The Dublin Jerome High School hockey team won four games by one goal during the final two weeks of the regular season, had one more end in a tie and won another by two goals.

That’s one reason the Celtics think they won’t be fazed by any situation they face during this weekend’s Blue Jackets Cup, which runs Thursday, Feb. 9, to Sunday, Feb. 12, at various Chiller facilities and the OhioHealth Ice Haus.

“We’ve been in that situation a lot, where the game is tied or we’re losing by a goal going into the third period,” Jerome coach Pat Murphy said. “We’re usually a very good third-period team. We like to play four lines and all of our defense, so I feel like that strategy leaves us with some gas in the tank in the third period. It seems to work for us and we’re going to stick with it.”

Jerome won the Blue Jackets Cup three consecutive years from 2006-08 and then again in 2010. Its streak was interrupted by Dublin Coffman in 2009. Olentangy Liberty won the title last season.

Jerome is 24-9-1 overall and finished 14-1-1-1 in the Capital Hockey Conference for a league-best 30 points, winning the Red Division ahead of Liberty (12-4-1, 25 points), Cincinnati Moeller (10-4-1-2, 23), Coffman (10-6-1, 21) and St. Charles (9-8, 18).

Forwards James Eastep and Alex Cathis had 11 and 10 goals, respectively, in CHC play to lead Jerome. Liberty was led in league play by forwards Chris Bergamesca and Brock Rumbaugh, who had 13 and 11 goals, respectively. Coffman forward Kevin Putnam led all goal scorers in league play with 24, with Shamrocks forward Gunner Gruehl scoring 15.

In previous years, the top eight teams in the CHC standings advanced to the championship tournament of the Blue Jackets Cup while the bottom six played in the consolation tournament. Because the CHC realigned into three divisions this season, now the top four teams in the Red Division, the top three in the White Division and the Blue Division winner qualify to play for the championship tournament.

Upper Arlington coach Jay Graham thinks his team’s 14-2-1 league record (29) and White Division championship, at least in part, stem from an ambitious nonleague schedule. The Golden Bears went 1-3 in both Lakewood St. Edward’s Eagle Classic from Dec. 27-29 and Strongsville’s Walter F. Ehrnfelt tournament from Jan. 13-16 against teams Graham said were mostly faster and offered different looks than central Ohio teams.

Forward Brian Helscel had 11 goals in league play to lead UA, with forward Patrick Goth scoring 10.

“We enjoy that kind of competition and we want to play against the best so that we can improve ourselves and slow the game down in terms of playing teams who might not be as fast,” said Graham, whose team is 20-12-1 overall. “What’s nice about it is we’ve peaked during our league games. We went 4-1 against the upper (Red) division. We’re extremely pleased with that. We’ve had a relatively tough schedule outside of the league, which we knew we would. ... But I think that we’re finding that we still need to finish. We still need to be a better scoring team to give our goalies more support.”

Olentangy Orange (13-4, 26) and Thomas Worthington (8-8-1, 17) also qualified from the White Division.

Forward Jake Shepherd had 16 goals in league play to lead Orange, one more than Thomas forward Tommy Pischel.

DeSales relied largely on the play of nine sophomores to win the Blue Division one year after finishing 11th in the league with a 3-9-0-1 record. The Stallions went 9-6-0-1 (19) this season, finishing six points ahead of runner-up Worthington Kilbourne (6-9-0-1), and are 13-5 since Jan. 1.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Stallions consider themselves a pronounced underdog entering the weekend.

“Nobody believed in the 1980 Olympics team either,” DeSales coach Bob Heine said, referring to the U.S. hockey team that defeated the heavily-favored Soviet Union 4-3 in the Winter Olympics. “These kids believe in each other, they believe in what they’re doing and they’re peaking at the right time. Most of the teams we see might say, ‘Oh, it’s DeSales.’ If we keep playing like this and working hard and maybe get the right bounces, who knows what will happen?”

Forward Joe Gray leads DeSales with 51 goals, including 22 in league play, and forward Tyler McClary has 15 goals, with 10 coming in league play.

“We go out there, play our game and make things happen,” Stallions senior defenseman Chad Janszen said. “That’s how it has to be from here on out. I don’t think anybody’s ever going to take DeSales lightly again.”

St. Charles, Olentangy, Gahanna, Kilbourne, Dublin Scioto and Watterson will compete in the consolation tournament to determine ninth through 14th place. That tournament starts Friday, Feb. 10, and concludes Sunday, Feb. 12.

Until last season, no central Ohio team had won a district title after winning the Blue Jackets Cup since the event became affiliated with the CHC in 2004. Liberty broke that streak, defeating Coffman 3-2 in overtime in the Blue Jackets Cup final and beating Jerome 3-2 in overtime in the district final.

Liberty went on to lose 9-4 to Toledo St. Francis in a state semifinal.

The crux of that team returned, guiding the Patriots to a 24-9-1 overall record.

“We have kids who played well down the stretch last year,” Liberty coach Jack Hoogeveen said. “They were part of the magic last year and will need to lead the way this year.”