EAST ALTON – Edwardsville's senior hockey class will, no doubt, go down as one of the greatest in the program's history.
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The Tigers' 14 seniors were honored in a pre-game ceremony prior to a recent Mid-States Club Hockey Association win over Oakville at East Alton Ice Arena.
This year's edition of the Tigers moved into the MSCHA competition after dominating the Mississippi Valley Club Hockey Association competition the past three years, winning the league's Class 2A championship all three years they took part (as part of a five-year run as league champions). Following Thursday's win, the Tigers stood at 12-3-1 overall and 10-3-1 in the Municipal Conference of the MSCHA, where the Tigers were placed when they joined the league as part of a realignment.
Three of this year's seniors reflected on their time in the program following Thursday's win.
“It's great to have the support from our school and our fans,” said Rory Margherio. “It's outstanding; it shows how strong of a community we have, especially for our sports and how much they support us. You couldn't ask for anything better.
“This senior group has won three championships since I've been here as a freshman to my junior year; we won the (MVCHA) championship every year. It shows how deep our class is as far as our talent goes and how we perform.”
“It's a great feeling to have everyone come out for us,” said John Paul Krekovich. “It's a great feeling for our fans to come out and support us. They gave us an extra boost tonight.
“The senior class – we're a great group of guys. We've been together for awhile playing (Twin Bridges Lightning hockey club); it's kind of sad to see everyone, for this to be our last year. We're strong this year and we're going to try to make it to the end.”
The seniors' first year in Mid-States has given them extra incentive to play for Edwardsville's program. “It gives us extra energy to play for Edwardsville High School and the name of Edwardsville High School,” Krekovich said. “It's a great feeling.”
“We've got a lot of seniors and I think everyone was looking forward to it,” said Logan Bielicke. “Every senior played great tonight and it was huge for us.
“We've all been playing together since we were really young, so we know each other quite well; we work great together. It's definitely special. Chemistry's a big part of it, we've been playing together for so long, we know where everyone's at.”
After winning the last three MVCHA titles, the Tigers are aiming for a bigger prize this year – the opportunity to hoist the St. Louis Blues Challenge Cup at the Scottrade Center in late February or early March when the MSCHA final takes place. “That's our main goal,” Bielicke said. “We're going to keep on making sure we're focused and getting to that; we want to be there at the end of the season.”
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