BG’s Shane Cassin celebrates scoring a goal during the first period
J.D. Pooley | Sentinel-Tribune
SYLVANIA — Bowling Green senior goaltender Gavin Sudlow may be the difference between the Bobcats moving on to the district semifinals or having their season end Saturday.
They are moving on. Even though BG was outshot 33-20, Sudlow made 31 saves as the Bobcats held on to defeat St. John’s, 3-2, at Tam-O-Shanter’s Durocher Rink.
BG (23-10-1) will take on Findlay (19-8-4) in a district semifinal at Tam-O-Shanter next Saturday, with faceoff at 4 p.m. The Trojans are ranked 10th in the final state poll.
The BG-Findlay winner will take on the Toledo St. Francis (24-9-1)-Sylvania Northview (14-18-3) winner at 6 p.m. on March 4 for the right to go to the state final four. St. Francis, ranked third, is the defending state champion.
In Saturday’s district quarterfinal, it only took the Titans one minute and 26 seconds to get the first goal on the board.
On an assist from defenseman Sean Pollex, forward William Lowery took advantage of a steal in the Bobcats’ defensive zone and scored on a 20-foot shot that found the upper right corner of the net.
One minute and 33 seconds later, BG senior forward Shane Cassin answered on a similar play, only Cassin did it entirely on his own, getting a steal in the Titans’ zone and sending a shot home from eight feet.
BG went ahead 2-1 when freshman forward Rhett Winger’s pass was perfectly placed on the stick of senior forward Luke Johnson, who scored with 2:44 left in the first period.
St. John’s outshot BG, 13-6, in the second period, taking advantage of four Bobcat penalties.
While Sudlow kept the Titans out of the net, the Bobcats got on the board again with an insurance goal.
Assisted by Cassin and senior forward Bryce Ebersback’s sleek passing, BG senior forward Nick Powers scored on a straight on shot with 3:29 remaining in the second, giving the Bobcats a 3-1 lead.
Forward Ralph Brennan finally got St. John’s its power play goal with 12:09 remaining, assisted by Lowery and defenseman Charlie Anderson to make it a one-score game.
The Titans began pressing for the tying goal, outshooting BG 11-7 over the final 15 minutes, but Sudlow held his ground.
“We knew that it was going to be a battle there coming down to the end. We knew they were going to come out on fire in the third period,” BG coach Connor Rogowski said.
“We knew they were going to come at us, and he knew that he needed to step up and he did exactly what we needed him to do and then some,” Rogowski said of Sudlow.
“Down the stretch here, he was our best player and that is what it is going to take to win hockey games in the playoffs. “
Sudlow, who says he has been a goalie as long as he can remember, dating back to his “mini-mites” days, it was business as usual.
“Every game I just try to keep my team in the game and sometimes that means putting the team on my back and securing the win,” Sudlow said. “I’m just trying to see the puck as well as I can and when they shoot it try to track it the best I can and put it in the corner or catch it.”
Even though BG was outshot, Rogowski said sometimes it comes down to the quality of shots that make the difference.
“We had some opportunities, too, even though we didn’t put as many into the net as we wanted to,” Rogowski said.
“I thought we did really well in that we had a lot of decent quality shots. We have got to keep it going. We’ve got to get more, got to keep it going, and we’ve got to be ready to go onto the next event.”
