Ohio will be in unfamiliar territory on the first road trip of the season this weekend.
The Bobcats (2-0-0) will travel to Annapolis, Maryland, and play Navy (0-4-0) at McMullen Hockey Arena. It will be the first meeting between the two teams in Annapolis, Maryland, in history, according to coach Sean Hogan.
"I've always wanted (to play them)," Hogan said. "We're excited to go. If we play our game and we use our speed and play fast, then we should be able to have some success."
Ohio started off its season triumphantly with two wins against John Carroll last weekend and will look to continue its strong start against the Midshipmen, who fell to Syracuse twice last weekend.
Olympic-sized ice surface
The location won't be the only element unfamiliar to Ohio this weekend.
The Bobcats will make a brief transition to playing on an Olympic-ice surface at McMullen Hockey Arena, which is larger than what the Bobcats have at Bird Arena and other road locations.
Both Olympic and NHL-sized ice sheets have the same length — 200 feet — but vary in width.
Olympic-sized sheets are wider than NHL-sized sheets by 15 feet (100 feet vs. 85) and offer larger neutral zones and shallower offensive zones. An Olympic-sized neutral zone is 58 feet and shortens the offensive zones to 58 feet, while an NHL-sized neutral zone is 50 feet and expands the offensive zones to 64 feet.
The change will be even bigger for the Bobcats. Bird Arena is even smaller than an NHL rink, with a length of 190 feet but the same width as an NHL-sized surface.
Ohio looks forward to the challenge of a larger surface and will look to take advantage of it.
"I'm excited," sophomore Gianni Evangelisti said. "There's a lot more time and space out there. You won't get hit as much because it takes longer for (the defense) to come cover you, so you can wheel and deal out there and generate a lot of speed."
While the extra ice will have its share of benefits, it will still be an adjustment that will be crucial to the team's tempo.
"We'll have to get used to it early," Hogan said. "We're going to have to get wide and low and make sure that we use that to our advantage. We're a fast team, but it's going to be difficult because we play on a smaller surface. It takes a little bit (of time) to adjust."
Continuing chemistry
Even though Ohio bested John Carroll with a combined 15-3 score last weekend, not everything was perfect.
"I think we want to improve upon our (defense) and some of our turnovers," Hogan said following last Saturday's 9-3 victory. "I didn't think we were much better in the face-off circle ... and I didn't think our (penalty kill) was great."
Evangelisti believes that the best way to address the team's issues will be through acclimating to the Bobcats's newcomers and new lines, which are still an uncertainty before each game.
"We just want to keep building chemistry as a team," Evangelisti said.
Ohio's newcomers have shown signs of good chemistry with their new team so far. All six new Bobcat skaters contributed at least one point and freshman Mason Koster earned his first win last weekend.
A similar performance from the Bobcats's new faces this weekend will only help toward glueing the team closer together.
Ohio begins its first of two games against Navy on Friday. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
