The Ohio locker room was full of laughter, yelling and cheers Friday night.
This came after Ohio defeated Indiana Tech 6-3 at Bird Arena in Game 1 of the weekend series. The reason the Bobcats locker room was so lively after the game is because they trailed 3-1 going into the third period.
J.T. Schmizzi started the third period’s offensive outing when he found the back of the net with 17:51 left. That goal was just the beginning of a one-minute, 46-second span that changed how the game ended.
With 16:19 left in the third period, Tyler Harkins scored on the power play to tie the game.
Fourteen seconds later, Tommy Pokorney gave the Bobcats another goal and secured the lead for good.
“It was a good play by Timmy (Thurnau),” Pokorney said about his game-winning goal. “He sucked the guy to him and made a little drop pass to me.”
Pokorney knew that Indiana Tech goalie Ryan O’Toole was having trouble seeing original shots based on the rebounds the goalie had allowed. The defenseman turned forward and fired a quick shot without thinking about it. That turned into the game-winning goal.
Before Ohio had its third-period outburst, it looked as though Indiana Tech had scored a demoralizing goal at the end of the second period. Ryan Attwood scored with 11 seconds left, thanks to a three-on-one rush. Even more demoralizing was that Ohio had missed on a three-on-one opportunity seconds earlier.
But the Bobcats didn’t give up.
“We regrouped in the second intermission and stuck to the program,” coach Cole Bell said. “We built off what we did in the second and capitalized more in the third.”
Bell referred to his team as “waves of water crashing into rocks.” It’s built into the Bobcats system to wear the other side down defensively, and that is what they did.
“We trust that if we stick with that process, we are going to find some mistakes and openings in the third,” Bell said, “Just because we have spent so much time wearing them down throughout the game.”
Ohio followed that game plan, and it paid off. The Bobcats’ play picked up after a slow start in the first period, and Ohio carried that momentum into the next period. Just like the end of the first period, It continued to control play in the second period.
Bell credits the energy of the bench as to why the team’s play turned around in the second and third periods.
“I thought we were flat on the bench in the first,” Bell said. “I thought the bench was great in the second and great in the third.”
The attitude helped swing momentum in favor of the Bobcats in the third period. Ohio rode the wave of momentum to five unanswered goals in the third period.
Now, Ohio will look to keep it going in the rematch Saturday. Puck drop against the Warriors is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
