Finalists announced for Super 6 hockey
The members of ThisWeek’s Super 6 hockey team share a characteristic – their individual skills help to make their teammates better.
All the honorees are finalists to be named Captain – our hockey Athlete of the Year. That honor will be announced during the Central Ohio High School Sports Awards online show at 8 p.m. June 30.
Finalists should register at sportsawards.usatoday.com/centralohio. You can read bios for previous honorees by clicking on the H.S. Sports Awards link at ThisWeekSPORTS.com.
Next week, we’ll announce the honorees for wrestling.
Below is the Super 6 for hockey:
Garrett Alderman, Upper Arlington
Alderman, a senior goalie and the team’s primary starter the past two years, made 858 saves on 921 shots (93.2 percent) to help lead the Golden Bears to a 22-10-0-3 record and their first district championship since 2007. He was first-team all-state and all-CHC.
Alderman split time in net his freshman and sophomore years. UA was 99-34-2-8 during his time in the program, including 36-1-1 in 2019-20, and was ranked first in the district and seventh in the state to end the regular season.
Alderman made 1,783 saves and allowed 135 goals over his final three seasons.
“He’s an all-state goalie, no question about it,” coach Hamish Baird said. “We will miss him next year, but he has a long career ahead of him if he wants to stay with it. What a great and smart athlete he is.”
Tristan Fahs, St. Charles
This junior defenseman helped the Cardinals limit opponents to 1.8 goals per game during the regular season.
He earned first-team all-CHC honors, scoring two goals with a +13 plus/minus rating. His efforts helped St. Charles go 20-7-1 overall and win the CHC-Red Division at 12-2-1 (25 points), but the Cardinals lost to Upper Arlington 2-1 in the district final.
As a sophomore, he was honorable mention all-CHC.
“Tristan is a stay-at-home defender, but he still had a couple of big goals from the point,” coach Rob Sangster said. “He has a quiet intensity, but he also can dial it up against really good players, and he has a really good feel for the game. He does a really good job of finishing his checks and slowing guys down.”
Clayton Headlee, Olentangy Orange
Headlee had 31 goals and 45 assists to help lead Orange to a finish of 18-9-0-2 overall and 10-4-0-1 in the CHC-Red.
The senior forward ended his career as the program’s assists leader with 99. He was second-team all-state and first-team all-CHC, with 12 goals and 24 assists in CHC play.
As a junior, Headlee was Orange’s top scorer with 35 goals and 53 assists. He also had 19 goals and 23 assists in the CHC.
“Clayton has great vision on the ice, and he has always been able to find his open teammates,” coach Brenton Blaskie said. “He created offense every shift he was out there. He was a big leader, and he was the catalyst for all of our offense workouts.”
Austin Knupp, Olentangy Orange
Knupp led the area in scoring with 38 goals and 43 assists for 81 points. The senior forward was first-team all-state and second-team all-CHC, with 23 goals and 23 assists in league contests.
As a junior, Knupp had 36 goals and 39 assists. That was his first season with the Pioneers after he had played six seasons with the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets.
“On the ice, Austin was a threat to score for us every single game,” Blaskie said. “There were several games he had three goals – a hat trick – in one period, which is incredible. It (was) a huge confidence-builder for the whole team to have an offensive threat like Austin (was) for us.”
Max Robins, Upper Arlington
Robins, a junior forward, led the Bears in goals (35), assists (23), points (58), power-play goals (6) and shorthanded goals (4) as UA reached its first state tournament in 14 years and went 13-2-1 in its final 16 games.
He was first-team all-CHC and second-team all-state.
Robins had 11 goals in both his freshman and sophomore seasons but quickly became the team’s top scoring option this year and had 11 multi-goal games in the second half of the season. The Bears lost to Lakewood St. Edward 3-0 in a state semifinal.
“Max is the guy that is always early on the ice for practice,” Baird said. “He’s the guy working on his shot or his stick handling. He’s a great leader. … He works so hard on his game and it inspires his teammates.”
Gage Schlotterbeck, Olentangy Liberty
With this junior forward leading the way, Liberty reached a district semifinal and finished 16-12-2-3.
Schlotterbeck earned first-team all-CHC honors for the second consecutive season, finishing with 34 goals, 12 assists and a +22 plus/minus rating. He had 41 goals and 28 assists as a sophomore, when the Patriots were district runners-up for the third consecutive season.
“Of course, the stats speak for themselves,” coach Kevin Alexander said. “He’s our hardest worker in practice and in the games. He gives us 110 percent every time he hits the ice, which makes his teammates better. (He’s the) best offensive player in the league and tops in the state. He’s got lightning speed, soft hands and highlight-reel goals. He puts fear into every defenseman and goalie he plays against.”
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