Columbus Icemen coach Troy Tyner has found great success in his first year as the new head coach.
The second-seeded Icemen are now looking to cap it all off with a state title. Competing in the Class 2A final, they will square off against top-seed Fort Wayne Vipers on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in South Bend. The Icemen are 22-15-6 heading into Saturday’s final.
“We were not expected to do very much. We lost a lot (from last year),” Tyner said. “We had to figure out a way to come through it to compete, and I think we were able to do that and really come together and play as a team. There’s not really individuals on this team. There’s a lot of team effort.”
It was a busy weekend for the Icemen last weekend playing three games in Fort Wayne. In the double elimination tournament, they defeated Culver “B” 6-5 in overtime, Bloomington Blades 5-1 and Crown Point 5-4 in overtime to advance them to the championship match.
In the win against Crown Point, Columbus trailed 4-2 entering the third period. Sophomore Drew Weed scored the game-winning goal in sudden death overtime and also scored the game-winning goal against Culver.
“We’ve leaned very heavily on our two captains and (Columbus North) seniors Alex Clark and Ben Blanz,” Tyner said. “In that last game, the semifinal game, I thought Alex really put the team on his shoulders. He scored a hat trick. Being a senior and taking on that leadership role, he took it upon himself to get us where we needed to go.”
