Unpredictable, tumultuous and exciting. These are just a few words to describe Ohio’s 2024-25 season which was nothing short of memorable.
The team did not back down in the face of many challenges, including not having home ice until January, having to practice nearly an hour away and perhaps most notably, adapting to playing under a new head coach.
Ohio coach Barry Schutte served as a guiding force through the many battles his team had to fight. Holistically, Schutte has a positive outlook on the season and is ready for whatever may come in the next season.
The first half of Ohio’s season left quite a bit to be desired in terms of being a smooth road to the postseason. From uncertainty about weekends and traveling for every single game, it was not an easy transition for the team or Coach Schutte, but the Bobcats rose above.
“I was most proud of our team’s composure and ultimately, their resilience,” Schutte said. “You know with the adversity we faced from a facilities standpoint … it could have given the guys lots of reasons to quit on the season, or quit on the team or quit on themselves or each other, and they didn’t.”
The issues at the start of the season presented mental and logistical challenges as Ohio attempted to preserve some normalcy. The ACHA has a 20-game minimum requirement to be eligible for the National Championship, and with the many series that had to be canceled, not even a magic 8-ball could provide an outlook on the rest of the season.
“We were just thinking about ‘How can we put some form of schedule together?’ in order to get us to 20 games to not deny these student-athletes, and particularly our seniors, the opportunity to compete for the title,” Schutte said.
Despite falling to Adrian in the National Quarterfinals, Ohio still ended with a winning record and is hopeful that some normalcy next season will give them a chance to show who they can be under Schutte.
Additionally, with an impressive crop of returning players, Schutte is ready to utilize the weapons he’s been given. The team isn’t losing any of their current forwards but is losing some of their key defensive players, so recruiting will persist as a large part of Ohio’s success.
“We will go as far as or seniors and our upperclassmen take us, but at the end of the day we need contributions from everybody,” Schutte said. “The next couple of months will be focused on recruiting and adding some key pieces to the lineup.”
Of course, the main goal for next season is obvious: win a national championship. For Ohio, the work is already starting up again.
“Hopefully we’re on the right side of this game, and that’s going to come from within,” Schutte said. “They’re going to get frustrated enough with the results … that they’re going to do something about it. That’s going to start in two weeks’ time with our 2025-2026 spring training, and how serious of an approach do they take to it? My goal will be to help set the standard and expectations that a championship team program wants to operate under.”
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