Visiting Quinnipiac goalie Justin Eddy stopped Ohio State senior forward Daymen Bencharski on a point-blank attempt to notch his 49th save of the night with the score tied 0-0. In doing so, Eddy tied the record for most saves in the Schottenstein Center.

Ohio State’s 50th shot ended the game, though.

With under five seconds left, freshman forward Andrew Schembri stole the puck from Quinnipiac sophomore defenseman Dan Rossi in neutral ice. With no one between him and the goaltender, Schembri found an opening and slapped the puck past Eddy with two-tenths of a second left in the game, propelling OSU to an emotional 1-0 victory last night.

“The defenseman fumbled the puck, and I heard someone yelling ‘shoot!’ so I did, and it went in,” Schembri said.

All the players seemed to agree that Schembri’s goal was the play of the game.

“That’s maybe a freshman turning into a sophomore,” junior captain JB Bittner said of Schembri’s unassisted goal.

A similar breakaway by Bittner was stopped cold by Eddy as the second period ended, sending the teams into the third period scoreless.

“Thank God for the red light,” OSU coach John Markell said, referring to the light behind the net that goes on when a goal is scored.

The Buckeyes (13-8-0, 8-5-0 CCHA) poured the shots on goal, outshooting the Bobcats (7-7-2, 3-0-2 AH) 50-14. On top of tying the record for most saves in a game at the Schottenstein Center, Eddy smashed the record for most saves in one period as well. His 23 saves in the third period eclipsed the 19 saves Maine’s Mike Morrison had on Oct. 31, 1999. Eddy also tied UAF goalie Chris Marvel, who made 49 saves on Feb. 20, 1999.

“He’s capable of a great game,” Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold said. “He had 51 saves against Michigan earlier this year and 44 against Wisconsin.”

Until the Schembri goal, there was little to be excited about. Despite severely outshooting the Bobcats, OSU could not find any openings. When “Bring Me to Life” by Evanescence played during a second period break in action, it seemed to be a desperate plea from the crowd for some kind of action. OSU had outshot the visiting Bobcats 14-1 at that point, but the score remained knotted at zero.

“We had lots of energy coming into the third period,” Schembri said.

The Buckeyes showed this by putting 24 shots on net during the frame, including the game-winner.

Even when the Buckeyes committed a turnover in their defensive zone, Quinnipiac could not convert. The actual amount of time the Buckeyes spent on defense, however, was small.

“Our defense got better and better as the game went on,” Bittner said.

Coach Pecknold had to agree.

“The OSU defensemen were phenomenal,” he said.

OSU lived on the offensive side of the ice for nearly the entire game. It seemed that every time Quinnipiac managed to dig the puck out of the zone and clear it, the result was typically an icing call and resulting faceoff back in OSU’s offensive zone.

Sophomore Dave Caruso got the start between the pipes for OSU, and stopped all 14 shots he faced.

“I did get bored a little bit, but I had a lot of action playing the puck,” Caruso said. “If I only stop 14 shots a game and we win, go for it.”

The Buckeyes travel to Michigan for a two-game series this weekend.