In a game full of ups, downs, highs and lows, it looked as if an overtime period was inevitable.
That is, until some late-game Ohio heroics.
With only 30.3 seconds remaining in the third period, ‘Cats forward Brett Agnew snagged a just off of a shot by Patrick Spellacy, and tapped in his 18th of the season to give No. 4 Ohio a 2-1 win over No. 20 Illinois.
Spellacy also registered his 17th goal of the year, a power play tally at 7:51 of the first period. He and Agnew picked up helpers on each others’ goals to give them both two points on the night, while Bobcat defenseman Tyler Benson was awarded the secondary assist on Spellacy’s score.
Although Ohio registered 17 shots in the first period alone, they began to cool off for pretty much the remainder of the game while the Fighting Illini were catching a little bit of the fire. Illinois limited the Bobcats to just 12 shots over the last two periods, and tallied 25 of their own after putting only eight on the board during the first.
The game also featured an elevated level of physicality and supposed frustration from both sides. The Illini managed to play a physical game while simultaneously staying out of the box, as they took only 4 minor penalties on the night.
The Bobcats, however, seemed to let the frustration get to them a little.
After avoiding the penalty box during the first period, Ohio took 13 PIM in the second period alone. Among these penalties was a five-minute cross checking major at 19:51 by forward Joe Breslin, who was also tagged with a game misconduct on the play.
Nonetheless, coach Jonathon Sheridan said the Bobcats probably “didn’t deserve to win,” the team found its way to victory once again. Ohio has now won seven of its last 10 games, and hopes to build on that total Saturday night when Illinois looks for revenge.
