February 17, 2008 - The last two games of the weekend would be played out on Sunday as the early game would feature Ohio and Kent State looking for 3rd place, while the afternoon game had Illinois and Lindenwood clawing it out for the championship cup.
For the second time of the playoffs Ohio would head into the competition as the higher seed, wearing their silver home sweaters, and for a second time they would come out the winners. The Bobcats would come out and control most of the match against the Golden Flashes, and on their second power play opportunity of the game, Billy Hemann, teamed up with Phil Oberlin and Ryan Tessmer, would put Ohio on the board first, halfway through the first period. It would be less than three minutes later the Bobcat's Corey Bise would extend the Ohio lead to two goals, with Jim Roach and Brandon Steffek assisting. Kent State wouldn't find a way to get on the board until two minutes into the second period as Stu Smith, accompanied by Kevin Colleran and Eddie Martin, would get a shot past Ohio's Chris Carlson in net. The Bobcat's would turn around quickly and within two minutes of the Flashes Goal, Billy Hemann would have his second goal of the game with the assists going to David Moyer and Brandon Steffek. Both goaltenders would remain solid between the pipes until Ohio would gain a man advantage early in the third, and that would be when Brendon Steffek, with help from Jim Fuhs and Jeff Jepson, would give the Bobcats a 4-1 lead. Billy Hemann would stick the dagger into the Golden Flashes with his third goal of the game in the last few minutes of the third period, giving Ohio the 5-1 win. The #3 seed Ohio left the playoffs where they came in, while even with the loss, the #5 seed Kent State left in 4th place.
The final game of the day, just as if had been drawn out, had the #1 seed Illini taking on the #2 seed Lions. It was obvious that the officials weren't going to get into way too much during this match, letting the teams play at a faster pace, and with just 5 penalties called in the entire game, they did just that. Both teams went end to end, with the Illini having a slight edge in the first period, and out shooting Lindenwood 21-6. That slight edge came into focus halfway through the first as the Illini's JJ Heredia put the first point on the board with the assistance of Tom Connell and Daniel Cohen. It looked like the Illini would have the edge once again in the second period, but just as in Saturday's overtime game, Lindenwood's Larry Kopecky came up big while trying to kill off a penalty, netting a short handed goal, Henri St. Arnault assisting. The Illini were given another power play chance later in the period, and this time they were able to convert as Alex Park, teamed up with Jason Nemeth, gave the Illini the go ahead goal. Johnny Liang, getting help from Jason Nemeth and Brad Hoelzer, would give the Illini a little more breathing room five minutes into the third period. Brad Hoelzer would be the one earning the fourth illini goal, with Nick Fabbrini assisting, with just minutes left in the game to pretty much ensure the win for the Illini. The 4-1 Illinois win gave them the Playoff Championship title to add to their regular season championship title, while Lindenwood finished the playoffs with the runner-up trophy. |
