District Hockey: Elyria Catholic's successful season ended by state-ranked Toledo St, Francis

BOWLING GREEN — David, meet Goliath. No. 8-seeded Elyria Catholic saw its wildly successful hockey season come to an end Friday in the Bowling Green district championship game. losing 10-0 to state power Toledo St. Francis de Sales at the Slater Family Ice Center on the campus of Bowling Green State University. The Panthers finished the season 21-11. The Knights improved to 26-6 and will face Oregon Clay, which defeated Bowling Green in OT on Friday, at BGSU on Thursday. St. Francis, defending regional champ and currently ranked No. 2 in Ohio, is truly a giant on ice. The program won the state championships in 2011, '15 and '21 and was the state runnerup in 1988, 2017, '18, '20 and '22. "St. Francis is next level and definitely one of the best four teams in the state," Elyria Catholic coach BJ Basinger said. "They move the puck very well; there is no second-guessing what they are going to do. "Hopefully, we learned something from the way they played. We certainly did not have a good start and it didn't get any better from there." EC found out very quickly that it was playing against an opponent unlike anything the team had seen this year with their size, speed and strength on the ice. Outshot 18-3 in the first period, EC fell 6-0. Six St. Francis skaters scored in the opening 17 minutes of play, as Cal Brzuchalski, Brady Mitchey, Cole Porvaznik, Reese Molnar, Nathan Kozma and Jaxon Duncan all lit the lamp. The Panthers only real shot on goal came on its second power-play chance on a slapshot from the blue line by Preston Hemlinger. The second period started with a running clock with EC down by a six-goal margin. It helped slow down the Knights attack as they only added two goals, one from Kason France, the seventh St. Francis player to score, and Duncan, who added his second. The Panthers ended up with a couple good looks, getting a shot from the right wing by Charlie Grimes and a clean look from Brendan Cleary. The Knights added two quick goals in the third to bring the game and the Panthers season to an end. "We have definitely been building the program over the last five years," Basinger said. "We have a core of players coming back, but we are losing seven seniors who have been the heart and soul of the program and helped us get to where we are now." Contact James Brady at 329-7135 or jbrady_ct@yahoo.com. St. Francis 10, Elyria Catholic 0 FIRST PERIOD: (SF) Cal Brzuchalski (unassisted), 13:23, (SF) Brady Mitchey (Jaxson Duncan), PP, 11:29, Cole Porvaznik (Duncan), SH, 6:52, (SF) Reese Molnar (Cole Johnson, Mitchey), 6:20, (SF) Nathan Kozma (Cory Bell, Alex Burtscher), 5:53, (SF) Duncan (Kozma, Porvaznik), 1:32. PENALTIES: (EC) Landon Bean (2:00 holding), 12:40, (SF) Johnson (2:00 interference), 8:40, (EC) Robert Shepler (2:00 roughing), 4:46. SECOND PERIOD: (SF) Kason France (unassisted), 11:31), (SF) Duncan (Porvaznik), PP, 0:52. PENALTIES: (EC) JoJo Jancsura (2:00 holding), (EC) Bean (2:00 tripping), (SF) Kozma (2:00 high sticking), 2:49. THIRD PERIOD: (SF) Brayden Pryka (Brody Bergman, Mitchey), 16:40, (SF) Kozma (Bergman, Cameron Brogley), SH, 11:14. PENALTIES: (SF) France (2:00 elbowing), 12:49. St. Francis de Sales 6 2 2 — 10 Elyria Catholic 0 0 0 — 0 Shots on goal: St. Francis 32 (18-9-5), Elyria Catholic 6 (3-3-0). Goalies: St. Francis: Quinn Choinski (6 shots, 6 saves), Elyria Catholic: Dominic Morris (42 shots, 32 saves). Faceoffs Won: St. Francis 27, Elyria Catholic 18. Power-play opportunities: St. Francis 2-for-3, Elyria Catholic 0-for-4.