Senior Nick Rostek scored a team-high three goals this past weekend against No. 5 Minot State, including a game-winner with 50 seconds remaining in a 6-5 win Friday night.
Rostek missed almost a month of the season due to a foot injury, but shook the rust off almost immediately, returning to do serious damage to opposing defenses on a line with fellow senior forward Tyler Pilmore and junior forward Brett Agnew.
But don’t call him a goal scorer.
“I was shocked, honestly. I’ve never really considered myself a goal scorer,” Rostek said after his hat trick against Minot State. “I was surprised, but hey, I’ll take it.”
Coach Dan Morris couldn’t help but laugh at the observation by his fourth-year forward.
“I don’t think Nick wants anyone to know that he’s a goal scorer,” Morris said. “Nick is the best guy on the team who can find an opening in a 10-foot square box that nobody else can find… He’ll say he’s not a goal scorer, but when he gets the puck, it’s coming off his stick quick and going in between the goalie’s legs most of the time.”
Morris was also impressed with the line of Rostek, Pilmore and Agnew, as they did a good job of taking Minot State’s first line out of the game after the first period.
“We matched up our top line with theirs and I think we won that battle,” Morris said. “You could see when we shut their (top) line down; it kind of echoed throughout their bench that their big line wasn’t producing. The momentum was shifted to our side.”
Goalie Matt Michno took the start Saturday instead of Fedor Dushkin. Morris said Michno earned the third straight start following two wins.
Michno allowed six goals in throughout those two wins, but the momentum gained from the two wins was enough to spell Dushkin, who has played in 14 games as opposed to Michno’s seven.
“I’m not going to pull him when he’s 2-0 in his last two games he started,” Morris said. “We were going to ride the hot hand on that one.”
The hot hand cooled quickly as Michno was pulled after one period during Saturday night’s 7-1 loss to the Beavers, allowing three goals in the first twenty minutes. But two goals were scored breakaways, displaying a lack of assistance from the Bobcats’ transition defense.
“If in hockey, the goaltender isn’t playing well, you pull him in the middle of the period,” Morris said. “We pulled Matt (after the period) to try to get a reaction out of our guys. We wanted to start fresh, put (Dushkin) in, but we didn’t really change the way we played and (Dushkin) was a victim for a couple more goals.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
