Webster Hockey Survives Oakville to Advance

The Webster Groves hockey club outlasted Oakville, 5-4, on Tuesday to advance in the 2011 Challenge Cup.

The Statesmen will now take on CBC in the semifinals. Webster, although a 12 seed in the 16-team tourney, is  a veteran team and has already proved it can knock off high seeds in the Challenge Cup tournament.

“Webster always seems to be in the thick of things so it will be a great series,” CBC coach John Jost said.

Webster Groves won Game 1 against Oakville, 5-2, on Feb. 10.

The CBC Cadets are playing in top form at the perfect time.

CBC had nine different goal scorers on their way to an impressive 10-0 victory over the Eureka Wildcats Saturday night, propelling the Cadets to the semifinals of the Challenge Cup.

“I told our team that was our best effort all season,” Jost said. “We were able to roll our lines and our power play looked sharp and we got great defense and goaltending.”

Despite the way the season ended on the scoreboard, the Eureka Wildcats made huge steps this year with their hockey program. Since the program’s inception in 2002, this was only the second time Eureka made it to the Challenge Cup tournament and it was the first time they made it to the second round.

The scary thing is that CBC senior captain Jack Ryan thinks the Cadets have not reached their full potential yet.

“I don’t think we’ve seen our best yet,” Ryan said. “I don’t think we’ve done our best getting everybody to keep going but tonight was our best effort and pretty close to what we can do.”

Jost added, “I’d like to see us sustain a forecheck a little more. Sometimes we’re getting in there and making contact but having a little problem getting possession.”

CBC defeated Eureka 5-1 in Game 1 of their series on Feb. 11.

The Cadets got goals from nine different players including Ryan, leading scorer Tanner Bulejski and senior captain defenseman Brennan Devers. The 2009 champs had 33 shots while only yielding a staggering seven shots on their way to a shutout. CBC has outscored its opponents 26-1 in four games in the first two rounds of the Challenge Cup tournament.

“We want to win this thing real bad,” Devers said. “It all starts with the seniors and we’re pushing our younger guys to work together as a team and we’re really practicing well.”

CBC has something to prove after losing to DeSmet in last year’s Challenge Cup Final in overtime. The Cadets have won seven of the last ten Challenge Cups but are hungry as ever for the 2011 title after the way last season ended.

“It would be unbelievable to get back to the final and win this year after what happened last year,” Ryan said. “This is an exciting team of the year so this is where we need to step up our game and really have some fun.”

Webster Groves and CBC will play Game 1 of their semifinal series at Hardee’s IcePlex on Feb. 24 at 8:45 p.m. Game 2 will be February 26 at 6 p.m.