Ohio’s club hockey team was blown out Friday night for the first time in almost three years, but the tenacity that has driven the team to stay in the upper echelon of the league rankings through the early part of the season helped the Bobcats even the series with a Saturday night win against Illinois.
The Bobcats temporarily lost a chunk of production with junior forward Brett Agnew and junior defenseman Jonathan Gulch serving one-game suspensions and senior forward Nick Rostek out due to a foot injury. This season, the trio had combined for 12 goals and 25 total points heading into the matchup with Illinois, and the thinness on the offensive end played a decisive role in Friday night’s lopsided 5-0 score.
Throughout the first two periods of Friday’s match, Ohio’s sophomore forward Tom Whetsel and sophomore forward Jay Mazzarella, as well as freshman defenseman Paul Sergi, came close to sliding the puck past Illini goaltender Nick Clarke.
But Clarke remained stout in net, saving all 23 of the Bobcats’ shots on goal as he made the Illini the first team to shut out the Bobcats since Feb. 21, 2010.
Ohio coach Dan Morris said some of Friday’s difficulties could be attributed to the team having to get used to Illinois’ rink, which is very different in design from the Bobcats’ Bird Arena.
“I think the coaching staff made the mistake of putting too much attention in practice on how different the place is,” Morris said. “The guys forgot how to play because they were so focused on how different the rink is.”
After a less than stellar outing for Ohio netminder Fedor Dushkin on Friday, punctuated by the allowance of a season-high five goals and an .800 save percentage, he returned to form Saturday for a much-improved stat line: one goal allowed on 34 shots for a .971 save percentage.
Dushkin said that the long road trip to the U of I Ice Arena might have also contributed to the team’s slow outing on Friday.
“I think Illinois prepared really well for us,” Dushkin said. “But we had also had a long trip up there, and I feel a lot of us were all really tired. Saturday we had enough rest and relaxation to be ready for the game.”
Ohio approached Saturday’s matchup with a two-game losing streak and was prepared to end the skid with Agnew and Gulch returning to the lineup. Agnew contributed one assist and one point in Saturday’s win.
It didn’t take long for Ohio to find the net Saturday, as freshman center Michael Harris recorded his only goal of the night with seven minutes elapsed in the first period for his team-leading 11th goal of the season.
Whetsel, in his second weekend back from a practice injury, starred in Saturday’s rematch as he scored both Ohio goals in the second period. He is tied with Rostek for second on the team in goals scored with six.
“I think it was an all-around great team effort,” Whetsel said. “Teddy Dushkin played well and had some unbelievable saves and (Vincent) Nicolella blocking a shot with his neck was great. Everybody really came together and did their part to contribute to the win.”
jd202409@ohiou.edu
