Ohio’s season ended in the TSCHL playoffs after two games. Ohio picked up a 4-0 victory against Louisville on Friday night in round one. In the second round, Ohio fell 4-3, losing in overtime against Michigan on Saturday night.
Ohio dominated Louisville the entire night as Ohio’s defense didn’t allow a single goal to be scored by Louisville. The first quarter was more defensively focused, as neither team was able to muster a goal. In the second period, however, Ohio forward, Nick Ventura scored a goal to put Ohio up by one against Louisville. Louisville wasn’t able to answer during the second period and it ended with Ohio up by one goal.
To close out the game, Ohio put on a show, scoring three of its four goals in the final period alone. The first and second goals of the period came from defenseman Ethan Tamborski while the third and final goal of the period came from center Jack Mueller, and was assisted by winger Ryley Scanlon. The strong ending allowed Ohio to walk out of the game unscathed and head into Saturday’s game having just shut out Louisville.
Saturday night, Ohio lined up across Michigan. Despite no scoring happening from either of the teams in the first period of play, the second period contained a lot more action. The second period saw a combined four goals scored, three from Ohio and one from Michigan.
The first goal was scored by Ohio winger Peyton Botich and was assisted by defenseman Mike Campbell. Ohio also got the second score of the period, this goal coming from forward Salvatore Poggiali and being assisted by Tamborski. Michigan broke up Ohio’s scoring streak with a score from defenseman Tej Kothari and was assisted by forward Ryan Williams. Ohio was able to get on the scoreboard one more time at the end of the period with a goal from Tamborski to take a 3-1 lead against Michigan with the momentum having been swayed toward them heavily.
Michigan was the only one of the two teams to score in the third period, putting two pucks in the net to send the game to overtime. With goals from forwards Asher Connolly and Patrick Burke, Michigan was able to rally back and take the game to overtime just having been outscored by two goals in the second period. Overtime was over quickly, though, as only 1 minute and 39 seconds into the overtime period, Michigan scored a goal courtesy of Connolly completing a two-goal comeback heading into the third period.
Despite a disappointing loss to Michigan in its last game, Ohio played very well this season. In its division, the Tri-State Collegiate Hockey League, it finished with the third-best record behind Indiana and Miami. Ohio had a record of 19-8, with two of its losses being shootout losses and another loss being an overtime loss. Ohio had a winning percentage of 74.1%.
Ohio was first in its division in the prevention of goals scored against it, as only 61 goals were managed to be scored against its defense this season. Ohio’s goals-allowed number is slightly deflated because the team played fewer games than some of its counterparts, but the fact the team gave up 18 less than the next closest Kentucky, which allowed 79 goals this season, proves the team’s proficiency on the defensive end.
Ohio had started this season with a 4-1 record in its first five games, the only loss being against Bowling Green. The Bobcats had two losses following the opening stretch but were able to bounce back with a four-game win streak in early November propelling them to an 8-3 record. Ohio continued to trade losses and wins with teams until the weekend series of games against Xavier in January, in which the team started its six-game win streak to close out the season. The Bobcats closed the season out with wins against the likes of Kentucky and Dayton.
Ohio had a very strong start and end to the season but was a bit shaky during December and the games in early January, which will be something the team aims to improve next season. Ohio has a lot to look forward to next season with a quick offense and stout defense. Even with the loss to Michigan, Ohio looks to build off of this successful season to continue to contend in the coming years.
