COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCHM) — It was a historic weekend on the ice as Upper Arlington took home its first state championship in program history. The Golden Bears became just the second team from Central Ohio to win it all.

Upper Arlington was taking on a powerhouse in boys hockey. Cleveland St. Ignatius was gunning for back-to-back titles and its ninth overall. But thanks to a really good goalie and a second intermission pep talk, the Golden Bears were able to make history.

In order to make history, UA needed Mason Herndon to play the game of his life.

“He’s incredible, he’s the best goalie in the state of Ohio. I’ll argue with anyone that tells me different,” head coach Craig Hagkull said. “He kept us in it in the first period. If we don’t have him, we don’t win this game.”

The junior goalie made 34 saves in the championship game against St. Ignatius at Nationwide Arena, with 22 of them made in the first two periods.

“It was awesome. It felt great. All the 6AMs we’ve had. All the liftings. It’s just an amazing feeling,” Herndon said. “I just gotta dial in with my pregame warmup, my rituals and it just helps me lock in.”

His performance helped the Golden Bears take a 1-0 lead heading into the second intermission.

“We were talking about that we needed to play for our goalie because he kept us in it for most of the game and step up and put some pucks into the net,” senior forward Jason Davis said.

Coach Hagkull emphasized how his team was just 15 minutes away from history.

“If I told you our first practice at the start of November/end of October you had a chance to, we had 15 minutes to win the state title, we would’ve taken it, written that in blood right?” Hagkull said. “So do everything we can to win this game. They came out with a fire and just and took it to them in the third.”

The goals poured in with Conner Hagkull, Davis and Ben Spence giving Upper Arlington a 5-0 lead en route to a 5-2 win for UA’s first ever state championship.

“The sport of hockey in Ohio is mostly a private school, like you know, they’ve dominated,” coach Hagkull said. “So to do it with a public school, the support we have from the students, it feels really special, it’s really cool.”