When the buzzer sounded Sunday at the Edge Ice Center and the celebration for the Owensboro Rampage winning the KHSHL State Championship started, a familiar song rang out but with a twist that only the Rampage could add on that day.
“We are still the champions.”
While Queen made the song famous, the Owensboro Rampage were kings of Kentucky yet again as they beat top-seeded Northern Kentucky 4-1 en route to its second-straight championship.
Sunday marked the first time since 2000-01 that a team went back-to-back as it was the Rampage’s semifinal foe, the Trinity Shamrocks, that were the last to achieve the feat.
Owensboro coach Jason Link said it’s a new feeling but it validates everything they’ve done up until this point.
“We’ve never been here before so it feels phenomenal,” he said. “It helps to solidify the program that we run, the values and morals that we push, the family environment that we have developed and that helps us to be able to get back-to-back championships by being consistent and teaching our boys to play consistent and play good, clean, hard hockey.”
Owensboro wasn’t immune to changes in their schedule due to Covid-19 and Link said they got to work anywhere and everywhere they could.
“Training, training, training,” he said. “We came to any sheet of ice we could find open. When we couldn’t find ice and the restrictions were loosened up, we used Vox Crossfit … That really made us tough. Our team manager, Bruce Lindsey, found us games when nobody else could find games and there was nobody we wouldn’t play. We weren’t scared to play anybody and we took whatever game we could get.”
The Rampage only needed about 10:00 to get on the board against the Norse as Wesley Bowlds score then like they did Saturday, the Rampage added another quick goal with Zach Roberts found the back of the net to make it 2-0 after the first period.
Owensboro knew they couldn’t get complacent given the ability of the Norse.
“We always focus on the process and focus on the end goal,” Link said. “When you start focusing on that end goal and you lose focus on the process, you play differently. As long as we play our process and we play disciplined, we get the results that we want.”
Northern Kentucky scored the second period’s lone goal as Owensboro held a 2-1 lead going into the final period but the Norse wouldn’t find the back of the net again.
The Rampage added two goals in the final period, including an empty-net goal to put the game away 4-1.
Link said there’s one thing they always use to their advantage and it came in handy during the weekend.
“Nobody’s tougher than us,” he said. “Some teams are more disciplined but we’re absolutely tough and we’re determined. Our heart is huge and when we meet really talented teams, we grind at them and we skate fast and we skate hard. If they don’t rise to our level then they pay the consequences for that. We make them work.”
Owensboro senior Elijah Howard it was a great feeling to go back-to-back.
“Nobody’s ever done it before, at least in Owensboro,” he said. “It’s been a heck of a season. We’ve worked really hard for it. It’s been a lot of fun. Him (Chandler Link) and I, we’ve been playing for 14 years each. A way to end it for sure. Senior year, it’s a great way to end.”
Starting goalie Chandler Link echoed his teammate’s sentiment.
“It’s definitely a mix of emotions,” he said. “As you can tell, we usually only win every four years and we just broke it. First time we’ve won here, first time we’ve won back-to-back. First time we’ve won with 10 seniors. It’s a lot of firsts and a lot of process.”
In the first period, Chandler stopped a barrage of Norse shots to keep Northern Kentucky out of the net in the frame.
He said he’s not sure what came over him and that he prays before each and every period he’s in the net.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” he said. “I said a prayer, I went down to business. Next thing I know, I see a puck, just threw myself and it worked.”
After Bowlds found the back of the net to put them up 1-0, Howard said that didn’t necessary loosen them up but it did put them in another gear.
“It lights the fire under us a little bit more,” he said. “We want more. It gets everybody more excited. When you step foot on the ice at first, everybody’s excited, everybody’s getting there but that first goal, it just changes the tempo.”
Howard and Chandler added the Norse have been a rival for the Rampage during his high school career and Chandler said he wanted to take down Northern Kentucky in a big way.
“We never really beat them much,” he said. “Last game, we tied them with a last-minute goal and I feel like that really put us in the right mindset. Personally, I wanted to beat them more than anything in this world.”
The Rampage will graduate 10 seniors from this year’s team but the ride isn’t necessarily over it.
Nationals are next month in Omaha and Jason Link said it’s definitely on their minds after they weren’t able to compete last season due to Covid.
“Nationals is on our radar,” he said. “We are prepared for nationals. It’s up to the parents. If we have enough parents to be able to go with Covid and being able to travel because it’s in Omaha, then yes, we plan on going to nationals.”
No matter when their season officially ends, Howard and his coach said the bond they’ve formed is something they’ll carry with them forever.
“It really is a family,” Howard said. “We’ve spent countless hours together in hotel rooms, eating, hanging out outside of hockey. It’s a great thing to do. This is probably one of the closest-knit teams we’ve had in Owensboro in a long time.”
Jason Link said the seniors winning a title was the best part of the weekend.
“It means the most for the kids who have worked so hard,” he said. “It validates their work, their return on investment in themselves. All the late nights at the rink, all the late nights doing crossfit, all the extra we’ve done, it just validates that.
“It prepares them to know when they go to college, there’s reward in work, there’s reward in studying. Hopefully, it’ll help separate them from the rest and make them have the ability to be successful.”
