The Icers needed an outstanding performance by Ted Hume to survive a furious OU attack and some infuriating officiating before Steve Thurston scored with 1 second left in overtime, giving the Icers a 4-3 victory and a split of the weekend series at the Bird Arena.
For second night in a row, the Icers got on the board first. Kurt Collins finished off a nice three-way passing play from Chris Pronchik and Matt Kirstein. OU's Ryan Tessmer knotted the score at 1 on the power play with 51 seconds left in the first period.
OU dominated the Icers in the second, outshooting the Icers 13-3, but Hume came up with some huge saves and neither team was able to score. That changed in the third, with Kirstein opening a three-goal flurry at the 11 minute mark.
Just 11 seconds later, Josh Fodor buried a big rebound to tie it up, but George Saad scored his second of the season 59 seconds after Fodor's tying goal.
Things got ugly at 16:38 of the third when a check from behind by Dan Loucks led to a 5-on-5 donnybrook. After an interminable delay while the officials tried to figure out just what the heck happened, the Icers had to kill off a 5 minute two man advantage for OU.
With some great penalty killing, the Icers were 44 seconds away from the win, but Brad Holzemer found a loose puck and put it in the back of the net to send the OU fans into orbit.
The Icers were down one man heading to overtime after Holzemer was sent off for tripping with 4 seconds left in the 3rd. An OU bench minor for too many men on the ice at 1:11 of the overtime gave the Icers some life, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
With about 10 seconds left in OT, Domenic Morrone streaked into the OU zone and circled around behind the net. It looked like time would run out and the game would be decided by a shootout, but Morrone spotted Thurston in the slot.
The pass was right on the tape and Steve's shot got past OU goalie Paul Marshall a split second before the final buzzer.
FINAL SCORE -- PENN STATE 4 OHIO 3
Thurston was mobbed by the entire team, luckily surviving serious injury in the process!
The amazing win and the weekend split is a benchmark result for the young team. As Scott Balboni said in the post-game interview, the team came together, stuck up for each other and battled through adversity to come away with a split in one of the toughest places to win in the ACHA.
After following the team for 8 years, my wife and I finally had the chance to see our first game in person. We made the 2 hour trip from Columbus to support the team and could not have left happier. We were blessed to sit with Mr. Daley who gave us insight on his son and the team that we could never have found on our own. Also met a member or two from the Boosters while standing in line, nice folks.
ReplyDeleteNothing made me happier than screaming "We are" at the end of that one. Thanks to those on the team and staff that gave the correct answer...."Penn State".
Great win guys. Keep your heads up, sticks down and have a great rest of your season.