Coach Sean Hogan walked out of the Bobcats’ locker room with a huge smile.
As he talked to the media in the depths of the OhioHealth Ice Haus, he was happy. He was calm and collected.
Fresh off a 4-2 victory over No. 2 Adrian College, he's all-too familiar with the scenario: his Bobcats are now just one win from the ultimate prize, a national championship.
This stage is nothing new to Hogan. He’s been to the pinnacle of the ACHA. He’s already three-time national champion as a head coach. He’s coached in four national championship games.
He will use that experience Tuesday night at 7 p.m. when the puck drops for the final time in the ACHA season and No. 3 Ohio plays No. 4 Central Oklahoma.
“The national final is so emotional,” Hogan said. “It’s about being even keel and that’s usually the hardest thing to do.”
That emotion might not be easy to control, but having ten seniors on the roster won’t hurt the Bobcats’ chances of playing with a level head. One of those seniors, Patrick Spellacy, isn’t letting emotions take over the way he plays. Through three games in the national tournament, Spellacy has four goals and two assists.
He’s just playing like it’s his last game. Actually, Tuesday is — as well as the other nine seniors' — final game sporting the green and white.
What a better way to go out than carrying a national championship trophy?
“I tell our guys before the game that if you win your shift, you’ll win the period; if you win the period, you’ll win the game,” Spellacy said.
While the group of seniors might help control the team’s emotion, the championship game is something new. Not one player on Ohio’s roster has ever played in a collegiate national championship game.
Some of them have played for travel-league titles and high school glory, but not one Bobcat that has put on an Ohio sweater since 2004 can claim he played in a collegiate national final.
Yes, 2004. The last time Ohio lifted a banner into the low-hanging rafters of Bird Arena, the 59-year-old Mecca of Ohio hockey.
Hogan has seen three banners go into rafters at other schools. But this title could be different. It could be Ohio’s.
And 13 years after the last banner-raising in Bird Arena, Hogan’s squad is on the cusp, just 60 minutes away from raising another one.
