The scene is becoming familiar: an overtime period followed by disappointment from Ohio, then celebration from its opponent.
For the third time in four games, Ohio lost in overtime. On Friday, it was a 4-3 defeat to Lindenwood at Bird Arena.
While the Bobcats are disappointed, they know something can be taken away from it. In the first two cases, they got a tie in the American Collegiate Hockey Association rankings. This time, they get the tie and a point in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League standings. Even with that, the Lions take two points.
“I’m proud of our guys,” coach Sean Hogan said. “We worked extremely hard. We have another level we can get to tomorrow.”
With the familiarity of these overtime losses, there has to be something ready to give for Ohio. The three-on-three hockey that is played in overtime is suited for the Bobcats and their high flying skaters. But when they play a team like the Lions — the No. 1 team in the country — any mistake can be capitalized on.
Friday night, that mistake was a turnover in the defensive zone, which turned into a goal. Cleaning up things like that would turn the Bobcats’ overtime fortunes around.
“When you make mistakes, make it up on the backhand,” Hogan said.
One of the mistakes being made occurs during turnovers, when Bobcat skaters have scrambled. That’s when they lose on opposing skater in front of the net. And with the small amount of skaters on the ice, that’s a recipe to give up a goal.
It can be easy to lose those open skaters that are away from the play. The puck takes the eyes away, and the skater finds his way center ice to receive the pass.
“It’s hard to really explain it,” Ohio captain Cody Black said. “It’s just got to come from the mindset to keep your head on a swivel. Look for guys, make sure everyone is covered.”
It all comes back to fixing things when there is a mistake. Hogan harps constantly about fixing the mental mistakes. He knows his team needs to win puck battles and get to loose pucks to have success.
When things like this happen, he’s quick to point them out.
“We turned it over and we didn’t get back hard,” Hogan said when asked about the overtime period.
Even with the mistakes that have turned to goals that turn to losses, Ohio knows its play in overtime isn’t far from a reversal of the scene the Bobcats have had to endure so much recently.
“We’re possessing the puck, it’s always on our stick,” Black said. “We just make one bad pass, or they just happen to jump the puck at the right time.”
Maybe the next time Ohio finds itself in a situation like that, they won’t make the bad pass, or its opponent will try and intercept the puck in the wrong time. Maybe they’ll get the bounce they need to find the back of the net in the extra period. Maybe next time, they’ll be the team celebrating.
“I’ll take my team in OT 100 percent of the time,” Black said.
