EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's entire athletic program has been ranked among the top programs in the St. Louis area for several years now.
Name the sport, and it's a good bet that Edwardsville is among the top teams in the area.
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Edwardsville's hockey program has been the top program in the Illinois-based Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association; the Tigers have won the past five MVCHA Class 2A championships in a row and 12 overall in the MVCHA's history dating back to the formation of the league for the 1995-96 season, dominating the competition along the way in recent years. It wasn't unusual for the Tigers to often win games by 12 goals, which brought games to early ends under league rules.
This hockey season brought a change to the Tiger program; the main EHS varsity team was granted entry into the well-established Mid-States Club Hockey Association, a league that began in the early 1970s when the St. Louis Blues were in their early days and tickets to games at the old St. Louis Arena were the hottest in the entire area.
The MSCHA survived some lean years and continues to thrive today, with a total of 35 teams from St. Louis city and county and St. Charles County in the league. Edwardsville's entry into the league was the first time an Illinois team entered the competition since Granite City left the MSCHA several years ago (for several years, the Warriors had teams in both the MSCHA and MVCHA).
The Tigers' main junior varsity team moved up to take the varsity's place in the MVCHA varsity competition while continuing to field two JV teams in the MVCHA. By all indications, the Tigers' move into Mid-States has been an unqualified success, with the Tigers being placed into the new Municipal Conference in a realignment of the MSCHA competition. Several traditional Mid-States powers such as CBC, St. Louis University High, DeSmet, Vianney, Chaminade, Oakville, Kirkwood and Lindbergh joined the Tigers in the Muny.
Through Thursday night’s 2-1 Muny Conference win over SLUH, the Tigers stand second in their conference with an overall record of 8-2-0 (16 points) and in-conference mark of 7-2-0 (14 points), trailing 8-1-0 (in the Muny) SLUH by two points in the in-conference standings and two points ahead of 6-1-0 CBC. They've defeated DeSmet, Chaminade, CBC and Oakville among their seven wins, falling only to CBC and SLUH early on.
“Obviously, we've done well there and had a good start to our season,” said Tiger coach Jason Walker, “and the same over here. We've had more competitive games for both teams; it's been good for (MVCHA) and good for our program. These guys are getting the same valuable experience playing at the varsity level here and we've got 20 kids playing at the Mid-States varsity level and 20-plus kids over here; it's only good for building our program.
“We beat CBC last week (in a Mid-States game) and to play all those tough teams has been great. We know we've had a good start but we've got to get better if we're going to continue on and hopefully make it to that last game (the St. Louis Blues Challenge Cup Final at Scottrade Center in late February). That was the goal from day one and we know there's a lot of good teams in (Mid-States) and we've got to get better.”
The move of the main Tiger varsity to Mid-States has been a help for everyone involved – Mid-States, Mississippi Valley and the Tiger program. “I believe that they think having another top team over there is good for them,” Walker said. “For us, to play more competitive games on this side of the river is good for our league and the growth of our league; it's good for the growth of the program.
“As far as the player development side, to have this team play at the varsity level is awesome.”
With games ending early most every night previously, Walker felt it helped no one. “That doesn't get our team better and doesn't get the other teams better,” Walker said of the blowout wins. “This has been a good thing. It helps everyone.”
The entrance into Mid-States had been in the works for some time before it was made official last summer. “It was something we had talked about doing since the middle of last season,” Walker said. “We had been thinking about it; there was a lot that went into it as far as the logistics of it for our team and our league.
“It took throughout the summer; it was worth the work that went into it.”
The thought of a merger between Mid-States and Mississippi Valley into one St. Louis-area super league would be a good idea down the road, Walker thought. “I would love to see it,” Walker said of a possible merger. “I think it would benefit everybody; the positive would be for the teams on this side of the river, there are a lot of comparable teams over on that side; you'd get to play more teams and play more competitive games; I think that would be better for everybody.”
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