On February 9, the Olentangy Liberty Ice Hockey Team won the Columbus Blue Jacket Cup.

They played their rivals the New Albany Eagles. At the beginning of the season the Patriots lost 4-3, and then at the rematch won 5-4 in overtime. Not only that, but New Albany was the number one seed in the tournament and slated to win.

“The team mentality was just to focus on playing a complete game where everyone was doing their job,” said defenseman Sean O’Keeffe. 

The first period of the game was goal-less, but that all changed in the second period.

“I think one thing that helped us gain momentum was a scrum that happened mid period,” said forward Jake Bachus. “That gave the team the energy we needed to roll through the rest of the game.”

Helping to kick start that momentum was defenseman Alex Leonard. 

“The best moment of the game was when Alex scored the first goal,” said O’Keeffe. “It gave us the energy we needed.” 

Liberty went on to score three more goals alone in the second period, before scoring twice more in the third.

“My favorite moment in the game was scoring in the third period,” said Bachus.

The game ended with a final score of 6-0, with Liberty shutting out New Albany. 

“It felt really good winning, but especially shutting them out since they are a big rival of ours and it’s always nice to beat a team by six goals,” said Bachus.