Bowling Green junior forward Rhett Winger (21), skating here with the puck against Anthony Wayne’s Carter Baker (21), is the Northwest Hockey Conference Player of the Year. (Scott W. Grau|Sentinel-Tribune)
SYLVANIA — Bowling Green forward Hayden Joseph scored a three-goal hat trick to lead the Bobcats to a 7-1 rout over Toledo St. John’s in a district quarterfinal hockey game at Tam-O-Shanter Saturday.
Joseph is giving credit to where it is due — to the seven other Bobcats who also got points in the win either by scoring or dishing out assists.
Plus, the Bobcats had to overcome a stop-and-start second period which saw a combined 22 penalty minutes whistled against the Titans and Bobcats.
“It was all my teammates, just feeding me and just helping me out,” Joseph said. “We stayed together as a team and everyone contributed to the win. We kind of lost our heads in the second but we came back in the third.”
The seventh-ranked Bobcats (26-8-2) now get exactly what they were hoping for — a rubber match with Northwest Hockey Conference Red Division champion and eighth-ranked Findlay (21-9-5).
The Bobcats and Trojans will square off at 4 p.m. at Tam-O-Shanter in a district semifinal, with the winner to take on the winner of Clay (29-3-1) and No. 4 Toledo St. Francis (22-12-2) at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 1 for the right to advance to the state frozen four.
The Bobcats defeated the Trojans, 4-2, on December 22 at The Cube in Findlay, but Findlay came back to shut out the Bobcats, 5-0, despite BG owning an advantage in shots, on February 3 at Bowling Green State University’s Slater Family Ice Arena.
BG coach Connor Rogowski says that earning the rematch with Findlay provided incentive for his players to make sure they took care of business Saturday against St. John’s.
“I think that was definitely in our mind, too, is that we want to be able to see them (Findlay) again,” Rogowski said. “We want that rematch because we felt that we didn’t give our best the last time that we played.
“So our guys took it a little personal as, ‘Hey, you know what, we are going to make sure we get another opportunity to show them who we are and what kind of team that we are.’”
Joseph, an honorable mention All-NHC Red Division selection, added, “It’s a big rivalry game, but I think we’re ready and we’ll bring it to them.”
The NHC coaches noticed the success BG and Findlay were having this season, too, so they voted Rogowski and Findlay coach Ben Patey Red Division Co-Coaches of the Year.
BG forward Rhett Winger is the Player of the Year, and joining Winger on the Red Division first team is BG defenseman Braden Loomis.
The Bobcats’ second team choices are forward Tanner Amos, defenseman Casey Moore, and goaltender Matthew Brinkman. Joining Hayden Joseph as HM selections are Cade Contris, Cooper Feehan, Drake Joseph, and J.T. Webb.
In the win over the Titans, BG held a 36-12 advantage in shots with Brinkman earning 11 saves. The Bobcats made a statement early, scoring four times in the first period.
“I think it started with us coming out strong,” Rogowski said. “We knew we had to come out strong, we had to play three periods, in order to win a game.
“It’s a playoff game, though, and everybody is going to bring their best game. We came out and played our game the entire time from the first shift to the fourth shift.
“We came out and we did exactly what we wanted to do, we set the tone, and we were able to be successful,” Rogowski continued.
Hayden Joseph got the Bobcats on the board just 26 seconds after the opening faceoff, assisted by Rhett Winger and Moore.
It took Hayden Joseph just 71 seconds to get his second goal, assisted by Winger with some help from Amos on the play. Both of Joseph’s scores were on back-door shots behind St. John’s goalie Lucas Borda from just outside the crease.
Winger put BG up 3-0, picking up some loose change after a BG shot from the point and scoring unassisted on a power play with 3:25 remaining in the first period. Winger came back scoring another unassisted goal with two seconds left in the period.
The Bobcats wasted no time after the second period faceoff, either, as Amos scored on a breakaway, assisted by Winger with some help on the play from Hayden Joseph just 47 seconds after the opening faceoff.
St. John’s wing Declan Loisel, a first team Red Division selection, got the Titans on the board with a power play goal, assisted by center Owen Winkler and defenseman Bracken Buck.
Drake Joseph joined his brother Hayden with his first goal of the game, firing a shot from 20 feet after receiving a pass from Winger to put BG ahead 6-1 with 4:40 left in the second period.
Hayden Joseph completed his hat trick in the seventh, scoring on assists from forwards Dempsey Fox and Reagan Cordes less than five minutes into the final period.
