St. Francis breaks game open late, stops Findlay.

Looking to rebound from last weeks streak ending loss, the Findlay Trojan hockey team faced off against conference rival Toledo St. Francis in the NHC opener at The Cube. A quick start by the Trojans wasn't enough, as Jacob Meyers' goal with less than a second left in the second period broke a 3-3 and sent St. Francis to a 6-3 victory. Findlay (6-2-0 overall 0-1-0 NHC) came into the game with a plan to stop St. Francis (2-4-0 overall 2-1-0 NHC) first-line and it worked. The Trojans just weren't expecting the Knights second and third line guys to contribute like they did. Findlay started the game with their patented blitz style. Controlling possession of the puck and getting off shots early on the Knights net minder Riley Kilburn (22 saves). With 8:52 left in the first period, Findlay defender Nate Riegle intercepted a clearing attempt by St. Francis and ripped the puck into the back of the net to give the Trojans a 1-0 lead. A goal at the 6:01 by St. Francis' Brady Kurek, with assists to Sawyer Zielinski and Dan Stuller tied the game at 1 a piece. The tie was short lived, as 8 seconds after the ensuing face-off, Zielinski found the back of the net again after a quick rush. The assist to Brady Mitchey. The second period saw Findlay start out with a power-play and it did not waste its chance. Again, the high pressure blitz came from the Trojans and they scored 15 seconds into the second period. The Trojans' AJ Savage scored a snipe from the top of the left circle off of a Ross Trenkamp assist, as the Trojans tied the game up. Findlay net minder Seth Russell (28 saves) saw a barrage of shots -- 6 in a 1 minute span --and he was up to the task, stopping all of them. It wasn't until there was 3:52 left in the second period that St. Francis was able to get one by Russell. It was a shorthanded goal on the breakaway by Easton Fleitz, after he outskated all the Findlay players to the puck to give the Knights a 3-2 lead. The Trojans still had some fight left and with 2:26 left in the second they capitalized on a rush by the first liners, with Trenkamp scoring from an Ethan Lammers assist to make the game 3-3. All looked good for Findlay heading into the third period for Findlay, but with 0.03 seconds left in the second the Knights scored on a scrum in front of the goal to make it 4-3. Jacob Meyers was credited with the goal and the assist went to Braden Caster. During the third period the Knights started to build more pressure, taking 11 shots on goal compared to Findlay's 2. Russell did all he could to keep the puck out of his net and give the Trojans some kind of life, but the constant pressure was too much. With 5:47 left in regulation, St. Francis found the back of the net with the team's leading scorer, Andrew Tucker, finally getting a good look. His goal was assisted by Derek Morgan. Eight seconds later, the Knights were celebrating another goal, this time by Meyers off an assist from Jamison Rose. That put the game out of reach. The Trojans head to Sylvania Saturday to take on Sylvania Northview at Tam-o-Shanter Arena. JUNIOR VARSITY: St. Francis 6 Findlay 2