Correction appended.
Ohio skated against a familiar opponent Friday: itself. The Bobcats had their Green and White Scrimmage, and the Green team won 3-1.
The game was supposed to be split into two 25-minute halves, but the ice conditions at Bird Arena caused the coaches to cut the second half down to 15 minutes.
Here are five of takeaways from Friday’s scrimmage:
Staying healthy
Last season, the Bobcats were plagued by injuries. They walked away from Friday’s game, however, relatively healthy.
With the exception of Gianni Evangelisti, who did not play because of an ongoing upper body injury, all the Bobcats got ice time.
The ice conditions were not ideal for the health of the Bobcats. With the exceptions of a few bumps, bruises and twists, the Bobcats escaped any major injury.
“I think everyone’s OK,” coach Sean Hogan said.
Goalie play
Ohio’s starter, Jimmy Thomas, was the Green Team's sole goalie. The two backups, Mason Koster and Jackson Chilberg, split time for the White team.
Thomas allowed one goal on 11 shots. The goal came off the stick of Scott Bagby. Koster gave up a goal to Ryan Higgins in the first half, while Chilberg allowed two goals in the second half.
Thomas played a lot of minutes last year, when he lead the nation in minutes. To relieve him this year, Hogan hopes to get Koster and Chilberg some time. They impressed with their efforts tonight.
“Jimmy was great, I was happy to see that,” Hogan said. “The other two stood their ground, Mason made some big saves. There’s going to be some opportunities this year.”
Freshman scoring
Higgins’ goal opened the scoring in the game. It was his first time skating in a game at Bird Arena. Two other freshman got the puck in the net for the first unofficial time as Bobcats.
Drew Magyar scored the third and final goal for Green, while defenseman Scott Bagby was the lone scorer for White.
Magyar’s was the slickest. It came on a breakaway, and he deked right, went left, and slotted the puck away past Koster. Bagby’s might have been more impressive though, scoring on Thomas, one of the nation’s best goalies.
“It was great,” Hogan said of the freshmen’s goals. “Having fun, scoring goals.”
Ice Conditions
It’s been an issue for years, when it’s warm out, the Bird ice isn’t at its top quality. The effects were seen early Friday, with a visible slickness on the ice before the Bobcats even skated for warm ups.
Those warm ups were filled with water spitting off the pucks as the Bobcats sent them flying toward the goal
The Zamboni driver did his best, but the ice conditions led to the second half being shortened, and Hogan shouting, “The ice is melting,” as he emerged from the Bird locker rooms.
No Baby Hogan, yet
There was a chance that Hogan would not coach the Green team Friday night, as he and his wife, Meagan, are expecting the birth of their first child.
However, Hogan was coaching, still awaiting his new child. He will delegate most of the week’s preparation for the season opener next Friday against John Carroll to assistant coach Mike Gugin.
Hogan will return to the team on Thursday.
Correction: A previous version of this report incorrectly identified Koster and Chilberg. The article has been updated to report the most accurate information.
