Off of a defensive giveaway, Jackson Lumen Christi’s Owen Campbell squeaked his slapshot between senior goalie Carl Mielock’s glove and the crossbar into the back of the net, sending the Titans into the Regional Finals and ending the Rangers’ season last night.

A couple of hours before the heartbreaking ending, the Rangers started off on the front foot. The Rangers dominated the first period offensively with 9 shots on goal. After 5 good saves from Gavin Warner, the Jackson Lumen Christi goalie, junior Cole Munger started off the scoring, receiving the rebound from sophomore Mason Kelly’s shot and burying it past the goalie.

The Titans generated minimal pressure for the Ranger defense; even so, Carl stayed on his toes between the sticks and made 5 saves during the first period. Juniors Hayden Sarjeant and Ryan Jeffreys did well to minimize the Titan attack, cutting off most of the threatening offensive chances before they reached Carl.

In the second period, things slowed down a little bit. The Rangers only had 7 shots on goal in the second, while playing long shifts and focusing more on the defensive side of things. The defensive line for FHC eventually gave up a goal late in the second period, as a pass slipped through the last FHC defender before the shot went through the legs of Carl.

The Rangers had more offensive success in the third period, recording 14 shots on goal in the last 17 minutes of regulation. With 12 minutes to go in the game, sophomore Xavier Ott scored off of a lead pass from his brother, senior Cole Ott, giving the Rangers a narrow 2-1 lead. FHC had plenty of opportunities, but the boys could not close out the game. With only two minutes to go, Jackson Lumen Christi somehow squeezed the puck past Carl in a scramble of events, knotting things up. With the score tied 2-2 at the end of regulation, the Rangers and the Titans were headed to overtime.

In overtime, opportunities were even between the two teams. Ryan Jeffreys had a shot hit the post, but besides that, threatening chances for the Rangers were scarce. With only five minutes to go in overtime, the Titans had 5 shots on goal. After an FHC defender tried to skate the puck out of the defensive zone and gave it away, Titan Owen Campbell had nothing but wide open ice between him and Carl.

With only 1:48 before the teams rested at the end of the first overtime, Owen Campbell found the back of the net to score the golden goal and end the Rangers’ hopes for a playoff run with a 3-2 overtime loss.