Oakville Varsity Hockey Credits Team Unity for Wins

The Varsity Oakville Tigers won Friday's game against Rockwood Summit and play the last home game of the season Saturday night against Chaminade.

Oakville Tigers varsity hockey team beat Rockwood Summit in their last season away game 4-1 Friday night. Rockwood scored the first point early, but the Tigers dominated the score board for the rest of the game. Check out our Facebook page for more photos of Friday's game. Players say Oakville’s winning streak started after captains called a team meeting to discuss the Tigers’ less-than-stellar start to the season. “We were not playing well,” said captain Luke Hassler, a senior. “We had a talk. We said, ‘We’re not a team. We’ve got to start acting like a team. Don’t take this as a joke.’” After deciding to bring more cohesion and professionalism to the ice, the team’s defense strengthened, and the front line started scoring more and more …

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Patch Blog: Who are we kidding? It is about winning!

This concept of rewarding average (or sometimes below average) effort seems to me to ill prepare our young athletes to be ready for the working world. We live in a competitive world, and understanding why winning is important can help you accomplish more

Coach, Player Selected for Mid-States Hockey Honors

Oakville Coach Derek Stephens was selected as the Coach of the Year while Benjamin Seah earned the Mid-States Hockey Scholarship.

By day, Derek Stephens teaches financial security through his practice with Northwestern Mutual. But when he’s not crunching numbers, the 32-year-old Oakville hockey coach teaches his team to be successful, on and off the ice. Only in his second year as head coach, Stephens led his team to the semifinals of the Challenge Cup, the most difficult playoff bracket in the Mid-States High School Hockey Association.   Though his team did not play in the final game, Stephens attended the contest March 7 at the Scottrade Center and was surprised to find out he had been voted Coach of the Year by his fellow coaches. “I didn’t expect it at all. You can get awards and honors, but when you get chosen by your peers who compete against you and they …

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Tigers Fall in Frozen Four Semifinals

St. Louis University High scores two empty net goals in a 4-2 win Saturday night to sweep the best-of-two-series.

The memorable 2011-12 hockey season for Oakville ended Saturday night at the Hardee's IcePlex. The Tigers fell to St. Louis University High 4-2 in the second game of the best-of-two series. The Junior Bills had won the opener Thursday night, 5-3 on a pair of third period goals by Chase Berger. Steve Farina scored twice for the Tigers. The scores are very deceptive as SLUH scored an empty net goal with five seconds left in game one and added two empty net goals in the final 65 seconds Saturday night as the Tigers needed a win, not a tie, to force a mini-game. "We are shocked right now," said Tiger senior Tommy Heinzman. "We were so close but came up just short. There is not one player on this team that should have any regrets. Nobody could …

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Oakville Advances to Challenge Cup Frozen Four

The Tigers tie Lindbergh 1-1 Monday night at Kennedy Recreation Center to win the second round series.

A tie was as good as a win for the Oakville Tigers Monday night in the second game of the best-of-two Challenge Cup series against Lindbergh. And that was exactly what they got. Oakville, which had won the first game of the series 5-3 Thursday, held on for a 1-1 tie in a thriller at the Kennedy Recreation Center. The tie advances the Tigers to the Frozen Four of the Mid-States Hockey Association. They will play the winner of the series between Marquette and St. Louis University High in the semifinals. Those games are scheduled for Feb. 23 and Feb. 25 at the Hardee's Ice Plex in Chesterfield. "This was what I expected tonight," Oakville coach Derek Stephens said. "Any time you get to this round, it is desperation hockey. We knew we needed …

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Oakville Hockey Trounces Eureka in the Playoffs

The Tigers beat the Wildcats 7-1 at Kennedy Recreation Complex.

The Oakville hockey team completed the first step of what it hopes will be a long playoff run by sweeping Eureka in the first round of the Challenge Cup Division of the Mid-States Hockey Association. The Tigers won their two games in the best-of-two series with the Wildcats by a combined score of 13-2. They won the first game 6-1 and then closed out Eureka 7-1 Monday at the Kennedy Recreation Center. See more pictures of Monday's game on our Facebook page. "We knew that Eureka was going to be a desperate team tonight and wanted to play the same way we did Friday night," Oakville coach Derek Stephens said. Oakville dominated from the opening faceoff but still found itself down 1-0 late in the first period Monday on a goal by Eureka's Ethan …

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Sarah Flagg

10:34 am on Tuesday, February 7, 2012

How do you think the Tigers will do against Lindbergh? Are they tough competition?   more ›

Oakville Hockey Claims Winter Classic Win Over Marquette

Sophomore Brendan Coon’s second-period tip-in is the lone goal as Tigers stop Mustangs 1-0.

The temperatures may have been ice cold Saturday night for the 2012 Shaw Park Winter Classic, but the Oakville Tigers Hockey Club stayed hot and earned themselves a thrilling 1-0 victory over Suburban Southwest Conference rival Marquette High School.  Oakville hasn’t lost a game yet in 2012 and came into the night with an 11-2-2 mark since Thanksgiving. “I just told the guys to go out and have fun tonight,” Oakville head coach Derek Stephens said. “It’s an experience that not a lot of people get to do. And I think it’s really neat because these guys get to feel as close as they’re going to get to the NHL Winter Classic that we all watch on TV every year.” Since 2008, the City of Clayton’s Shaw Park has hosted three Winter Classics, and …

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Oakville Hockey Sits Atop Suburban Southwest Standings

The Tigers remained unbeaten in the conference after an 8-3 victory over Kirkwood Thursday at the Kennedy Recreation Center.

Oakville's dominance in the Suburban Southwest Conference of the Mid-States Hockey Association continued Thursday night as the Tigers defeated Kirkwood 8-3 at the Kennedy Recreation Complex. The Tigers came from behind against the Pioneers, who led 2-0 and 3-2 before Oakville scored six unanswered goals. "We got knocked down but we responded well," Oakville coach Derek Stephens said. Steve Farina and Charlie Freshman (who is a freshman) led the way with a pair of goals each for the Tigers. The win moves the Tigers to 6-0-1 in the conference. Marquette and Lindbergh are tied for second place with a 3-2-2 mark. "We are doing pretty well overall," Stephens said. "The guys are believing in themselves and in our system. Having a good record …

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