VICTOR CENTRAL AND BATAVIA NOTRE DAME TIED ON TUESDAY
Feb 12, 2025By Ryan J. Harr
For the last several months, the Rochester Americans were front and center of the local high school hockey scene as part of a weekly series that featured the latest news and notes, scores and stats of select Section V games around the Greater Rochester Area.
In a back-and-forth affair Tuesday night at Rochester Ice Center, the Victor Central Blue Devils (14-4-1) and the Batavia Notre Dame United (10-5-3) played to a 3-3 tie.
With the tie, Victor Central’s first of the season, the club remains in third place in Section V with 29 points and tied for third with 14 wins. The Blue Devils, who suffered three straight contests prior to Tuesday, had won 14 of its first 15 games to begin the 2024-25 season while outscoring its opponents 77-22, which included four shutouts.
Tuesday’s tie was the first between the two teams since they began facing one another during the 2021-22 season. Batavia Notre Dame has a pair of 4-2 decisions, including last January's matchup, while Victor Central turned in a 6-0 shutout back on January 6, 2023.
Batavia Notre Dame had entered Tuesday as winners of three straight, including a pair of victories over McQuaid Jesuit. The United sports a 10-5-3 record this season and tied for second in points (23) and rank third in wins amongst all Independent teams.
Jameson Motyka, who was named to the first team on the All-Greater Rochester team for the 2023-24 season, added a pair of points for Batavia Notre Dame as he scored one goal while also adding an assist. Jake Hutchins chipped in two assists while Chase Cummings (1+0), Cade Shamp (1+0), Brady Johnson (0+1) and Luke Staley (0+1) to round out the scoring.
Goaltender Rhys Tanner (8-5-3) made 29 saves in his 17 appearance of the season for the United and logged his third tie.
Oliver Kowal scored a pair of goals for Victor Central while Jack Abbott also found the back of the net on Tuesday. Ryan Fronczak (0+1), Charlie Seiler (0+1), Caleb Clark (0+1, and Dylan Weldon (0+1) all added assists. Netminder Nathan McBride (14-4-1) made his made his 19 appearance of the slate and despite stopping 38 of 41 shots took his first tie.
After appearing to open the scoring earlier in the first period, Batavia Notre Dame grabbed a 1-0 lead as Motyka finished off Johnson’s shot from just outside Victor Central’s goal crease with 10:51 remaining.
The contests remained a 1-0 game until early in the second period as Kowal went bar down at the 4:35 mark after being set up by Fronczak, however Shamp quickly responded for the United less than a minute later.
To close out the scoring in the second period, Batavia Notre Dame drew its third penalty of the tilt before Cummings blasted a one-time feed from Motyka and Hutchins with less than six minutes to make it a 3-1 score.
Following the intermission break, Victor Central began the period with a flurry of scoring chances following a faceoff win as Abbott brought the Blue Devils within one as Seiler logged the lone helper.
Facing a one-goal deficit as the contest was rapidly concluding, the Blue Devils called a timeout with 2:22 left in regulation and pulled McBride for an extra skater. With a 6-on-5 advantage, Kowal banged in a rebound from Abbott and Clark with 52 seconds left to knot the score at 3-3.
In the overtime frame, both teams traded scoring chances, but neither could find a way to solve the opposition’s netminder and the game finished in a tie.
Victor Central will conclude its season on Thursday, Feb. 13 when they travel to Lakeshore for a 7:00 p.m. matchup against Aquinas Institute. Meanwhile, Batavia Notre Dame will face Clarence on Friday, Feb. 14 for a 7:00 p.m. game at a site to be determined.