Resilient Bobcats shut out by Wildcats, 4-0

SYLVANIA — Bowling Green hockey’s tournament run was stopped in its tracks by Sylvania Northview during a regional semifinal at Tam-O-Shanter Durocher’s Arena Friday.

Northview (23-8-3), the Northwest Hockey Conference Red Division champions, defeated the Bobcats, 4-0, and will move on to play the winner of Toledo St. Francis (18-13-1) and Toledo St. John’s (18-3-3) for the right to advance to the state final four.

“We wanted to play one more week for sure and now we get to go to practice on Monday and prepare for whoever, St. John’s or St. Francis, two great teams,” Northview coach Steve Elliott said.

“So, we’ll sit back and watch that one (Saturday at 4 p.m. at Tam-O-Shanter), enjoy tonight and enjoy this weekend a little bit and then get back to work.”

Northview goalie Austin Nowak was spectacular, posting his 20th career shutout and he now owns the school record for shutouts in a single season.

Nowak had 19 saves, including 13 in a pivotal second period. On two power plays, BG put together two separate flurries of aggression at Nowak, each time sending three shots in rapid succession at him.

“That’s what he does. He’s really good,” Elliott said.

BG coach Connor Rogowski added, “I thought we played well, and I thought we had a lot of chances, and their goalie stood on his head. He played well, especially in the second period.

“It is a 1-0 game and he’s making save after save. That completely changes the game if we put one in there, and we just couldn’t today. We didn’t capitalize when we needed to and that was pretty much the difference.”

Neither team scored in the first period, despite the Wildcats owning a 9-3 shot advantage. They finished the game outshooting BG, 34-19. BG goalkeeper Matthew Brinkman stopped all nine shots and finished with 30 saves of his own.

“We came out good. We came out exactly how we wanted to,” Rogowski said. “We got some opportunities.

“We got a couple power play opportunities, we played how we wanted to, and we forced them to do some of the things that we were wanting them to do.”

Elliott added, “Obviously, they grinded. The shots we had were because we had a good amount of pressure in the offensive zone. They did a great job of clogging the ice on us and blocking some shots on top of it.

“I think they did what they wanted to do, which was keep the game as close as they could and maybe you can capitalize on an opportunity. That is what I would do if I were more of an underdog,” Elliott continued.

“I thought they did a lot of those things really well, and who knows, if they find the back of the net when it is still 0-0 and the game is in the balance, and we cough it up a little bit, and maybe you have yourself a game.”

Four minutes and 19 seconds into the second period and Northview defenseman C.J. Lehman faked one way, then dumped a slow shot at Brinkman. Sam Himmel deflected and Ben Graeff sent it into the net, putting the Wildcats up, 1-0.

Less than seven minutes later on a power play, Graeff and Tryston Harrell teamed up for a steal at center ice, and Harrell scored on the breakaway, putting the ‘Cats up, 2-0, with 4:45 remaining.

Just 1:59 into the final period, a pass from behind the net was one-timed into the net by Benny Seals with Liam Diesing and Drake Symbolik credited for the assists.

Harrell scored the fourth goal unassisted after a steal at center ice and beating Brinkman during a one-on-one breakaway.

In league play, Northview downed BG, 5-2, at the Bowling Green State University Slater Family Ice Arena, but the Wildcats dominated, 9-0, at Tam-O-Shanter.

However, after BG defeated Findlay, 5-4, to advance to the reginal semis, Elliott knew his team would have its work cut out Friday.

“It wasn’t just talk,” Elliott said. “I knew they would be more like the team we saw the first time down in BG than us getting after them a little bit up here in the second matchup.

“So, I knew would be a tough matchup. He (Rogowski) gets them to play hard and they did just that. Hats off to them. Good kids on that team and we like going into battle with them.”

BG finishes 15-17-4, but Rogowski said this game proved the Bobcats belonged in the regional semis.

“The score is 4-0 but it really doesn’t dictate how closely the game was played. I’m proud of the players,” Rogowski said.

“I’m proud of the way they handled themselves and how they kept battling and kept believing in themselves when a lot of people didn’t.

“I think there were a lot of surprises that we were even in this game, but none from us, and I think we deserved to win the battle, I know.”

Rogowski said this year’s team also proved the naysayers wrong after a strong senior class graduated last year.

“Everybody thought, losing what we lost, that we were just going to lay an egg this year and just come out and just get beat around,” Rogowski said.

“I know sometimes when we played it didn’t always go as well as we wanted it to, and we knew we were a better team.

“We dealt with a lot of injuries, we dealt with a lot of sickness, even with the short bench that we did had at the beginning. But we were resilient. We kept fighting. We knew that we could be here.”