Huron Men’s Varsity Hockey lost in the first round of the Dan Jilek Cup, an annual tournament to determine the best high school team in all of Ann Arbor. Huron fell 5-1 at the hands of Father Gabriel Richard and Greenhills. Huron was at a 2-1 deficit entering the third period before surrendering three goals in the final frame. Which eliminated any sort of bright spots that had been built up. Huron continues to titer around a .500 team record with inconsistent play across the board.

Bowman’s Brilliance

Sophomore goaltender Nathan Bowman was the reason this was a one-goal game at the second intermission. Bowman stopped 33 out of 35 FGR shots through the first two periods,  bailing out defensive breakdowns on multiple occasions.  Bowman’s best play of the night was a save on a clear breakaway with seven minutes left in the second period to keep it a one-goal game. Bowman’s third period was less than spectacular–allowing two goals in the period, one of which was a wrister that got just above his glove–but he was clearly the best player on the ice for the Rats the entire night. Bowman did allow four goals (the fifth being an empty net goal) but posted an impressive .916 save percentage while facing an abysmal 48 shots.

Scramble in the Second

Huron’s lone goal came from junior Karsen Kucharski on a scramble in front of the net. The goal gave Huron some much-needed momentum during the middle of the period before it eventually fell apart. The Rats did a good job getting the puck on net in the play, the Irish goaltender lost track of the puck in the scrum, and Kucharski was the one to poke it into the back of the net. The couple of times that Huron was able to get pucks on the net, they were rewarded with chances to score. Simply put, the key to the River Rat’s offense is shots on net. Tonight’s eleven shots were not enough to give them a chance at victory.

Non-existent Third Period 

The last six minutes of the second period set the tone for how the third period would end up. The Irish controlled the game for the last six minutes of the second, and Huron was incredibly lucky to get to intermission unscathed. The Rats could not get the puck out of their own zone and were on their heels for those last few minutes. Huron failed to adjust at the intermission, and the third period was simply a 17-minute extension of how the second period ended. Outshot 13-1 and outscored 3-0, Huron let this game get away from them, wasting the gem that Bowman provided.