Findlay, St. Francis face off with state berth on line

After opening the 2021-22 hockey season with a solid 6-2 win over Parma Heights Holy Name, FHS coach Ben Patey said the Trojans' goal this season was to make it to state.Three-and-a-half months, 105 days and 31 games later, that goal is in sight.A trip to the state semifinals will be on the line today when Findlay and Toledo St. Francis square off in the regional championship game at Sylvania's Tam-O-Shanter Arena. The winner earns a berth in the March 10 state tournament at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.Patey knows the Trojans face a daunting task. St. Francis won last year's state championship, beating perennial power Lakewood St. Edwards 2-1 in the final, and returns a senior-dominated lineup from that team. The Knights, who were tied with Cleveland St. Ignatius as the No. 1-ranked team in the state until dropping to third in the final prep poll, won the Northwest Hockey Conference Red Division handily this year. St. Francis (25-9-1) enters Friday's game with more losses than Findlay (20-8-4), but the program beefed up its schedule to prepare for the rigors of post-season play, and six of those nine losses have been to elite out-of-state teams from New York and Michigan.St. Francis also owns a 7-0 win over Findlay in a NHC game played in December. A second league game, to be played in early January, was canceled because of COVID concerns and, because it ended up having no bearing on the final Red Division standings, was never rescheduled.Patey knows, though, that in a one-game, winner-take-all showdown, anything can happen. And Findlay has shown a die-hard resiliency this season, as evidenced in Saturday's regional semifinal against arch-rival Bowling Green where the Trojans twice overcame one-goal deficits, regrouped after having a goal disallowed and a penalty assessed that led to a match-tying score by BG, then rallying to claim a 4-3 win on Ethan Lammers' goal with a minute left."When (BG) capitalized we had to really dig deep and that's what our guys did," Patey said after the game."We just grinded them down. That's kind of what I expected. We're going to prepare this week to do what we did today, and that's fight tooth and nail until the game's over."Findlay can counter the experience of St. Francis with some veterans of its own, led by senior forwards Ryker Featheringham and Michael Armstrong. Featheringham leads the Trojans with 21 goals, 21 assists and 42 total points. Armstrong, who twice scored game-tying goals in the semifinal win over BG, has 22 goals, 18 assists and 40 points.Providing offensive support are Ross Trenkamp (11 goals, 5 assists) and Nate Riegle (4, 12) with 16 points each. Junior forward Kellen Wetz, who as injured in Findlay's regional opener with Perrysburg, and senior Jaden Halliday both have five goals, eight assists and 13 points. Lammers game-winner on Saturday was his sixth goal and 12th point overall.Senior Cody Mlsna heads up a deep goaltending corps with 358 saves, a 5-4-4 record and a 2.53 goals-against average. Sophomore Seth Russell (7-1-0, 173 saves), senior Tim Whitehead 4-3-0, 87 saves) and junior Garrett Ambrose (2-0-0, 39) have seen time between the pipes as well.