Sports
Ohio Hockey Wins Against Ranked Opponent in OT
By: Robbie Dipaola
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Playing shorthanded against No. 11 Stony Brook, the 8tth-ranked Ohio Bobcats dug down deep to secure a hard-fought win last night at Bird Arena.
Stony Brook and Ohio spent the first several minutes of the opening period figuring each other out. The first goal of the game came on a Seawolves power play with 11:45 left in the first period. This was uncharacteristic for an Ohio team was perfect on killing power plays last weekend against UNLV.
Ohio had a few prime scoring chances but were ultimately unable to find the back of the net. As the first period of play ended, Ohio trailed 1-0.
Shortly after the puck dropped to begin the second period, Stony Brook raced down ice and scored again to go up 2-0. Ohio’s offense was in a funk for much of the first two periods. They struggled to get shots off and looked a bit out of sync.
“[Stony Brook] is a good team, probably the best we’ve played all season,” defenseman Tom Evans said postgame. “We go down two goals, we have a good squad here, we had a good attitude on the bench, everyone was ready to get back in [the game].”
The Bobcat’s offense broke out of their funk in a big way at the end of the second period. First, Tom Evans fired home a shot that was redirected into the net. This goal got Ohio on the board and cut the Seawolves lead in half, 2-1.
Ohio’s offense was not done, as freshman Shawn Baird got ahold of the loose puck near the net and deposited in the back of the net with just six seconds left. Just like that, the game was tied 2-2 and the crowd at Bird Arena was roaring.
“When the game was 2-0 we were pretty deflated,” head coach Sean Hogan said. “But the last five minutes in the second we turned it on and got one goal and then [Shawn] Baird got a goal, it was a huge goal. I can’t believe we pulled it off.”
As the final period of play began, Ohio rode their momentum from the final 1:53 of the second period and score their third straight goal. This go-ahead goal came from Grant Hazel.
Stony Brook, however, capitalized on a line change for Ohio midway through the period and this resulted in a goal for the Seawolves, which tied the game 3-3.
With less than four minutes to play, a crazy sequence took place. Ohio’s Gabe Lampron scored what looked like the decisive goal for the Bobcats when he put the team up 4-3. However, just 37 seconds later Stony Brook answered the Lampron goal to tie the game 4-4.
Hogan credited his team’s success in the final period to their conditioning and their high-intensity practices from the past week.
After both teams failed to score in the final minutes the game then went to overtime. In the new 3-on-3 version of overtime, Ohio wasted little time ending the game. Jake Houston ripped a shot past the Seawolves goalie to end the game.
Ohio’s bench roared onto the ice in celebration and the crowd cheered with happiness as the Bobcats prevailed in one of the more exciting games so far this season.
The Bobcats only were able to play three lines due the rash of injuries suffered the last couple weeks. Nonetheless, players who normally do not see much ice time stepped up for the ‘Cats.
“Guys have stepped up who don’t play a lot, we only had three lines and they were tired and they were going,” Hogan said. “I’m proud of them, that was a tough win.”