With less than a minute to go in sudden-death overtime Saturday night, Ohio defenseman Travis Preble stopped the puck from going into the neutral zone and flung the puck back toward the Duquesne goal.
Bobcat forward Paul Warriner redirected the puck into the net to seal the Ohio victory over the Dukes, 2-1, and complete the series sweep. The Bobcats also disposed of Duquesne 5-1 on Friday.
I just tried to get my butt in front of the net and fight for position to screen
Warriner said. Preble made a nice shot right along the ice and I got my stick on it and put it right into the goalies five-hole.
The Bobcats' lone power play goal - Ohio was 1-for-12 against the Dukes - was Warriner's third tally of the series and his 18th of the season.
(Coming back from 1-0) was huge for our confidence Warriner aid. It just shows how much guts we have in that locker room. We can get dirty and use grit when we need to.
Warriner's goal won the game for Ohio (24-5-2, 16-2 Central States Collegiate Hockey League), but the play of goalie Ryan Baksh is what kept the Bobcats in the game.
Baksh, who has only allowed eight goals in his last eight starts, made 46 saves against Duquesne.
I just want to try to go out and give my team a chance to win Baksh said. If that means I have to go shut a team down or let up one goal
then that's what I have to do.
Baksh's job was a little tougher this weekend as the Dukes (15-7-1, 13-3 Eastern Collegiate Hockey Association) did a good job obstructing Baksh's view of the puck.
Usually when a puck beats me it's because I can't see it
Baksh said. That's what happened on the goal (Saturday night). They were getting a lot of traffic in front of the net
and I had to make some tougher saves.
Prior to the series, Ohio coach Dan Morris said that he was not concerned about Duquesne's 11-game winning streak or the Dukes' explosive offense that put up 17 goals against Rutgers two weekends ago.
They haven't seen a defense like ours yet
Morris said. Last night (Duquesne) did do a good job and got four breakaways. (Baksh) did a good job and got those big saves.
Morris was very pleased with how his team finished on Saturday night, but his team must now deal with injuries.
Leading scorer Jim Fuhs went down on Saturday with a knee injury. Captain Jordan Levy sat out on Saturday because of a breathing problem and defensemen John Yasak sat out both games with a groin strain.
Guys are injured and other guys needed to step up to play different roles
Morris said. (Fuhs) accounts for a lot of our scoring. When you're down 1-0 and players have to play different roles
it's gratifying for those who stepped up to come out with a win.
Morris said that he will not play the injured players this weekend against Eastern Michigan if they are not 100 percent with the CSCHL Tournament in the near-future.
The Bobcats' series with Eastern is their last CSCHL series of the season.
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