This weekend marks the culmination of the Kentucky State High School Hockey League season as the state championship hits the Edge Ice Center in Owensboro.
The Owensboro Rampage are the tournament’s No. 2 seed will hit the ice at 8 p.m. Saturday against the Winner of Louisville Trinity and St. Xavier.
The final is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday.
Rampage coach Jason Link said his team has been getting ready for this weekend for a long time.
“We’re all in,” he said. “We’re putting in the work. We know it’s not going to be easy. We know it’s doable. We’re going to have to work extra hard to get there but we’re putting the work in.”
Owensboro is the defending champion after winning the title in 2020, which Link said does make it a little easier going into Saturday.
“The boys, it’s less pressure on them because they’ve done it,” he said. “They don’t have that lingeraging undoable feeling.”
Northern Kentucky is the top seed in the tournament and Link said they a formidable foe for a few reasons.
“On the outside looking in, I believe it’s their population,” he said was their strength. “They’re right across the street from Cincinnati. There’s three or four rinks in Cincinnati, they’ve got the rink in Northern. They get a lot bigger area to draw from than we do. We have Owensboro, population of 50,000 and we have kids from Bowling Green and Evansville. It’s a greater distance of travel for us than it is for them.”
The action starts at 8 a.m. Saturday with Lexington and Louisville Metro playing in the tournament opener before Trinity and St. Xavier play in the game at 10 a.m.
The winner of Lexington/Louisville Metro will play Northern Kentucky at 5:30 p.m. for a spot in Sunday’s championship.
Due to the limited capacity at the Edge Ice Center, Legends Sports Bar & Grill on Highway 54 will be playing the state tournament starting at 3 p.m. Saturday and they’ll also have both games on Sunday.
Patrons who mention they’re at Legends to watch the KHSHL State Tournament will have 10% of their bill going toward the Kenny Horn Family.
