Northview Hockey Varsity Blog - Sylvania Ohio

The Wildcats are 1 win a way from a 2nd trip to the State final four in 3 years after a 4-1 win over St. Johns Saturday night at Tam-O-Shanter. Northview will take on St. Francis on Saturday night at 7 in the district final.

Northview opened up the state playoffs with the Start Spartans. 10 different goal scorers led the Cats to a 10-0 win. Shane Molnar, Evan Parr, Drew Jackson, Anthony Holley and Jordan Jones all picked up their first goals of the season in the win. Cody Ramm made 3 saves for the shutout.

The Southview Cougars came knocking in the 2nd round on Thursday night. After a scoreless opening period the Cats flexed some muscle. Carter Bourland deflected home a nice pass from Tyler Puhl for a 1-0 lead, and then Tyler Cook took over. His tenacious forecheck and work in the corners led to 2 goals to push the lead to 3-0. Bourland would score 2 more for a Hat trick and Anthony Holley and Shane Wheatley got into the action for the decisive 8-1 win. Craig Trego returned to the nets after a 3 game break to earn the victory.

Saturday night the Cats hosted St. Johns in the district semi-finals. Brandon Snead has been a go to guy all year and he got his team going in this one early. He blocked a shot to set up his own break away to give the Cats a 1-0 lead just 42 seconds into the contest. Tyler Puhl’s great individual effort made it 2-0 after 1 period of play. He gathered a loose puck as the Titans were making a line change and skated end to end before roofing a back hand shot over the shoulder of St. Johns goalie Steven Schmitt.

The Second period the Cats stretched the lead to 3-0 on the power play. With former Wildcat George Wilkinson in the box Brandon Snead scored his 2nd of the game from the left circle. Northview let the Titans back into the game under a minute later. Ray Morris found some room down the right side and beat Craig Trego to the short side to cut the Cats lead to 3-1. Northview would answer however with another power play goal to push the lead back to 3 at 4-1. Brandon Snead set up a nice back door pass to Eamonn Reynolds who made no mistake slamming it into the back of the Titans net for the final margin of victory.

The Cats played a solid defensive third period to protect the lead and skate into the district finals.

Tickets for Saturdays game will be on sale at Northview throughout the week. Get them early as this game may sell out. Congratulations Cats and good luck!

Northview shrugged off a second loss to St. Francis on Friday night to defeat Southview 6-3 Saturday night and BG 3-2 on Sunday to claim their 2nd league title in 3 years. The Cats finished the league at 8-2 for 16 points, 1 ahead of St. Francis who was forced to forfeit 2 games.

On Friday night the Cats threw everything but the kitchen sink at St. Francis goalie Micheal McAnnich in a 2-0 loss. The Cats seemed to control much of the game and held a 29-12 shot advantage at the end, however the Knights were able to cash in on 2 early opportunities to skate away with the win. The following evening the Mayor’s cup was on the line as the Cats hosted Southview. Mark Hall scored to give the Cats a 1-0 lead before Southview tied it in the second. Christian Simon scored to regain the lead off a nice pass from Nile Culver and Carter Bourland extended the lead to 3-1 with a power play goal. The Cats scored 3 more unanswered goals to start the 3rd for a 6-1 lead. Bourland, scored his 2nd of the game, Tyler Puhl scored and Dakota Rambo scored his first of his career. Craig Trego picked up the win and Cody Ramm filled in with some relief in the third.

Sunday the Cats traveled to Bowling Green. With the league title in the balance Northview pulled it out in overtime. Brandon Snead scored a break away goal off a feed from Tyler Cook to give the Cats a 1-0 lead early in the 2nd period. Carter Bourland made it 2-0 off a pretty play from linemates Snead and Kyle Hymore. BG struck for and early goal in the 3rd to cut the lead in half, and tied it with just 9 seconds left with the extra attacker. Bourland bailed out his teammates in the extra session putting home a rebound goal for the game winner and a league title.

Northview will host BG, Whitmer and Trinity this weekend in preperation for the state playoffs.

The Northview Wildcats were knocked off their high horse this past Friday as the St. Francis Knights scored 6 unanswered goals to route the Cats 6-1.

Northview got on the board first as Brandon Snead scored on a 2-on-1 pass from Carter Bourland to give the Cats a 1-0 lead. St. Francis would even the game on the power play minutes later and score what would be the game winner in the last minute of the first period on a tip-in to take a 2-1 lead to intermission. The second period was back and forth with both teams getting some quality chances. With the Cats poised to tie the game on a 5-on-3 power play the Knights stole the momentum. St. Francis scored a short handed goal near the end of the power play to increase their lead to 3-1 after 2 periods of play. Northview battled to start the 3rd, but a St. Francis goal increased the lead to 4-1 and took the life from the Cats. St. Francis would add 2 more for the final.

The next morning the Cats had to try and rebound versus Mt. Lebanon from Pennsylvania. Carter Bourland, Mark Hall and Tyler Cook scored to provide enough offense. However it was Craig Trego who stole all the glory. The shutout victory was his 63rd win and 15th shutout of his career, both all-time records at Northview. Rocky Muszinski, 1982, held the previos record of 62 wins, while Bob McElheney from 2006 held the old record of 14.5 shutouts. Congratulations Craig!

Northview still controls their own destiny in the league. With 3 games remaining this weekend Northview could earn enough points to claim a 2nd league title in 3 years. The Cats will get a chance to redeem themselves Friday night against St. Francis at 7 P.M. If they are fortunate enough to win that game they must beat both SV on Saturday and BG on Sunday to claim the title. Good luck Cats!!