Despite dropping the weekend opener, Ohio rebounded Saturday night to claim its first victory against Illinois at the Big Pond in 14 years.
The Bobcats (27-6-2, 12-1-1 CSCHL) opened the series Friday with a top-heavy offensive attack, but fell short in a shootout after Ryan Tessmer's potentially game-winning goal in overtime was disallowed.
Neither team had more than a one-goal lead the entire game. The Bobcats took the lead on Justin Farmer's power-play goal five minutes into the first period before falling behind 2-1.
Zach Tisdale knotted the game at 2-2 midway through the second period. In the final frame, the Illini scored their third and fourth goals, but Josh Fodor scored to tie the game on two separate occasions. Tessmer finished with four assists Friday.
In overtime, Ohio appeared to capitalize on a 4-on-3 power play as Tessmer put a rebound past Illinois goaltender Mike Burda. But the officials disallowed the goal, ruling that play had been stopped before the puck crossed the goal line.
The puck clearly crossed the line about one second before the whistle blew, coach Dan Morris said, but the officials had lost sight of the puck and did not see it in the net until after they had halted action.
We've been through that stuff so much
Morris said.
After a scoreless overtime, Tom Connell beat Ohio goaltender Paul Marshall in a shootout to give the Illini a 5-4 victory.
Marshall allowed four goals on 31 shots.
Paul probably had the longest adjustment period Morris said. He didn't have his best night.
Saturday, Ohio used balanced scoring to garner a 4-1 victory, its first against Illinois in Champaign since 1996.
The Bobcats opened the scoring with first-period goals from Billy Hemann and Tyler Pilmore, and Jay Mazzarella pushed the lead to three goals in the
second period.
Illini defenseman Gabe Heller scored in the third period, and Tessmer closed the door with a late empty-net goal.
All four lines scored so you can't ask for any better balance than that
Morris said.
Defensively, Ohio limited the Illini's scoring chances. After allowing 15 first-period shots Friday, the Bobcats allowed only 35 total the rest of the weekend.
Marshall stopped 18 of the 19 shots he
faced Saturday.
(Paul) played extremely well
and our guys did a good job of not allowing quality shots
Morris said.
2
Sports
Michael Stainbrook
30415a.jpg
