The Bobcats will take a weekend off from playing American Collegiate Hockey Association foes to help in the fight for a much greater cause.
Ohio will take on the American Cancer Society Ice Ghosts in two exhibition games at Bird Arena this weekend, with a portion of the ticket sales going to the American Cancer Society.
The Ice Ghosts roster comprises semi-pro and former collegiate players from across Ohio, including many former Bobcat stars such as 2010 ACHA Player of the Year Paul Marshall and 2004 ACHA national tournament MVP Frank Kubas.
The bulk of the squad has played together in exhibition games against other ACHA teams and the 2011 United States Men’s National University Team.
Last September, when Ohio coach Dan Morris looked to fill an empty weekend with competitive games that could be played for a cause, he called Kubas, and the former Bobcat did the rest.
“I just called up guys that were still involved in the alumni association that we have and were still involved in hockey,” Kubas said. “In fact, it’s generated so much interest among OU alumni that a lot of guys called me and emailed me about playing in it; we just didn’t have enough spots, so there’s some guys we had to turn down.”
The games will be especially poignant for senior forward Jared Fuhs, whose mother Becky is undergoing chemotherapy for colon cancer. Becky Fuhs will drop the honorary puck before Friday’s game, and the Ice Ghosts will wear purple jerseys, the color signifying the fight against colon cancer.
“When you play games, you just think about winning and losing and stuff like that,” Fuhs said. “So when you get a chance to play a game like this for a bigger meaning, it’s kind of special, especially when someone in your family is diagnosed with something like that.”
Jared’s brother Jim played for Ohio from 2004 to 2008 and will be a member of the Ice Ghosts squad. Their mother was on Morris’ mind when he was organizing the weekend games.
“I’ve been with Becky for eight years and she’s going through cancer treatments,” Morris said. “So when we were coming up with ideas for what we could do with this weekend, that became the focal point — what we could do with it and how we could honor Becky or anyone who is going through cancer treatments.”
The weekend is the pilot project of what Morris hopes will be an annual event.
“Myself and all the guys on our team would love to do this yearly,” Kubas said. “I could see this thing really taking off. That’s our hope and our goal.”
And though the games might be labeled as exhibitions, Morris said he expected the play on the ice to be anything but charitable.
“It will be about as real as you can get,” he said. “The guys that we selected are all very competitive guys. We don’t want this to be an exhibition, and they’re not going to play that way. They’re coming in expecting to win.”
“It’s probably going to be one of the better games to watch.”
cd211209@ohiou.edu
