Tyler Harkins scored two goals in a 52-second span on Friday night.
He added a third and chipped in an assist to score four points in Ohio's 10-0 win over John Carroll at Bird Arena.
The reason for Harkins' goals? Matt Rudin. Well, at least Rudin thinks so. He gave Harkins credit, but just a little.
“You know why he got that hat trick? Because of me and Cody (Black),” Rudin said, hanging around the tunnel to the locker room.
Rudin assisted on Harkins' first and last goal. The pair’s relationship and chemistry is obvious. They've played together since they were 10 years old.
“I kind of owe all my hockey success to Rudin,” Harkins said laughing. “He’s the reason I got all those points.”
Along with Harkins' two first period goals, Ohio scored seven goals in the first 20 minutes of the game. The Bobcats scored four before the halfway mark of the period.
Jake Houston was the first scorer. He added another later in the period and finished with four points. His two assists came on goals off the stick of Harkins.
"It's a little weird. We'll play those teams where it'll happen" Houston said. "It's nice to knock a little pressure off your shoulders."
The Bobcats poured the goals on early and often. Two separate times, the previous goal scorer couldn’t be announced by PA announcer Jake Jakuszeit before the next goal was scored.
The first occurrence was Harkins’ first two goals. The second time, it was Houston’s second goal, followed up 35 seconds later by Nick Grose.
Those seven goals in the first period were something coach Sean Hogan had never seen before.
“When it was like 6-0 with 10 minutes left in the first, I was like ‘are we going to score 30?' ” Hogan said.
The early points allowed the Bobcats to take their foot off the pedal. It allowed Hogan to try different line pairings, power play units and penalty kill teams later in the game. It also led to a little sloppiness by the Bobcats. Ohio only outscored John Carroll 3-0 in the final 40 minutes of the game.
Blue Streak players began the attempt to get under the Bobcats' skin. Harkins was sent to the locker room for 10 minutes for a misconduct penalty after a skirmish — one of the few that happened throughout the final two periods. Another one broke out as the game ended.
It’s still something the Bobcats need to clean up, because once Central States Collegiate Hockey League play starts, games won’t be this lopsided.
“We got to do a better job tomorrow, in terms of showing our emotions,” Hogan said.
