After the DeSmet Spartans hockey came so close to advancing to the Mid-States Club Hockey Association Challenge Cup final last year, our HSSC/Scoops with Danny Mac Student-Athlete of the Week knew that they would be able to bounce back and challenge for the title this year.
Junior Tommy Ruder was one of the leaders for the Spartans this season and scored a hat-trick in the second game of the semifinals this past Saturday with arch-rival CBC to push DeSmet to a 3-1 win to force a mini-game, which the Spartans won in a shootout to advance to the Challenge Cup final Friday evening.
But for Ruder, the game on Saturday almost did not take place. After the Friday evening match-up with the Cadets, Ruder woke up Saturday morning with flu-like symptoms and was not sure if he would be able to answer the bell that night.
“After Friday night, I thought I had the flu,” stated Ruder. “I was super sick Saturday morning and missed our team meeting because I could not even get out of bed. Saturday night when I was warming up, I was getting chills because I was so sick. But once the game started, I just got into it. It was so much fun and such a great team effort.”
Ruder scored in every period in the second game to get the hat-trick that forced the mini-game. In the Mid-States Playoffs, the format is two games. If the teams split the games, the team with the higher number of goals advances. If the team split the contests and are tied in goals scored, they will then play a mini-game, which is a 10 minute period that is played until its entirety. If the teams are still tied after the first 10 minutes, then they will play five minutes in which the team that scores win. If still tied after all that, the teams go to a three-player shootout to determine the winner. That is what happened in the CBC semifinal. Ruder loves the playoff format, even though it takes a lot out of the players.
Photo by Jason Schoenig – Dirt and Turf Photography
“The mini-game is crazy as we went to that last year,” said Ruder. “It was the same scenario as last year when we lost the first game and won the second. Last year, we lost in the five-minute session to Marquette, which was a heartbreaker. It’s a wild format. It’s crazy, but I love it! It is fun.”
Hockey came to Ruder naturally as he played soccer for a lot of his youth, but he was skating on rollerblades since he was two years old.
“After a soccer game when I was eight years old, I said to my mom that I wanted to try and play hockey,” stated Ruder. “So, my dad took me to Stick and Pucks to show me how to skate and stop. I then started to play club hockey at Chesterfield, played A2, and in the Central States league. When I was 11, we played in a AAA tournament in Quebec, and it was awesome, and I have played ever since.”
The season for the Spartans this year was supposed to be somewhat of a rebuilding year after losing in the playoff last year. But Ruder and the seniors knew that they could return to the Challenge Cup final.
“Last year, we were the top seed in the tournament, and we lost a lot of great seniors,” said Ruder. “We had a bunch of juniors that have played a lot and there were a bunch of us sophomores on the varsity roster and the freshman have stepped up this year. I have never been on a team that has been this close. The freshman is very close to the seniors, and it is fun to see that. Against CBC, we all came together for a team effort to bounce back from the first game loss to move on.”
The rivalry with the Cadets not only is on the football field or the court, but it is also in all sports and that includes hockey. The two teams always put on a show and the students from the two schools come out to support them.
“It is crazy,” said Ruder. “I would not have wanted to play anyone else but CBC in that game, but SLUH is just as big. CBC is something that everyone just gets up for. You know that anytime you play CBC, it is going to be a hard game. I am so glad that we got it done.”
Ruder knows that it will not be an easy game against the Jr. Bills Friday night in the Challenge Cup final. The two teams played a pair of close games already this year with SLUH winning both.
“We played them in the final my freshman year and lost,” said Ruder. “It is always a hard game against them. They are physical and it is hard mentally. The crowds are crazy, and the atmosphere is crazy when we play them. If we play the same way that we played against CBC, I know that we can win.”
Ruder still has one more year left in the halls at DeSmet, but he is already thinking about his future. He is an outstanding lacrosse player and will be looking to further his athletic career on the grass instead of the ice.
“I made the decision that I wanted to play lacrosse in college,” stated Ruder. “My brother plays lacrosse at St. John Fischer, and he got me into lacrosse. I love hockey, but my passion has grown towards lacrosse, so that is what I would like to do in college.”
It is going to be a big weekend on the ice at Centene Ice Center and we wish all the teams the best of luck in the finals.
Congratulations to Tommy Ruder of DeSmet on earning the HSSC/Scoops with Danny Mac Student-Athlete award!
Jim Powers has been covering prep sports in the St. Louis area for 15+ years and a part of the Missouri State High School Activities Association Championship Broadcasts for the past 11 years. Powers is also a part of the Fox 2 Verlo Mattress Prep Zone Friday nights at 10:10 during the football and basketball seasons. If you have a prep sports story, please contact Jim at japowers2421@yahoo.com. Follow Jim at @hssportscaravan
