Bowling Green sophomore forward Tanner Amos scored, assisted by senior defenseman Caden Wisniewski, to give the Bobcats a 3-3 tie with Toledo St. Francis with 1:33 remaining in a Northwest Hockey Conference Red Division game Saturday at Bowling Green State University’s Slater Family Ice Arena.
Fifty-eight seconds later, St. Francis forward Sawyer Ziciinski scored assisted by forwards Jamison Rose and Andrew Tucker, with 36 seconds showing on the clock, to give the Knights’ a 4-3 victory.
“I keep telling them, ‘We are 30 seconds and one mistake away from winning these games,’” BG coach Connor Rogowski said.
“It was just one little mistake and that has been the difference. We are going to get over that hump,” Rogowski continued.
St. Francis was able to get off only 14 shots, while BG had more than that after two periods, posting 17 at that point, but it was not enough.
BG even scored first as Amos found the net on a power play, assisted by senior defenseman Easton Schick and senior forward Ethan Helvoigt, giving the Bobcats a 1-0 lead after one period.
In the second, BG outshot St. Francis, 7-4, but allowed three goals. Forward Jacob Myers tied the game, assisted by Tucker on a power play.
Tucker put the Knights ahead, assisted by Zaciinski and defenseman Brady Mitchy, putting the Knights up 2-1 with 8:17 remaining in the second period.
Just 68 seconds later, Myers scored unassisted to put St. Francis on top, 3-1, but BG would spark a third period comeback.
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound Helvoigt scored, assisted by Wisniewski, to bring the Bobcats to within one, 3-2, setting up Amos’ game-tying goal soon after.
After going 0-3 over the weekend in NHC Red Division play, the Bobcats fall to 12-13-4 and 1-6. BG, which is down at least two players because of key injuries, also lost to St. John’s 7-2 on Sunday and Findlay, 5-3, on Friday.
“Our league is real good this year and we’ve seen that,” Rogowski said. “Now, we’ve played every single team in the league so far.
“When we come to play and we don’t make mistakes, we can beat any of them. We’re losing a lot of one goal games, and it’s just key mistakes that we are making.
“Our last three games, Perrysburg, Findlay, and St. Francis, we were one breakaway from winning the games.
“We’re looking to peak at the right time and that is where we are headed. We’re looking at these last couple weeks here to start building.”
St. Francis, the defending state runner-up, is 11-11-1 overall and 5-2 in the Red Division.
Sylvania Northview 8, Perrysburg 2
SYLVANIA—At Tam-O-Shanter Saturday, Sylvania Northview’s Drake Symbolik scored a three-goal hat trick as the Wildcats defeated Perrysburg, 8-2, in a Northwest Hockey Conference Red Division game.
The Wildcats outshot the Yellow Jackets 43-19, but Perrysburg goaltender Sam Yonker did make 35 saves. Northview goalie Austin Nowak had 17 saves.
Perrysburg left wing Cody Schneider scored the Yellow Jackets’ first goal, assisted by defenseman Mackeane Hanley, tying the game at 1-1 with 5:39 remaining in the first period.
Alex Wilhelm scored Perrysburg’s second goal unassisted with 9:46 remaining in the second period, which tied the game 2-2.
However, Northview would add another two more goals in the second and four in the third without an answer from the Jackets.
For Northview, C.J. Lehman scored twice, and Landon Elliott, Riley Ames, and Chase Bean added one goal apiece.
Elliott and Mason Crandell had three assists apiece, Benny Seals had two assists, and Symbolik, Ames, and Tryston Harrell added one assist each.
Northview is 15-8-3 overall and leads the Red Division at 6-1-1. Perrysburg drops to 14-11-1 and 3-4.
Remaining NHC games
There are seven more Red Division games coming up in the next seven days, starting with a special Wednesday matchup at Toledo’s Huntington Center: St. John’s hosting Perrysburg at 7 p.m..
NHC officials say this might be the first NHC league match played at the downtown Toledo arena. NHC teams have played scrimmages and hosted out-of-town opponents at the Huntington Center over the years.
When two local teams have played at the Huntington Center before, it has not counted in the league standings, according to the league’s limited records.
For example, Anthony Wayne and Clay set a high school attendance record there in 2010 for a Kyle Cannon benefit game, but it was not a league game.
At Tam-O-Shanter Friday at 7 p.m., Bowling Green plays St. Francis for a second week in a row after losing to a Knights’ goal scored in the last minute on Saturday. At Tam-O-Shanter on Saturday at 7 p.m., Bowling Green faces St. John’s.
In the NHC White Division, Clay (10-9-1, 4-1) is now tied with Lake (11-4-1, 4-0) for first with eight points each, with one game in hand for the Lake club team.
At Team Toledo Ice House, Clay hosts Lake at 7 p.m. this Friday after the Eagles were mercied on Dec. 9 the first time they met. If the Eagles can win the rematch, the two teams might be destined to share the regular season crown.
At noon on Saturday at Slater Arena, Lake has another rematch with the Springfield club team (2-14-1, 0-3-1) after Lake won by mercy rule the first time around.
