Ohio bounced back from last Sunday’s loss to Lindenwood in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League tournament championship game with a 5-3 win against Adrian Friday night at Bird Arena.
With the win the Bobcats improve to 15-3-0 on the season at Bird Arena, with Saturday’s nights contest against the Bulldogs being the last home contest of the season.
After a scoreless first period in which both teams came out lethargic, the game hit hyper-drive in the second. Mike Kretz scored on a tip-in from a Michael Schultz pass just 49 seconds into the period, and 37 seconds later Schultz got his own on a breakaway.
With the two points the Ohio captain moves to 213 for his career, just five back of Ohio’s all-time record held by current head coach Dan Morris.
David Veitch scored Ohio’s third and his first of the season at the 12:49 mark when his centering pass deflected off an Adrian player and past goaltender Matt Anderson to give the Bobcats a commanding 3-0 lead.
Tristan Musser got the Bulldogs on the board less than two minutes later with a wrist shot that squirted past Ohio goalie Teddy Dushkin. But Adrian promptly took a penalty and the Bobcats capitalized immediately when Brett Agnew tipped a shot past Anderson.
Josh Fodor was given a penalty on the goal celebration, getting in the face of an Adrian player who dumped Agnew just after he scored, and Chris Dixon tallied the sixth goal of the period on the ensuing power play at the 7:52 mark.
The game stayed at 4-2 into the third, but the penalty box started to fill-up as the game got chippier and chippier after the whistle: 11 penalties were called in the second frame after just one in the first.
Adrian piled the pressure on Ohio in the closing frame, outshooting the Bobcats 16-10 in the frame and getting it back to a one-goal game when Logan Blackwell put one past an out-of-position Dushkin with 14 to play.
The outcome remained on tenterhooks as Adrian was in the ascendancy for most of the period, but some big saves by Dushkin kept Ohio in front. With a little over a minute left Anderson was pulled, and Tyler Pilmore made the fat lady sing when he threw the puck into an empty net with only 16 clicks left on the clock.
Dushkin made 30 saves in the win, his 13th of the season. Anderson also made 30 saves in the loss.
Ohio and Adrian will face off again Saturday night at 7:30. The Bobcats will honor their seniors —Schultz, Jared Fuhs, Zach Tisdale, Jeremy Browning, Zack Barbis, Jay Mazzarella, Jake Holzemer and Fodor — before the game.
Quick Stats
Bobcat goal scorers: Kretz, Schultz, Veitch, Agnew, Pilmore
Bulldog goal scorers: Musser, Dixon, Blackwell
Shots on goal: Ohio 35, Adrian 33
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