Who would have thought a fight between a Hen and a Bobcat would last more than an hour?
But it did on Sunday — a lot longer. And at the end of 89 minutes of grueling, pulsating, end-to-end hockey, Ohio’s season came to a heartbreaking conclusion when Delaware’s Mark Zeszut scored the knockout blow exactly nine minutes into double overtime of the American Collegiate Hockey Association national tournament quarterfinal matchup.
The 5-4 loss was an appalling result for a sixth-seeded Bobcat team that had not trailed the entire contest. The Bobcats outplayed the third-seeded Blue Hens five-on-five for most of regulation and outshot Delaware 56-42.
“We did everything we wanted to do other than win,” Morris said. “We carried most of the play of the game: outshot them, out chanced them, (but) we just couldn’t outscore them. Our guys played their hearts out, and we just couldn’t get that goal that we needed.”
After the teams battled to a 3-3 draw through two periods, Ohio took a 4-3 lead with 7:30 to play in regulation when Josh Fodor scored on a wrap-around attempt. But seconds later, Delaware got a power play opportunity under very controversial circumstances.
Ohio’s Michael Schultz was racing toward a puck that was trickling in the direction of the Delaware net. Delaware goaltender SJ Broadt covered the puck and Schultz stopped quickly, snowing the Blue Hen goalie in the process. Broadt got into Schultz face and shoved him, and the officials caved, sending the Bobcat captain to the sin bin for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“He snowed him, that’s a penalty,” Morris said. “He got a penalty for it, so I think it’s really a penalty. That’s all you’re going to get from me.”
Just 12 seconds into the man-advantage, Delaware’s lethal power play, which had already struck twice, tied it up at 4-4.
From there it was essentially sudden-death play, and as the game moved into overtime, both teams had plenty of chances to come out on top. But Broadt and Ohio netminder Teddy Dushkin suddenly turned into stone walls, making big stop after big stop as the game transformed into a goaltending battle.
The first overtime came and went, and with the start of the second extra session, the Bobcats began to get the upper hand thanks to two Blue Hen penalties.
But Broadt wouldn’t break, and just as a Delaware penalty kill came to an end, the Blue Hens scored on a counter attack. Jason Michaud threw a puck on Dushkin that bounced right out in front, and Zeszut was there to capitalize, sending his teammates into a frenzy and leaving Ohio’s players broken and exhausted on the ice.
“They were disappointed they didn’t win,” Morris said. “But they were prideful in the effort they put forward. So sure they were disappointed, but by no means did they feel they cheated themselves from a poor effort.”
Eliminating the Illini
As expected, Ohio had beaten 11-seed Illinois 5-4 in a similarly entertaining game Saturday. The Bobcats raced out to a 3-0 lead just 11 minutes in. It looked like they’d cruise to an easy win as the Bobcats remained in total control in the second by maintaining a 5-2 advantage heading into the third.
Things got dicey when an inspired Fighting Illini squad, helped by Bobcat penalties, got the game back to 5-4 with 2:40 to play. But the comeback came up just short as Ohio held on by the slimmest of margins.
The loss Sunday rendered Saturday practically insignificant, and the defeat to the Blue Hens means Ohio finishes with an 0-10-1 record against teams ranked higher than them this season.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t get over that hump, and that might be indicative of our whole season — that we weren’t able to get over that hump,” Morris said. “But I thought we played well enough today to get over that hump.”
For Ohio’s seniors, it was another dose of heartbreak at nationals. The group had endured a similar double-overtime defeat against Penn State at the quarterfinals in 2009 and had lost close games in the semifinals each of the past two seasons.
“You’ve got to give these guys a lot of credit,” Morris said of his seniors. “I’m proud of the boys. I’m not walking away feeling like we left something out there because we didn’t.”
cd211209@ohiou.edu
