As the minutes dwindled, the Bobcats couldn’t find an answer. They became aggressive on the forecheck, they took fewer penalties and they pulled their goal – all to no avail.
As the final horn sounded, Friday night was perhaps Ohio’s sourest loss of the season, a 4-0 defeat to Illinois.
Prior to puck drop, No. 4 Ohio (11-3-3) had all of the momentum on its side leading up toward its Central States Collegiate Hockey League series against the No. 12 Illinois (10-6-3)
The Bobcats were coming off a league sweep against Robert Morris-Illinois, in which they showed positive signs on the power play and played to their fundamentals as a program: by doing the little things.
That’s all prior to, however, because once the puck was dropped, Ohio did none of those things.
“That was bad,” coach Sean Hogan said. “It looked like we left early for Christmas.”
Though there were skaters dressed in green and white, in moments throughout the game it appeared as if Illinois was the only team on the ice.
Hogan noted the similarities between the two programs leading up to the weekend series. How they harps on the little things such as winning the puck battles, setting the net-front screens and dumping the puck behind the defensemen. When Ohio needed to, it couldn’t do it.
“We just couldn’t get anything going,” Hogan said. “We had a ton of chances.”
Hogan’s not wrong. The Bobcats outshot the Fighting Illini 33-32, but in a game of inches and oddities, they were tipped in the Illini’s favor.
“The first goal was a one-in-a-hundred shot, their second goal was a one-in-a-hundred shot,” Hogan said. “We’re just going to have to respond (tomorrow).”
Illinois’ third goal of the night was probably more luck than anything, as an Illini skater took the puck off a deflection and sent it toward the goal. The puck pinged off the top bar and landed behind goalie Jimmy Thomas’ back.
That’s just how the game went for Ohio. Odd chances turned into goals by Illinois ultimately led to Ohio’s downfall. Though the Bobcats had a negative performance, forward Cody Black believes the problems can be fixed.
“Simplification,” he said. “We need to make simple plays, sometimes we try to do a little too much.”
Black, the team’s captain, was also critical of himself, as Ohio has struggled to get wins it’s accustomed to.
“I’ve got to figure out how to get the guys going,” he said. “I just have to lead the right way, whether it be more vocal or take a hit to make a play, just simple things.”
Along with simplicity, the bigger message that both coach and player shared: respond.
“I told the guys ‘life is all about how you respond’,” Hogan said. “We got beat. How are going to respond? That’s the question going into tomorrow.”
Ohio will look to answer that question Saturday night starting at 7:30 for its final game of the semester, also against Illinois.
