In by far the most competitive and hard-fought game at Bird Arena this season, Ohio overcame an inspired Robert Morris squad 3-2 on a Zach Tisdale overtime goal in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League tournament semifinals Saturday night.
With the win the Bobcats will now face top-seeded Lindenwood in the championship game Sunday at noon.
The victory Saturday had the whole kit and caboodle that makes a great hockey game: controversial no-goals, plenty of penalties, massive momentum swings, a huge comeback and a tension-filled sudden death overtime.
After it was over Ohio coach Dan Morris was all smiles, and had nothing but good things to say about a Robert Morris team that outplayed Ohio for large-parts of the game, outshooting the Bobcats 29-24 overall
“It had everything, it was a roller-coaster ride,” Morris said. “Shaking hands you could see a lot of pride on their side, they were spent and they were proud they gave the effort that they gave.
“Yeah they didn’t win, but they’re all holding their heads high leaving the building.”
Like Friday against Kent State, Ohio started the game red-hot. Ohio’s Tyler Pilmore got the scoring going just 3 minutes in when he deflected a Zack Barbis shot into the net, amazingly the junior’s first goal since Nov. 26 against West Chester.
The rest of the first period passed without a goal, although Robert Morris thought they had an equalizer with five minutes left in the period as the goal light went on, but the officials waved it off, saying the puck had not gone in. Incredibly, the same thing happened to Ohio at the same end of the ice in the second period, and again the goal was waved off by the officials.
The Eagles started to edge into the game in the second as the Bobcats took a total of six penalties in the period, added to the three they took in the first. But freshman goaltender Brendan Madden stayed firm in net as Ohio held on to its slim advantage.
And just as it looked like it would stay 1-0 heading into the third, Ohio’s Josh Fodor struck on the power play with 10 seconds to play in the second, slipping one through Robert Morris goalie Andy DiCristofaro legs for the 2-0 lead.
The game remained 2-0 into the middle of the third, even as the Bobcats took four more penalties. They were finally burned on the fourth one, as Christopher Cimoch beat Madden and made it 2-1 at the 10:33 mark. Just 2:05 later Gehrett Sargis leveled things on Madden’s only mistake of the night, shocking the Bird Arena crowd.
And as regulation wound down it was Robert Morris, not Ohio, who looked more likely to get the winner as the multiple penalty kills Ohio had to endure got to its legs. But Madden came up big again and the game headed into OT.
Once again Robert Morris had the better of it as OT started, and once again Madden was up to the challenger, making three big saves on yet another Bobcat penalty kill in the first five minutes of OT as Ohio’s chances hung on tenterhooks.
“Right at the end there, without those saves there early in that overtime we don’t win that game,” Morris said. “It was a match up we liked, Madden had success against them earlier in the year and we wanted to come back with it and he did his job.”
It only takes one great play to win in sudden-victory, and even as Robert Morris looked in control it was Ohio who made the breakthrough. John Luciana skated into the offensive zone and threw a puck at goal as Tisdale rushed the net. Tisdale got his stick on it and the puck went past DiCristofaro, sending Bird Arena into jubilation.
“You look at the line who scored — Luciana, Tisdale and (Nate) De La Torre — they don’t play special teams,” Morris said. "So given the opportunity to get out there and do something, they were waiting for the opportunity and when the opportunity they took it. All and all it was just a great team effort.”
Inarguably the biggest part of that effort came from the penalty killers, who killed 13 of 14 penalties a night after killing 10 of 10 penalties against Kent State.
“It’s funny because we’ve had the same referees both nights,” Morris quipped after the game. But the coach had nothing but praise for his penalty kill units.
“It was unbelievable. The confidence of the penalty killers is unbelievable,” he said. “Jared Fuhs, and Jonathan (Pietramala), (Jay) Maz(arella), (Tom) Whetsel and the whole defensive crew, they just know each other so well and what each other is capable of.”
The Bobcats will now have only about 12 hours of rest before they have to be back at the ice for pregame preparations tomorrow. After an emotionally draining victory, both physically and mentally, it will be a big ask for Ohio to come back and play an A-game vs. a Lindenwood team that is 17-0-0 against CSCHL competition this season.
But Morris seemed confident in his squad’s ability to pull together one last time Sunday afternoon.
“We talked about it in the locker room after — enjoy it, but we’ve still got work to,” he said. "Hopefully we can get over it and move on.”
Quick Stats
Shots on goal: Ohio 24, Robert Morris 29
Madden (Ohio): 27 saves, DiCristofaro (Robert Morris): 21 saves
Ohio goal scorers: T. Pilmore, Fodor, Tisdale
Robert Morris goal scorers: Cimoch, Sargis
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