Bowling Green High School hockey got back-to-back wins over the weekend, defeating Olentangy Orange, 4-1, on Saturday, and Anthony Wayne, 4-0, on Sunday.

Both wins were at Bowling Green State University’s Slater Family Ice Arena, and Sunday’s win was a Northwest Hockey Conference Red Division game.

BG dominated in Sunday’s win over the Generals as senior goalkeeper Cade Contris needed just six saves to get the shutout. The Bobcats outshot the Generals 29-6 and BG scored all four goals in the second period.

Twenty-nine seconds into the period, sophomore forward Hayden Joseph scored unassisted to break the ice, even though BG outshot AW, 8-1, in the first period.

Just 49 seconds later, senior defenseman Braden Loomis scored, assisted by senior forward J.T. Webb to give the Bobcats an insurance goal, but there were more goals to come and not long to wait for them.

Midway through the second period, junior forward Tanner Amos got the Bobcats’ third goal, assisted by senior forward Reagan Cordes and and junior forward Rhett Winger.

With less than two minutes remaining in the period, BG got on the board again on a goal by Winger, assisted by Amos.

The Bobcats improve to 9-6-1 overall and 2-1 in the NHC Red Division, while AW falls to 4-8 and 0-2.

On Friday at Slater Arena, BG gave league leader Toledo St. Francis all they could handle, but the Knights prevailed, 2-1.

St. Francis got on the board with two first period goals — the first scored by forward Cole Provoznik, who was assisted by forward Nathan Kozma just 3:18 into the game.

Less than four minutes later, St. Francis forward Jamison Rose scored, assisted by forwards Andrew Tucker and Sawyer Zeilinski.

However, the Bobcats’ defense stiffened and did not allow another St. Francis goal. The Bobcats retaliated with one of their own with less than two minutes remaining in the second period.

With just 1:35 remaining in the middle period, BG senior forward Cooper Feehan scored, assisted by Winger, making it a one-goal game.

After St. Francis outshot BG 15-3 in the first period, BG outshot St. Francis 13-4 in the middle period and the game appeared up for grabs in the final period.

BG outshot St. Francis 8-3 in the final period, but St. Francis goaltender Nick Barkhimer was up for the challenge, getting all eight saves necessary as the Knights held on for the win.

St. Francis is 7-3-1 overall and a perfect 4-0-1 in the NHC Red after weekend wins over BG and AW.

BG coach Connor Rogowski, now in his third season as head coach and fifth season overall, now has a 49-34-6 record, but no league championships.

A win over the Knights would have helped that cause, but the Bobcats still have a shot. Plus, in four of Rogowski’s five seasons coaching, the team has made it to the district semifinals, demonstrating that there always seems to be a strong finish in there somewhere.

Last year the Bobcats were 15-17-4 and 3-9 in the NHC Red, but 14 lettermen have returned, including Feehan, who was out nearly all of last year with a torn ACL. Other top returnees this year include Winger, Contris and senior goaltender Matt Brinkman,

Rogowski says Feehan “has finesse and is a goal scorer,” Winger “is very gritty and is involved all over the ice,” and Amos “is a very smart hockey player.”

“They all have very different playing styles but will contribute all their own way,” Rogowski said.

Even though he missed a lot of last year, Feehan played 12 games and had seven goals and seven assists, Winger had 15 goals and 24 assists, and Amos had 18 goals and 12 assists.

Rogowski says his top defensive playeres are Casey Moore, Drake Joseph, and Braden Loomis, all seniors.

“Drake Joseph has been a forward and a defenseman in his career so he will be a threat to get some offensive productivity as well,” Rogowski said.

“I think some of our most improved players coming into this year that could help us are senior J.T. Webb and sophomore Hayden Joseph,” Rogowski continued.

“A sleeper player who will get a lot of varsity minutes and could contribute will be Nolan Winger. He has good hockey IQ and works really hard all over the ice. He will put himself into good positions.”

While Rogowski says the program is still moving the right direction, a league championship may be difficult to attain.

“I think that we will be a middle of the road league team this year,” Rogowski said. “I believe that we will fall somewhere around third to fourth in the standings but think that we can also take some teams to the end and could compete at the end of the year to be higher.

“I think that the league will have a lot of competition this year. St Francis is the favorite but it is anyone’s game after that. There will be a lot of up and down games this season.”

Rogowski says a lot will depend on how much his players want it.

“Our team this season is capable and is very able to reach a certain high-level of competition,” Rogowski said. “We just have to keep building together as a team in order to reach the potential that we know that we can get to.

“Some of our strengths are going to be that, we’re going to work hard and work together and we are going to try to get to the point where we pride ourselves on our work ethic that we bring every single day and how we’re on every single puck and battling all over the ice.

“Some of the weaknesses that we may have is, our overall skill as a team and some younger players are playing big roles.”