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CBC Hockey Primed to Claim Another Challenge Cup

The Cadets have made it to the Challenge Cup final for the 11th year in a row and boast seven Mid-States championships in the past 10 years.

For CBC hockey, the Challenge Cup represents another opportunity for the Cadets program to assert its dominance.

Meanwhile, Francis Howell Central and Wentzville Holt are looking to make the St. Charles community proud.

Howell Central and Holt have a chance to become the first Mid-States champions from St. Charles County in both the Wickenheiser Cup and Challenge Cup on Tuesday at Scottrade Center.  The Wickenheiser Cup will feature Holt and Rockwood Summit at 5:30 p.m., and Francis Howell Central and CBC in the Challenge Cup championship at 8 p.m.

CBC is the Challenge Cup's No. 1-seed and a perennial powerhouse. The Cadets have made it to the Challenge Cup final for the 11th year in a row and boast seven Mid-States championships in the past 10 years. The Challenge Cup features the area's top 16 hockey clubs, with the Wickenheiser Cup featuring the next 16 top teams.

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“It’s never easy and it means that we’ve been consistent, and we’re really proud to have so many great players go through the program,” CBC coach John Jost said.

The Cadets are playing their best hockey of the season at the right time and are hitting on all cylinders. CBC beat Webster Groves 7-1 and 7-0 in the semifinal round. They outshot the Skatesmen 87-31 in the two-game series and have outscored opponents 40-2 in six games during the Challenge Cup tournament.

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“Each series in the playoffs, we’ve got better and better,” Jost said. “We’re happy with the improvements throughout the playoffs and we’ve practiced really well.”

CBC even has a little extra motivation this season. The Cadets are still sore about losing 5-4 in overtime of the Challenge Cup final last year to rival DeSmet.

“I don’t think there is any doubt that this team is as hungry as any team we’ve ever had,” Jost said. “Many of these kids didn’t have an impact in our last state championship two years ago and they only remember what happened last season.”

“Losing last year definitely makes every senior on this team work that much harder and want to win that much more this year,” senior captain Jack Ryan said.

CBC has knocked out Francis Howell Central twice in the past three seasons in the semifinals of the Challenge Cup, and also defeated the Spartans 6-1 in December.

“The average hockey fan in St. Louis is really going to enjoy this game because these are two of the best teams with a lot of talented players out there, so it’s going to be good for St. Louis hockey,” Jost said.

Said Francis Howell Central coach Tom Mueller said, "It’s huge for our school, and the St. Charles area, because the hockey programs here have really developed over the past five or six years.”

The Spartans are coming off a thrilling semifinal series against the SLUH Billikens. Francis Howell Central tied SLUH 1-1 in Game 1 of the series creating a winner-take-all scenario for Game 2. Spartans goaltender Zachary Grabowski shut out a ferocious offensive attack from the Junior Billikens, making 43 saves in a 3-0 victory.

“SLUH was just pounding the puck at the net and we had trouble getting out of our zone in that game,” Mueller said. “Our goaltender came up big but our defense really helped him out too.”

Grabowski has only yielded one goal over the past three playoff games.

Francis Howell Central finally got over the hump this year with a talented squad to make it to the Challenge Cup Final after losing three years in a row in the semifinal round.  The Spartans earned their highest seed ever in the Challenge Cup tournament as the two seed.

“We haven’t got a whole lot of respect in recent years, but we got the number two seed this year and it all comes down to the top two seeded teams in the championship,” Mueller said.

Wentzville Holt is getting similar community support as Francis Howell Central in the St. Charles area. The Indians are even getting rousing support from their cross-town rival, Wentzvile Timberland, with hopes of bringing a Wickenheiser Cup to St. Charles County.

“It’s amazing how many fans Wentzville hockey attracts in our small area and it’s quite exciting,” Wentzville Holt coach Glenn Thomas said. “We’ve even had some support from opposing coaches and players and also parents who don’t even have kids in hockey.”

The Indians lost in the semifinals of the Wickenheiser Cup tournament last year to eventual champion Oakville.

Wentzville Holt is looking to finish their exciting playoff run with a Wickenheiser Cup. The Indians have survived many one-goal games including a 1-0 victory over top-seeded Lindbergh in the mini-game of the semifinals. Holt’s two leading scorers, Austin Flynn and Cory Kettler, connected on the game-winning goal to propel the Indians to the championship game.

“We’ve counted on those guys all year long and they’ve really stepped up when we’ve needed to generate offense especially in the playoffs,” Thomas said.

Flynn and Kettler have 58 and 48 points, respectively, and have accounted for nearly half of the team’s goals during the season and the playoffs.

It’s the first time two St. Charles teams are in the Mid-States Club Hockey Association championship games. It signals that St. Charles hockey programs are catching up with the rest of the area.

“The sport is becoming more popular in the St. Louis area, and schools in our area have learned how to play better hockey over the past few years and have been able to compete better,” Thomas said.

The Indians will take on Rockwood Summit, who is enjoying its best season in 15 years. The Falcons came into the Wickenheiser Cup as a two seed and are coming off an impressive 7-0 victory in Game 2 of the semifinals against Lutheran South to advance to the final.

“I want them to bring a blue-collar energy and work hard for each other and they’ve got a lot to be proud of because of it,” Rockwood Summit coach Tim Rumpf said. “They bought into a system and the system works.”

Rockwood Summit only has two seniors so this could be a very successful group over the next few years. The Falcons hockey program has a different philosophy than most other programs in the area.

“I skate all the teams together in one practice once a week so I’ll have seventh and eighth graders practicing with senior varsity players,” Rumpf said. “That obviously pushes them along so they are ready to play varsity as freshmen and sophomores.”

Sophomore goaltender Kory Beck leads this young and talented group. Beck has only allowed seven goals in six playoff games while posting a 5-0-1 record.

“Kory is definitely the backbone of this organization right now and our team plays better when they have confidence in their goaltender or goaltenders, and they know they’ve got someone they can count on when the chips are down,” Rumpf said.

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