After ending last season with a CSCHA Tournament Championship, the Bobcats opened the ’09-’10 season strong with two wins at home against Mercyhurst. The Bobcats took Friday night’s game 3-1 then followed it up with a 5-0 romping of the Lakers on Saturday night.
During the first period of play on Friday night, Mercyhurst stood strong behind the play of its freshman goaltender, but the Bobcats broke the game open with two goals in the third period.
With only few minutes gone by in the third, Ohio defenseman Mark Tracy took a pass from teammate Jimmy Irwin and flipped it over the goalies right shoulder pads and into the back of the net.
Minutes later, Steve Osacky positioned himself in front of the net and finished on a one-time pass from behind the goal by putting it top shelf behind the goaltender. The goal put the cap on what would be a 3-1 Ohio victory.
“The play had a perfect set-up,” Osacky said about the goal. “We had the puck down low and they had their backs to me, I was able to sneak in from behind and put it in the net.”
Game two of the series turned out to be even more eventful than the first. Again, Mercyhurst held strong behind the play of its freshman goaltender, and went to the break with a zero-zero tie.
The second period, however, was a different story. Mercyhurst took penalties early and often, which led to numerous opportunities for OU. Nine minutes into the second period, Ohio defenseman Zack Barbis carried the puck into the offensive zone and scored an unassisted power play goal over goaltender’s left shoulder pad. The goal was his second of the night.
OU lit the lamp again with 5:29 remaining making the score 3-0. With just over 3 minutes remaining, Mercyhurst’s Shane Vorndran took a five minute major boarding penalty which was followed by a tripping penalty by Mercyhurst’s Matt Leitzel about two minutes later.
The penalties led to a five on three man advantage for the Bobcats, which led to Barbis’ third goal of the night and a 4-0 second period lead for OU.
“I felt like I was in the zone,” said Barbis in a post-game interview. “I got some good opportunities I was able to capitalize on.”
OU put the icing on the cake with a fifth goal from forward Tyler Pilmore thirteen minutes into the final period of play.
With just over three minutes remaining in the game, a fight broke out between the teams, leading to many penalties and a couple game misconducts. Once the referees sorted everything out play was resumed.
A minute later, another brawl began when multiple Mercyhurst players dropped their gloves immediately after the faceoff and began throwing punches.
Even OU goaltender Paul Marshall got in on the action, and was eventually ejected. Sticks and gloves littered the ice as the helpless referees could do nothing but watch.
In the end, both teams received numerous game misconduct ejections and ended the game with multiple players in the penalty box.
When asked what his team needs to do better for next week, head coach Dan Morris responded by saying the team needs to improve its spacing in the corner, “We need to be able to find the open ice, we seem to tire ourselves out,” said the coach.
The Bobcats continue play next weekend at Bird Arena with a series against Youngstown State.
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