Late Goal Sends Timon to Fed Hockey Private School Championship

Pictures by Andrew Miller

It’s been 10 long years since the Timon Tigers played at the Key Bank Center in downtown Buffalo. This Friday night, Timon will return to the NHL pond after defeating Canisius 4-2 at LECOM HarborCenter on Monday in their Monsignor Martin Private School semi-final match up.  

It was the first time in four tries that Timon was able to defeat the Crusaders this season.

“We knew it would be a tight game,” head coach Michael Cassidy said. “When we came out of the locker room after the 2nd period we talked about wanting to lead for a change.”

The teams played a scoreless first period before combining for a four-goal 2nd period.

Canisius defenseman Braden Griffin opened up the scoring in the opening minute of the 2nd period. Timon would respond with a powerplay goal scored by Josh Siler soon after.

The tie score didn’t last long as the Crusaders Austin McMullen shot off the faceoff caught Timon goaltender David Crampton off guard. McMullen followed up the shot, grabbed the loose puck and tucked it behind Crampton giving Canisius a 2-1 lead.

Cameron Przewozny would tie the game at 2 a piece when his wrist shot from just inside the blueline beat Crusaders goaltender Tyler Bridge glove side. Bridge was a wall for most of the game, making 25 saves for Canisius.

Cohen Springer, who transferred to Timon his sophomore year has been a member of the varsity program three seasons. Springer who led the Tigers in scoring heading into Monday’s playoff game, scored what would prove to be the game winner on the powerplay.

“It feels amazing,” Springer said after the victory. “It’s a rush of motions right now.”

Gavin Krug added an empty netter for insurance to round out the scoring.

Crampton finished with 23 saves to pick up the win.

The Timon Tigers student section was well represented as well. A basketball game scheduled for 6pm Monday was moved up two hours prior to allow students the opportunity to make the trip to Harborcenter. “All praise goes to Jason Rowe,” Springer said. He and fellow teammate Matthew Holst lobbied Rowe who is their gym teacher but also the varsity basketball coach over the weekend to move the game up. “Our alumni and administrative staff at Timon are the best. They really care about the students. For Rowe to do that for us is just awesome,” added Springer.

Timon made back-to-back trips to Key Bank Center in 2013 and 2014, losing to St. Joe’s both trips.

“Our captains really came through at the end,” Cassidy said. “Both captains scored late goals, a blocked shot at the end, they really laid it all out there.”