Billings delivers for Century, lifts it to dramatic double-OT victory in section playoffs
Feb. 23—HASTINGS — Rochester Century's players will sleep well tonight.
They'll need to. They'll have a practice Friday and another playoff game to play Saturday.
Jack Billings might get the most relaxing shuteye of all.
The senior forward, who had scored seven goals all season prior to Thursday, took a feed from Eddy Retzlaff and scored his eighth goal of the year 2:49 into double-overtime to give the fifth-seeded Panthers a dramatic 5-4 win against fourth-seeded Hastings in a Section 1AA boys hockey quarterfinal playoff game at Hastings Civic Arena.
The win lifts Century (16-10-0) into Saturday's 5:30 p.m. Section 1AA semifinal game against top-seeded and No. 10-ranked Lakeville South at the Rochester Recreation Center. It will be Century's third trip to the section semifinals in six seasons, and first since 2020.
Getting there wasn't easy, but the Panthers' depth — something they have been building all season — showed up at the perfect time.
Yes, leading scorer T.J. Gibson tallied a hat trick — all three goals coming on power plays — and yes, senior goalie Cole Rocholl stood tall, making 28 saves to win his sixth consecutive start.
But the Panthers received contributions from up and down their lineup, the biggest of all from Billings, whose 10th career goal is undoubtedly his biggest and most memorable.
Century's power play was also a key, as it went 3-for-4 in the game, while holding Hastings to a 1-for-3 night on the man-advantage.
The score was tied 1-1 after one, as Gibson and Hastings' Connor Zgoda (two goals, two assists) traded goals.
Hastings took its only lead 10:11 into the second period on a Blake Vandehoef power-play goal, but Gibson answered for Century just 2:17 later to tie the score 2-2. Jack Ottman put the Panthers up again with 1:24 to play in the second.
The teams continued to trade goals in the third period, as Zgoda scored 8:39 in, then Gibson capped his hat trick with 4:15 to go, giving Century a 4-3 lead. Hastings battled back, though, as Vandehoef scored again with just 1:14 on the clock to force overtime.
Century outshot the Raiders 10-4 in the first OT — and 46-32 in the game — but Raiders goalie Kody Niederkorn was equally tough, stopping all 10 of those OT shots and 41 in the game.
Niederkorn stopped three more in the second OT before Billings buried the game-winning goal 2:49 in, then he got buried in a pile of Panthers teammates along the boards.
Four Panthers had multi-point games: Gibson (three goals), Billings (one goal, one assist), Aiden Emerich (three assists) and Jonah Ottman (three assists).
CENTURY 5, HASTINGS 4, 2-OT
Century 1-2-1-0-1 — 5
Hastings 1-1-2-0-0 — 4
First period — 1. RC, TJ Gibson (Aiden Emerich, Kroix Klingfus) 3:26 (pp). 2. H, Connor Zgoda (unassisted) 16:10. Second period — 3. H, Blake Vandehoef (Mark DeNoyer, Zgoda) 10:11 (pp). 4. RC, Gibson (Emerich, Jonah Ottman) 12:28 (pp). 5. RC, Jack Ottman (Jack Billings, Jo. Ottman) 15:36. Third period — 6. H, Zgoda (Sawyer Zaruba) 8:39. 7. RC, Gibson (Emerich, Jo. Ottman) 12:45 (pp). 8. H, Vandehoef (Zgoda) 15:46. Overtime — no scoring. Second Overtime — 9. RC, Billings (Eddy Retzlaff) 2:49.
Shots on goal — RC 11-11-10-10-4—46; H 7-9-12-4-0—32. Goalies — RC, Cole Rocholl 28 saves-32 shots; H, Kody Niederkorn 41 saves-46 shots. Power-play opportunities — RC 3-for-4; H 1-for-3. Penalties — RC, 3-6 minutes; H, 4-8 minutes.
