Persistence pays off for Carmel’s Olmschenk

It was a tough decision for Cole Olmschenk to return to the Carmel hockey team after his freshman team.

He admits the odds were, at best, 40 percent that he’d skate again for the Corsairs.

After all, Carmel won only two games that season.

“I was really skeptical whether I wanted to come back to play for the team,” said Olmschenk, 17, a senior. “My dad (Craig) suggested that I stick with the team, that the team would be really good our senior year.”

Pat Gray, also a Carmel senior, heard the same thing from his dad. Gray also pushed Olmschenk to continue playing for the Corsairs.

The moved paid off. Carmel enjoyed a 32-13-5 season and was one of the top teams in the state. The Corsairs’ season ended Tuesday night with a 4-3 loss to Mt. Carmel, which scored the game-winner late, at the Glacier Ice Arena in Vernon Hills.

“Seeing things come to fruition has been really cool,” said Olmschenk, a left-handed shooting defenseman who skated alongside fellow senior Danny Uhlir. The two also manned the defense for Carmel’s power-play unit.

Olmschenk, who lives in Grayslake, had 5 goals, including 3 on the power play, and 23 assists this season. Olmschenk and Carmel forward Joe Salvi (51 goals, 32 assists) were each named all-state by the Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois.

“I’m very glad I stayed,” Olmschenk said. “I still remember my freshman year. I was really nervous during games, (afraid) to go in the corners or get hit. Anytime we got close to winning (that season), I got really excited, but we weren’t able to finish and would lose, so I would be really upset after the game.

“This year is a lot better than expected.”

Olmschenk said the turning point for the team came last season, “when we really started to come together and realized that we were getting better. Last year, we started putting up a fight against bigger-named teams. Though we didn’t win those games last year, we closed the margin from, say, losing by only 1- or 2-goals as opposed to 7- or 8-goals, as we did (in earlier seasons).”

In early January, the Corsairs battled co-op Rockford, the 15-time defending Combined Division state champion, to a 1-1 tie. Two weeks before that game, Carmel lost 2-1 to defending state champion New Trier Green. And last Dec. 10, the Corsairs also battled Rockford to a 2-2 tie, though it was the Icehogs who had to fight back after falling behind 2-0 after two periods.

During Olmschenk’s freshman season, Rockford crushed Carmel 10-0.

“It’s been a drastic change from that first year,” Olmschenk said, laughing. “The key is, we’ve played together for so many years. We have 13 seniors on the team this year and we’ve been able to work so well off each of our strengths and (minimize our) weaknesses.”

During that same freshman season, the Corsairs had only two seniors, “so most teams outmatched us skill-wise,” Olmschenk said. “It’s been so much fun this season, being able to compete with and against some of the best teams in the state, such as, Rockford and New Trier Green.”

Olmschenk is a fundamental player, much more than a physical presence, and the team has excelled through finesse.

“Two of Cole’s biggest attributes are preparation and work ethic,” said Carmel coach Mike Rucinski. “He is a tremendous leader both on and off the ice. Cole is a prime model for all of his teammates, especially the younger guys. I hope they really watch how Cole goes about his business. Cole has really come a long way in his career at Carmel Catholic. I am very proud of him and it has been a pleasure to coach him.”

Olmschenk is heading to St. Thomas (Minn.) in the fall to pursue a mechanical engineering degree and, by then, he no longer will be a blonde.

“(Carmel) does not allow us to grow playoff beards,” Olmschenk said. “You cannot have facial hair at the school, and not a lot of us can even grow a beard. So, in order to do something for the playoffs, we all dyed our hair blonde. If I’m by myself, I get some weird looks in public. I know they’re thinking, ‘Why would you do that?’ ”

Because he was a proud member of the Carmel hockey team — for all four years.