Ohio's Jacob Houston stepped off the bench and in front of a nearly full crowd at Bird Arena that silently waited as he skated toward center ice.
Robert Morris and Ohio were six rounds into a shootout where each team had scored only once. Bobcats goalie Jimmy Thomas had just stopped an attempt from Lucas Stover. That save gave Houston a chance to score and end the game.
Houston gathered the puck on his stick and headed to the net. When his shot went past the goalie, the silence of the crowd broke, and the Bobcats mobbed Houston just a few feet away from the Robert Morris bench to celebrate their 4-3 victory Friday.
"I just tried to stay poised with the puck," Houston said. "It's a move I like to go to a lot. Usually, if it's there, I try to take it. If not, I try something else."
The turning point in the game came with 14 minutes left in regulation when Ohio's Tom Pokorney went to the penalty box for roughing. The Bobcats trailed by one goal and needed to regain momentum.
The Bobcats killed off the penalty to re-invigorate the bench. That led to a Tyler Harkins goal minutes later that tied the game.
"It was huge," coach Cole Bell said. "Hats off to the guys that were killing today. They did a fantastic job."
Robert Morris was on the man advantage four times; the Bobcats managed to kill off every one of those chances.
Ohio battled all game to win the first matchup of the weekend against Central State Collegiate Hockey League rival Robert Morris. The Bobcats outplayed the Eagles for the majority of the game, but it was there were only a few moments for Robert Morries to keep the score close.
All three of the Eagles' goals happened after the Bobcats made mistakes. Two of the goals were on breakaways. The other goal was scored after a costly Ohio turnover.
"We had a couple of critical turnovers that really helped Robert Morris get a few goals," Bell said. "I don't think we really played that bad at any point in the game other than just a couple of key turnovers."
Ohio had 50 shots on goal. Robert Morris only had 20.
None of that mattered, though, when the shootout began.
And Houston ensured that the Bobcats still escaped with their win.
"We were flying right from the beginning, and then we settled into the game," Bell said. "If we stick to what we are good at and get everybody on the same page, we can be a pretty damn good hockey team."
