From Athens Messenger
By Allen Brown
Sitting at number four in the nation, it would only make sense that the Ohio University hockey team would be the hunted.
However, after Friday night’s 4-2 win over the University of Illinois, where the Fighting Illini did a good job of hunting the Bobcats, OU — like championship-contending teams tend to do — turned it around on Saturday to regain their title as the hunters.
With a 10-1 victory over UI at Bird Arena Saturday, OU not only upped its record to 23-4-1 on the year, but also clinched the Central States Collegiate Hockey League championship in the process.
While Friday’s win over Illinois wasn’t necessarily pretty, Saturday’s near shutout had the home team firing on all cylinders.
And the second game of the series came complete with added excitement for fans in what became a virtual penalty palooza on both sides of the ice.
Less than two minutes into the first, OU got on the scoreboard. Andrew Sacca scored the goal for the good guys, with Andrew Wells on the assist.
Showing that they still had every intention of putting up the good fight, the illini got on the scoreboard at the 4:50 mark in the first to tie it up.
However, that was all the fight the Illini had left goal wise — though in the penalty box that would be a quite different story.
More on that later.
A Ryan Higgins power play goal, with assists going to Sam Turner and Luc Reeve, with 6:39 left allowed the Bobcats to retake the lead.
And they never gave it up.
The second period started without Sacca, Ryan Hastings and Phil Angervil ejected following a fight that ended the first. The ensuing clash also resulted in three Illini getting thrown out of the game.
A five-minute major cross-checking and game misconduct against Illinois resulted in two OU goals in the early stages of the second.
Wells, with assists from JT Schimizzi and Schons made it 3-1 and a Reeve score less than two minutes later made it 4-1. Turner got the helper on Reever’s 28th goal of the season.
And it soon became 5-1, with Christian Albertson getting a goal with 13:03 left in the second. Schmizzi and Glen were credited with the assists. With 3:05 left, the Bobcats went up by five on a Glen score with Blake Rossi and Reeve credited with the assist.
Shots on goal were also one-sided by this point, with OU up 35-11 in that stat at the end of the second.
The final stanza started with UI’s Nolan Woodring in goal for Ben Mazurek.
It didn’t matter
A goal from Higgins — with another assist from Reeve and one from Thompson — put Ohio up 7-1 about four minutes and a half into the stanza. And 36 seconds later it was 8-1 when Thompson got one in the net. He and Higgins switched roles on this one as Higgy got the helper on that one. Reeve also got assist number 36 for the year on the score.
Reeve — with an assist from Thompson- made it 9-1. And with 4:02 left it became 10-1 with another Wells goal that Tommy Kloepfer assisted with.
Final shots on goal were 54-16 in favor of the home team. Justin Damon got the win between the pipes for OU.
A total of 34 penalties (including 15 for OU) were incurred during the night, making it a virtual slugfest rather than a hockey game. The Bobcats were 42 percent on the power play.
The three stars of the night for Saturday were Reeve, Wells, and Schmizzi, who tallied his 100th career point in a Bobcats sweater.
While Saturday’s game was all OU, Friday’s was a quite different story.
The Bobcats started off strong against the two-win Illini, as 2:48 into the first the Captain, Turner, got the first goal of the game with Zach Curry and Wells on the assist.
A Reeve power play goal with 7:36 left in the first made it 2-0. Higgins and Turner got the As on the freshman forward’s score.
A second power play goal from Hollander Thompson 72 seconds later put the Bobcats up 3-0. Glen and Turner (lighting up the stat sheet early on) got the assists
On to period two. And if the first stanza belonged to OU, then Illinois definitely could claim bragging rights to the second.
A five-minute Bobcat penalty on Hastings (contact to the head) allowed Alexander Mateev to get the Illini on the scoreboard for the first time in the series.
The boys from Champaign weren’t done yet as a second goal — this one from Francesco Addante — about three minutes later cut OU’s lead to one, even though by the halfway mark of the second, they were dominating the shots on goal, 23-7.
In a period that saw the Bobcats sent to the penalty box four times, they maintained their dominance in the SOG stat, leading it 28-11 at the end of the second, yet failing to put any distance between themselves and Illinois.
The shots were 38-12 in favor of OU halfway through final period, though there was no change in score.
The score wouldn’t change until there was only 1:05 left on the ticker, when Albertson put the game out of reach to give OU win number 22 for the season. Reeve and Thompson got the assists on the final goal of the night.
Max Karlenzig got the win for the Bobcats allowing two goals on 14 Illini shots. Mazurek took the L for the visitors in goal. The three stars of the night were Turner, Thompson and Albertson.
In discussing the change in strategy between Friday and Saturday’s game, OU Head Coach Lionel Mauron noted that “We did a better job overcoming adversity and keep our composure. We played a very physical game, while remaining disciplined and we took advantage of power play opportunities.”
While Saturday’s game was lopsided, Mauron said the Fighting Illini did bring some resolve to the contest.
“They were a lot more organized than the first time we played them (in October in Champagne); they also brought a lot of energy and they challenged us physically. They did a nice job making the ice feel smaller and we had to dig pretty deep into our resources to overcome them, even though the final score was one sided,” the coach said.
Mauron also commented on the multiple penalties the Bobcats took in the series, saying, “I don’t want stick and lazy penalties; I think this weekend our penalties were mostly due to being intense and physical. I cannot say I am disappointed or frustrated with them, they were part of the game, and our special teams were productive.”
Next up for the Bobcats a weekend home series against the number one team in the Mens D1 American Collegiate Hockey Association computer rankings, Minot State. Puck drop both Friday and Saturday is set for 7 p.m.
(Originally published at https://www.athensmessenger.com/sports/ohiouniversity/ou-takes-cschl-crown-in-weekend-sweep-over-illinois/article_f1174a0c-9fdf-11ed-98ea-0f1ee0c8d1ec.html)
