — privately operated by its own funding organization and by parents. He is grateful the NHC has allowed Lake to participate, even though it lost varsity status.

Because funding issues continues to hit other public districts, Horvath believes other teams in the Toledo metro area may soon resort to club status because hockey is an expensive sport.

Any NHC White or Blue Division teams that do resort to club status would not get to play in the OHSAA tournament, but Horvath says that can be academic when those teams match up against the elite, like defending state champion St. Francis DeSales, St. John’s, or Northview.

“There have been some very good teams from the White Division, and they are not going anywhere. They are not going to compete with the teams in the Red, and we know it,” Horvath said.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed