Joe Breslin hat trick powers Friday win, Michael Harris scores game-winner in Saturday OT thriller
The crowds at Bird Arena this season have gotten a defined look at how Ohio can thrive in front of a large and noisy crowd.
But this weekend, the Flames found out the Bobcats can be just as dominant in front of a loud, opposing crowd as well.
Ohio (24-4-2) rode a Joe Breslin hat trick to a 7-4 win in Friday’s offensive thriller. It then turned around and survived a late Liberty (18-9-5) comeback en route to 3-2 overtime win on Saturday.
“We established our dominance early in both games,” Breslin said. “Every time they would fight back, we would answer with a goal or a big hit to quiet the crowd down. It was good to get the sweep because the national tournament is all road games, so we’re going to need to know how to win on the road.”
The Bobcats entered the weekend as the best scoring defense in the country, while the Flames entered with the most prolific scoring offense in the country. Instead of waiting to show off its defense against the talented Liberty forwards, however, Ohio attacked the Flames early with a bit of its own offensive firepower with first period goals by Patrick Spellacy and Tom Whetsel.
After the Flames dissolved the Bobcats’ lead in the second period, Breslin began to take over the game. He and future World University Games teammate Tyler Benson each scored to push Ohio’s lead back to two. Breslin put two more pucks in the net in the third, while Matt Hartman added his sixth goal of the season to fend off any rally the Flames could come up with.
The Bobcats’ seven goals on Friday were the most they’ve scored on the road this season.
“We got after them quick,” coach Sean Hogan said. “After it was 2-2, we just started capitalizing on chances and creating a lot of opportunities for ourselves. It was great to see us break out of our shell offensively.”
Saturday’s game followed much more of a defensive script, with Ohio’s Michael Harris and Liberty’s Ryley Egan providing the only offense for either side for the first two periods. After entering the third period tied at one, Jake Faiella scored to give Ohio a lead that almost stood the rest of the way.
With less than two minutes left, however, Liberty showed a spark of life and edged the puck past Ohio goalie Scott Boyd, tying the game at 2-2. When the game moved to overtime, Harris nullified the late-game heroics by the Flames, scoring his second goal of the night and winning the game for the Bobcats.
It was the first road sweep of the season for Ohio.
“One of the most impressive things about our guys is their ability to respond to adversity,” Hogan said. “They scored with under two minutes left in the game, and our guys just knew that they needed to battle for the next few minutes to try to get a goal, and that’s what they did.”
The Bobcats got exceptional play out of its goalies against the high-powered Flames offense with Aaron Alkema and Boyd each saving 28 shots in their respective starts. The goalies also shut out Luke Hannon and Lindsay Leblanc, who entered the weekend as the top two scorers in the country.
The sweep marks the last of Ohio’s regular season road games, which it finished at 7-4-2. The Bobcats play out the remaining six games of its season at home. This weekend was also the last of the regular season Ohio will play with Hogan, Breslin, Harris and Benson before they leave to join Team USA.
