After the final buzzer sounded, Jake Houston swung at several Calvin players as the Knights celebrated their 4-3 victory Friday night over the Bobcats. Ohio had blown a two-goal lead in the third period, and Houston was among the many whose frustrations got the better of them.
The Bobcats were weighed down by their emotions Friday. Ohio (13-5-3) had ended the second period with a 3-1 lead but had given up three unanswered goals by the end of the third. To make matters worse, 32 of Ohio’s 38 penalty minutes came in the third period.
Penalties have always been a thorn in Ohio’s side. After Friday, the Bobcats have 402 total penalty minutes this season. That’s an average of 19 minutes in the box per game. The Bobcats waste nearly a full period per game on penalties.
That finally caught up with them in the first game against Calvin.
The cost of the penalties showed even before the Knights tied the score. When the Bobcats had a 5-on-3 advantage to put another goal between them and the Knights, Ryan Higgins was charged with slashing, and the Knights killed the penalty.
Ohio has a history this season of letting their emotions get the better of them. Frustrations on the ice turn into penalties, and penalties factor into losses. Tonight was a shining example.
Frustrations began once injuries started to pile up. Andrew Wells, who came out during the third period in street clothes and a sling, was the hardest hit. He had taken a hard slide into the boards in the first period. The severity of his injury isn’t known yet.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who are banged up tonight,” coach Cole Bell said. “We’re going to reevaluate (Wells) tomorrow.”
Among the other injured players was J.T. Schimizzi, who was hit hard to the ice after cutting through the slot midway through the second period. Schimizzi did, however, return to the bench later in the game.
Bell couldn’t find many positives to take away from Friday. To him, the Bobcats expected to walk away with an easy victory but couldn’t respond when crunch time came. The few positives were overshadowed by Ohio’s loss of control in the third period.
It was uncharacteristic of how Ohio played as the clock ran down. Even after they pulled Jimmy Thomas in the final minute for an extra player, the Bobcats couldn’t find a crack to slip through. Aggressiveness is one of Ohio’s strong suits, but it couldn’t muster a response to Calvin’s late-game surge beyond penalizing themselves.
“We showed up to this game thinking we were going to throw our sticks out there and win,” Bell said. “I don’t have a nice way of putting what happened tonight.”
