Hockey Nationals

The Jesuit High School hockey team will cap a fantastic 2017-18 season with its first-ever appearance in the USA Hockey High School National Championships this weekend in Plymouth, Minn.

The Tigers open round-robin play Thursday (March 22) at 7:45pm (EDT) vs. Rushmore (S.D.) Thunder, then play Friday vs. San Mateo (Calif.) Junipero Serra at 4:00pm (EDT), and Saturday vs. Pinnacle (Ariz.) at 4:15pm.

Jesuit is one of 16 teams competing in High School Division I, which is comprised of “pure” teams whose players all come from the same school. Both the runner-up and champion at last month’s Florida Tier I State Tournament (pure teams) were invited to participate at Nationals. At the State Tournament, Jesuit defeated defending Tier I champion North Broward Prep in a semifinal before succumbing to Parkland Stoneman Douglas in the championship.

The Tigers, who are coached by former Tampa Bay Lightning player Jassen Cullimore, had an outstanding regular season in the Lightning High School Hockey League, winning the Andreychuk Division with a 17-3-2 record. In the Lightning Cup playoffs, Jesuit advanced to the seminfinals before falling to East Manatee 1-0 in a shootout. East Manatee, which draws players from multiple schools, won both the Lightning Cup and the Tier II state championship.

Jesuit is led by Josh Burke ’19 (39 goals, 33 assists in the regular season), Nolan Forrest ’18 (35g, 30a), and Kyle Repar ’18 (21g, 22a). Burke and Forrest ranked 1st and 2nd, respectively in assists in the LHSHL this season, and Burke was 2nd in points and 3rd in goals. Goaltender Paul Coats ’18 anchors the defense with a 2.70 goals against average and .846 save percentage.

There are several ways to follow the Tigers in Minnesota:

• Jesuit hockey on Twitter, @JHSTigerHockey, and USA Hockey, @USAhockey
• The USA Hockey general webpage for the tournament, click here.
• On-demand streaming of all of the games, click here.
• The USA Hockey National Championships app, click here.
• News and info about each game, including stories, scoring, stats, and photos, click here.

In addition to Burke, Forrest, Repar, and Coats, the players competing for Jesuit in Minnesota are:

Justin Bailey ’20, Sammy Barranco ’19, Tyler Beach ’20, Owen Forrest ’20, Trent Gephart ’19, Joseph Koebbe ’21, Marc Kohlhepp ’18, Luke Lehman ’21, Deacon More ’18, Ethan Nunez ’21, Matthew Salustro ’20, Andrew Smith ’21, Matthew Smith ’20, Matthew Starkey ’20, Ryan Tuccio ’18, and Trevor Wardell ’20.