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!

This year there is going to be 3 age groups to show your love for Northview hockey during the alumni tournament. They will all take place at Tam-o-Shanter during March and early April.

For the 35+ age group the dates are March 14th -16th
For the 25+ dates are March 28th- 30th
For the 18+ the Dates are April 4th- 6th

Please send an email to the website through the contact us with your Name, graduating year, Phone # and email address. If you have any special request (i.e. you are 37 and you would like to play on the 25+ team) let me know and I will do my best to accommodate as much as possible.

After last years debacle I am not going to try and do much at all. Teams will be made up off age groups as best as possible and we will try and have some fun. I will be most directly working with the 25+ team but I will not coach. The older team and the younger team will have someone in charge of collecting funds, and jersey’s, but again there will not be a coach necessarily. Fees will be determined after we see the numbers. All fees will be due before you step on the ice. If you do not pay you will not play unless you clear it with Coach Cooper or myself. We have been billing players after the tournament is over and it has been a mess. So again send me an email, even if you have already done it once please do it again, and we will get back to you soon.

Coach Elliott

Some kids play with a chip on their shoulder to help them get motivated for a game. Carter Bourland plays with an angel on his hip. Carter draws his strength from the memory of his older brother Josh, who was tragically killed in a car accident in 2000. Josh’s initials are on Carters jerseys, and go with him into each game. The memory and motivation from a loved one has made Carter one the best high school hockey players in the state, and a great person away from the ice.

Carter came to the Cats at the start of his sophomore season after a very successful youth travel career. He made an immediate impact for the 2006 state runner-up team. He scored 29 goals during that first season, including a goal in the state championship game. This season he leads the Cats with 37 goals and is tied for the team lead with 7 game winning goals. Carter’s biggest contribution to his team is the respect that he has earned from his teammates. Recently Carter missed a game in Meadville due to an ankle injury. While he only missed four periods of play, you could see the void the team felt without their go to guy. After tying that game and trailing 2-0 in the next game, Carter returned and scored 2 quick goals to tie the game. It was his way of telling his team that he had their backs. Northview went on to defeat rival Meadville 6-3. His physical presence in the locker room is matched only by his 6’-0’ 200 pound frame on the ice. Recently Carter’s game-winning overtime goal in Bowling Green gave the Cats their second league title in 3 years. It was the type of play Northview fans have become accustomed to seeing, the game on the line and the team on Carter’s shoulders.

Carter has an angel wing tattoo between his shoulder blades in memory of his brother Josh. Hopefully, those wings will help lift Carter and the Cats far into the playoffs. Good luck Cats and Congratulations Carter!