Matt Rudin sent a shot toward the goal as he fell to his knee. The puck found its way to the back of the net.
Rudin’s goal was the first on Friday night for Ohio. And to make it even better, it was short-handed.
Ohio scored two short-handed goals, along with three power play goals in its 12-0 win over Pitt in Bird Arena.
“Early on we were aggressive on the kill,” coach Sean Hogan said of his team’s offensive success with a man down.
Rudin’s chance and eventual goal while on the penalty kill was a great example of how the Bobcats played on the penalty kill all game. Their first time down a man, the offense seemed to be sparked, after it looked as if the two teams were feeling each other out to start.
And after that first goal, Ohio didn’t stop putting shots in the net, turning those into goals for the rest of the game. The Bobcats scored two more goals in the last half of the first period, which included Rudin’s second of three on the night.
The second period saw four more goals, and the third period had five, including the other shorthanded goal on the night, off the stick of Austin Heakins. Heakins, who is known for his strength on the forecheck, stole the puck in the offensive zone and slotted it past the Pitt goalie.
While Ohio’s penalty kill unit shined with nine kills and two goals in the game, the Bobcats’ other special teams unit, the power play was also perfect. It only had three chances, but it scored all three times, with goals coming from Grant Hazel, Gabe Lampron and Shawn Baird.
Ohio didn’t draw many penalties on the night, but it took advantage when it did, especially as Pitt grew more frustrated as the deficit grew and the clock ticked away.
“We possessed the puck and moved it well,” Rudin said.
It’s seemed this season that the Bobcats’ play has been dependent on their special teams. When they have success with either a man-advantage or when playing a man down, they are on the fast track to an easy win.
It showed early in the season when Ohio scored double digit goals in the first four games for the first time since the 1988-89 season, and it showed itself again Friday.
The perfect penalty kill unit also contributed to Jimmy Thomas getting his third shutout of the season.
“Jimmy had a lot of good saves,” Hazel said. “I think he had a couple breakaways early on, he played really well. We did our best in front of him, I guess.”
The Bobcats were confident coming into the series against Pitt — in which the second game was canceled due to inclement weather — but maybe not a 12-0 win confident.
Friday’s performance can spark a little confidence further down the road, when it matters a little more, in Central States Hockey League games, and the eventual playoffs at the end of the season, and the American Collegiate Hockey Association tournament after that, where they might have to face the three teams ahead of them in the national rankings: Lindenwood, Michigan-Dearborn, and Adrian.
“Those are teams we got to beat,” Hogan said. “Against those teams we’re under .500. We get those teams in front of us, that’s when we really got to play well.”
