A pregame ceremony honoring the Leo Lions as Memorial Cup winners kicked off the start of the 2023-24 High School Hockey season. Goaltender Drew Baumert stood proudly in front of the bench as the FWAHA honored his father, Ben Baumert, as a Memorial Cup Honoree, joining the ranks of other influential Fort Wayne hockey figures. Baumert started in goal for the reigning Lions and stood tall in his net, making 25 saves in his first league performance of the season. Across the ice, Conner Gould was the netminder for the Homestead Spartans, saving 18 shots.

First Period

Alex Hendricks started the scoresheet with an unassisted goal in the first period for the Leo Lions. He was able to pick up the garbage after an end-to-end pass and shoot top shelf all alone on the goaltender. The physicality ramped up as Johnny Lips was called for charging. Homestead got a penalty of their own when Andrew Litwinko was called off for slashing. At the end of the first, even though Leo led 1-0, they were outshot 7-6 by the Spartans.

Second Period

Ding, Ding, Boom! Leo got on the board with their second goal of the contest about 10 feet out from the circle. Colten Calhoun ripped it as Jonah Haines and Tyson Finefrock got the assists. Sam Schwartz sent another one-timer in front of the Lion’s bench to solidify a 3-0 lead. Colten Calhoun was sent to the penalty box for tripping. Homestead ended their period with a cross-checking call to Cole Strick. They led the shots once more with 8 to Leo’s 6.

Third Period

Homestead started the period with a rough to Henry Loxton. Homestead had the momentum and was suffocating the Lions. As a result, Sam Loxton got the first goal for the Spartans off a feed from Thomas Chapman and Mason Gutman into the low glove side of Drew Baumert. Leo got some energy and led Calhoun to get an assist on Tyson Finefrock’s goal. Homestead’s Litwinko got a goal off of Gutman’s assist in an effort to tie the game. The Spartans were playing heavily, trying to tap in dirty goals. Leo’s Riley Murphy tripped up a Spartan, who was pushing for a comeback of their own. They pulled Conner Gould but could not score on the man advantage. The Lions won 4-2 and had 22 shots compared to the Spartans’ 27.

10/18/23

This article is written by Fiona Quinn