After a disappointing result in a league matchup with BG this past Friday a determined group of boys headed to Cleveland and put together their finest stretch of play all season. The results of that effort were a 2-1 OT win over #14 state ranked Shaker Heights and a 2-0 shutout win over #1 state ranked St. Ignatius. The 2 wins moves the Cats to 3-1 since the start of the new year. The Junior Varsity also played well in earning a 4-2 win at Shaker while battling a strong Varsity B level St. Ignatius team in defeat on Sunday. Both Teams will look to keep it going this weekend as they battle in the Markus Rasmus memorial MLK tournament at Tam-o-Shanter.
The Cats weekend looked anything but promising Friday night. Though they skated well many of the bad habits that have haunted them this season reared their ugly heads in a disappointing 5-1 loss. A couple of fluky goals that usually don’t get past junior goalie Austin Nowak found there way in, an empty net goal and untimely and undisciplined play led to a final score that didn’t represent what was otherwise a fairly equally played game.
The Cats response to Fridays loss was as equally impressive as Friday was ugly. With Senior Captain Noah Chevalier joining junior Mason Hacker on the sidelines injured the Cats played with heart and hustle. It started with a 2 to 1 win over Shaker Heights. Junior forward Aiden Carter’s career 1st staked the Cats to a 1-0 lead with a 2nd period goal as team defense and Nowak’s strong play held the Raiders offense at bay. Shaker was able to crack through and score on the power play midway through the 3rd period and send the game to overtime. In the overtime junior forward Trystan Harrell, Using fellow junior Zach Denny’s skates after breaking a skate blade, scored off a creative play with Mason Crandell to lift the Cats to a 2-1 win!
The Scheduler (Coach Elliott) didn’t do the Cats any favors as just 12 hours later they would drop the puck with #1 state ranked St. Ignatius. With a skate blade delivery from Julie Nowak Harrell was ready to go, but unfortunetaly the Cats would lose Sophomore Liam Diesing to injury and as fate would have it Harrell broke his other blade in the 1st period and would play the final 2 in rental skates!
That wouldn’t stop the Cats from playing their finest game of the year! Nowak was spectacular both in goal and helping lead the breakout as a swarming defensive effort limited Iggy’s grade A opportunities and 2nd chance shots. Though St. Ignatius held a 2 to 1 shot advantage the Cats were opportunistic in creating multiple 2 on 1 chances and rental skate Harrell’s breakaway!
The Northview Wildcats were finally able to break through with Junior Benny Seals goal at the 8:33 mark of the 3rd period. From there the Cats were able to keep the home Wildcats from creating many dangerous opportunities. The chances they did create were met by Junior Netminder Austin Nowak who played incredible with a 51 save shutout! Harrell sealed the win with an empty net goal with 30 seconds left for the final score 2 to 0.
The JV Cats pushed their win streak to 6 games with an impressive 4-2 win at Shaker. Senior Goalie Brenden Shadle picked up the win and Keegan Draper kept his team leading scoring going with a Hat trick. Senior Greg Vavrinek also scored in the win.
Sunday the JV Cats were welcomed to varsity level action against the Varsity B team from Ignatius. Sophomore goalie Ayden Crandall was sharp but the more experienced host were too much in a 5-0 loss.
The Cats look to keep it going this weekend in their MLK tournament at Tamo. Please visit the schedule page for game times. Tickets can be purchased through the tamo ticket office below. Single game tickets are $7 while a tournament pass can be purchased for $15.
KAC!!
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