Nights in the heart of winter can get arduous in the Blue South. Just ask Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin. In the last three weeks, the Lions participated in a holiday tournament against squads multiple rungs higher in the GCHSHL ladder and had a late postponement that led to two straight Saturdays against non-varsity opposition. The result? A rough 0-4-1 stretch. So the Lions can be forgiven Jan. 18 in a league clash against North Olmsted if they were feeling even hungrier than usual. Consider their appetite for a timely win whetted. Patrick O’Brien’s redirect late in the third put NDCL ahead for good and Luke Miller also lit the lamp twice in a 5-3 Blue South victory to get to 5-11-2 on the campaign. This had its twists as well, but the Lions navigated to the winner’s circle anyway. “The Christmas tournaments were really rough, playing some hard teams,” O’Brien said. “But we just don’t give up. That’s probably our biggest attribute is just not giving up and playing until the end.” An attribute on display when it was needed most on this night at Mentor. Locked in a 3-3 game deep into the third, NDCL’s Colin Krajnak pounced on a puck chipped off the side boards and threw a wrister on net. O’Brien, a senior, did well to station himself in front for a redirect, his 13th goal of the season and second of the night with 2:18 to go for a 4-3 advantage. NDCL 4-3Patrick O'Brien at 12:42 pic.twitter.com/yMDtdIzqsM — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) January 19, 2025 “We were playing as a team, with great passes from my teammates,” O’Brien said. “They’re really who I’ve got to thank at the end of the day.” The Eagles (7-5-1) called timeout with 31 seconds left and pulled goaltender Brennan Graf for an extra attacker. But Nic Davis corralled the puck in the neutral zone and put away an empty-netter at 14:57 for the final margin. The Lions showed promise when they could get zone breakouts to the edges of the zone and use their speed to turn the corner on the North Olmsted backcheck. They took a 1-0 lead out of the opening 15. Davis put an initial look on net, and Miller got his stick down for a banger at the left bar at 6:15. NDCL 1-0Luke Miller at 6:15 pic.twitter.com/pyanIBlkza — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) January 18, 2025 A chaotic second period was to follow, though. North Olmsted grabbed a 2-1 lead with goals 42 seconds apart from A.J. Ferretti and Brendan Bonham, the latter a shortside wrister at 4:02 on a power play. Miller leveled the scoreline, 2-2, at 7:26 with a slick individual effort through the right circle on a deke and wrister, putting the Lions’ two-way staple up to 12 goals on the year. NDCL senior Luke Miller discusses a 5-3 Blue South win over North OlmstedHad himself a nice two-way game as the Lions recorded a timely & much-needed W after a long few weeks pic.twitter.com/373Jcv63t6 — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) January 19, 2025 O’Brien collected a Davis feed and took care of a walker at 8:58 for a 3-2 lead going to intermission. “It’s mostly powered by our defense,” O’Brien said of getting to the edge of the zone effectively. “God bless those people. They don’t get tired. We really wouldn’t be able to break it out without them.” The Eagles answered at 5:02 of the third with a wrister from high in the zone by Hunter Turvey before O’Brien’s punctual intervention down the stretch. With just 10 skaters, NDCL realizes the necessity of conditioning — not to mention the necessity of whetting the appetite of victory after an arduous few weeks. Some building blocks are in place to compete, including Miller and promising freshmen Davis and Josh Hollobaugh, who have combined for 19 goals and 13 assists thus far. The Lions hope this feeling can continue a while longer, maybe even with improved roster numbers in the long term. “The third period, legs are big for our team — we condition all the time,” O’Brien said. “We just try to stay in tip-top shape. “We just need to keep playing how we are. Our freshmen, God bless them. They are the best. We need more people to replace the seniors, and hopefully they’ll have a great team next year.” The score NDCL 5, North Olmsted 3