After winning the Ohio Athletic Conference Championship in 2016, the defense of the title in 2017 is off to a good start.

John Carroll University (3-4,1-0 OAC) traveled to Bexley, Ohio, to take on Capital University (2-4, 0-1 OAC) in the first conference game of the season. The Blue Streaks would get the victory with an extraordinary show of resiliency against the Crusaders by a 9-8 final score.

In the first quarter of play, both teams would be held off of the scoreboard until Ryan Rampi scored the game's first goal with 8:04 remaining for the Crusaders. After a goal from Brent Walton, and another goal from Rampi, Capital lead 3-0 with less than five minutes remaining in the quarter.

After shaking off the initial shock, the Blue Streaks began to chase the lead. Michael Hubert scored JCU's first goal of the evening on a man-up opportunity with 51 seconds left. That would be all the scoring for the first quarter.

The Blue Streaks would look to tie up the game in the second quarter. Skyler Blake would cut the deficit in half by scoring his 21st goal of the season. With 12:11 remaining in the second quarter, JCU trailed Capital 3-2.

Both defenses would keep each other's offenses from scoring for the rest of the half. The Crusaders carried a 3-2 lead at halftime.

John Carroll came out firing to begin the third quarter. 39 seconds into the second half, Declan O'Grady would score from an assist by Collin Rice, and the game would be tied at three. Less than a minute later, Rice would break the tie, and give JCU a 4-3 lead, the first lead of the day for the Blue and Gold.

Brent Walton would tie the game back up for the Crusaders, but Collin Rice would answer again, giving JCU a 5-4 lead.

It would be the Crusaders, however, that took the momentum into the final period as two late goals gave the home team the 6-5 advantage.

After a few minutes of no scoring between the two offenses, JCU tied the game once again as Skyler Blake scored his second goal of the game from the assist by Michael Hubert. It would be 6-6 at the 11:35 mark.

That would begin a streak of four unanswered goals. Dakota Thomas would score his first goal of the season with 8:14 left in regulation. Keegan Flinter would then score two consecutive goals. With 6:26 remaining, JCU had a 9-6 lead.

However, Capital would not go quietly. C.J. Hughes and Brennan O'Callaghan would each score for the Crusaders, and now John Carroll had a 9-8 lead with 1:15 left to play.

After a faceoff win for Capital, the Blue Streaks were able to get the ball back from shot that hit outside of the net. The Blue Streaks failed to clear, giving Capital one last chance to tie the game with 23 seconds left. The Crusaders were able to clear and get a shot, but the shot would be blocked, and time would expire.

Kyle Lake made nine saves in the contest. Kyle Patterson would also have a good day from the faceoff-x going 15-21.

The win was the first league victory for John Carroll's first year head coach Joe Rautenstrauch. Declan O'Grady finished the game one point shy of 200, and will take his 199 career points into the Blue Streaks' next contest -- a home game against Mount Union on Wednesday, April 5.