Ohio plays Lindenwood again Saturday.
No. 1 Ohio’s third skater in the shootout, junior forward Liam Geither, surveyed the No. 3 Lindenwood net and fired glove-side on the goalie. The puck snuck under the goalie’s arm, but halted on the goal line on top of a small pile of snow.
On the other end, junior goalie Ryan Heltion allowed a third-straight goal, giving Lindenwood a 5-4 shootout win Friday and ending Ohio’s comeback bid.
For the first time in Ohio coach Sean Hogan’s tenure, the Bobcats trailed by three goals going into the final period. In the first 40 minutes, Ohio (8-0-1) didn’t possess the puck or put together as many scoring chances as usual.
“We didn’t play well, to be honest with you,” Hogan said. “Most of the game we just did not play our game.”
When the third period began, the top-ranked Bobcats started with a powerplay goal 44 seconds in by freshman forward Matt Rudin. He said their play picked up in the third because they “did simple plays.”
“Chipped it off the boards, threw it on net, got more shots and more opportunities,” Rudin said.
“We weren’t even doing what we teach for the first two periods, that’s what was frustrating,” Hogan said. “Third period, we started doing the right things and found a way to battle back.”
Ohio completed its regulation comeback with Rudin’s second goal of the night, a puck he blindly “whacked at” while on his back with one minute remaining and Heltion on his way to the bench for an extra attacker.
The Bobcats had multiple chances to score in the five-minute overtime frame, including an errant shot by Rudin in front of the Lions’ net as he was falling back.
Then in the shootout, though Ohio scored on two of its three chances, Heltion failed to save any of Lindenwood’s three shots.
Hogan, who put Heltion in the game for junior Aaron Alkema after Lindenwood’s fourth goal, said putting the 6-foot-4 Alkema back in for the shootout is a thought that goes “through your head,” but not something he truly considered.
Alkema, the Bobcats’ rock in net with five wins and three shutouts in his first six starts, was the victim of his team’s inability to suppress Lindenwood’s (6-1) forecheck early on in the game.
“The defense got a little shocked at the beginning. They were sending guys pretty hard,” sophomore defenseman Jake Faiella said. “We haven’t had a team pressure (us) like that before.”
Heading into Saturday’s game, in which a regulation win would likely preserve Ohio’s No. 1 ranking, Hogan said the main adjustment starts in the defensive end with limiting Lindenwood’s scoring chances.
“We have to move the puck quicker in the d-zone,” Hogan said. “We’ve got to get back to the puck first and not slow down. … That’s all it is.”
@JordanHorrobin
jh950614@ohio.edu
