With little West Virginia footage for Ohio to go off of heading into its weekend matchup with the Mountaineers, the Bobcats will employ whatever tactics they feel will help them continue chasing perfection.
But the squad’s play has been spot on to this point — enough so that the team tops the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s latest rankings.
The Bobcats made quick work of both John Carroll and Pittsburgh through the first two weekends of the season. Switching up offensive or defensive schemes might not be the key to continued Ohio success.
West Virginia begins its season Friday night in Bird Arena. Ohio will play away for the first time this season when it travels to the Mountaineers’ Charleston Memorial Ice Rink for a Saturday afternoon match.
Ohio coach Dan Morris acknowledges that being the visiting team changes the complexion of a series, and he looks forward to seeing how the team fares on foreign ice.
“Getting on the road is always different,” Morris said. “It’s not like sleeping at home and coming to the rink. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes this weekend.”
The Bobcats were able to tally four wins against West Virginia last season, scoring 24 goals while permitting only eight.
Junior defenseman Paul Sergi doesn’t discredit the value of playing for a home crowd, but he doesn’t feel the team needs to change any preparation methods when faced with an away contest.
“We definitely feed off the home environment, but we don’t really prepare any differently when it comes to away games,” Sergi said. “We have to go out there for any home or away game and treat it like any other game.”
For goaltenders, who play a position that typically challenges mental and physical endurance, being at the net in the opponent’s arena can be intimidating.
Ohio’s graduate student between the poles, Matt Michno, is statistically one of best goalies in the league in the early stages of the season with a 0.98 save percentage and 0.36 goals allowed average.
Michno says his success, at home and away, is dependent on the squad’s play as a unit.
“You just have to have faith in the guys around you, which we obviously do with the way we’ve been playing this year,” Michno said. “With all the help I’ve been getting, there shouldn’t be any change on the road.”
jd202409@ohiou.edu
UP NEXT :
OHIO v. West Virginia
7:30 p.m. Friday at Bird Arena
2 p.m. Saturday at Charleston Memorial Ice Rink
