Lake Catholic Opens Holiday Tournament Against Mentor

head hockey coach Ryan Okicki truly hopes the good tidings and the blessings of the season will find the Cougars in good spirits during the Fourth Annual Lake Catholic Hockey Holiday Extravaganza that begins today at the .

After all, the Cougars could really use it.

Okicki’s maiden voyage as the team’s head coach has been met with some disappointment as his team heads into the tournament possessing a 6-6-1 overall record and a 0-3-1 mark in the Red North.

But Okicki believes the tournament, which finishes on Thursday, might be the very thing that allows the Cougars to get on a run despite a lot of tough opposition in the field.

“With the competition, I think we’ll fair pretty well. We played Cincinnati  Moeller earlier this year and won,” Okicki said. “We’ve been struggling as a team as of late. We’ve had some rough games. Coming into the tournament, we’re looking to build up from there.”

The tournament features a varsity and junior varsity competition with 13 teams. The varsity competition also includes , Cincinnati Moeller, Medina and North Royalton. Each squad will play four times in a round-robin format. The two teams with the best record play in the varsity final at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

Headlining the event is the all-Mentor matchup between Lake Catholic and Mentor which begins today at 7 p.m. Coach Okicki especially looks forward to the contest because he’ll face the man who got him into coaching, new Mentor head hockey coach Paul McKito.

Okicki and McKito coached against each other when Okicki headed up Orange for the last four years and McKito coached at Midview.

“He’s a very good coach, and I respect him a lot,” Okicki said. “He got me into coaching. I’m where I am today because he came up to me and said, ‘hey, do you want to coach?’ I’m still friends with him and I’m very close with him. It’ll be a big game emotions-wise for the players because of the rivalry, but also with the coaches because he got me into coaching.”

While Okicki hasn’t had a chance to see Mentor (4-7) in person this season, he’s been impressed with their performances against tough opponents like Walsh Jesuit. The Cougars defeated the Warriors, 2-1, earlier this season.

While Mentor is always a great rivalry, Okicki sees Medina as perhaps the team to beat in the extravaganza.

“(Medina) will definitely give us a game. That’s a team I’m looking to play. We should be able to fair well against the other teams and hopefully get a few ‘Ws,’ but Mentor and Media will probably be our two toughest games. Medina, they’re a club team, and they’re probably the strongest club team in the area.”

Cougars Anthony Nalipa and Zack Johnson, who both suffered concussions earlier this season, have been cleared to play for the tournament.