When Jake Holzemer took the ice Friday night against Kent State, most watching from the Bird Arena stands probably didn’t realize the work it took for him to get there.
The defenseman hadn’t played since Oct. 1, when he injured his right leg taking a hit from behind during the closings seconds of a game against West Virginia.
After having surgery in January, Holzemer — a senior who is due to graduate this June — appeared to have played his last game as a Bobcat.
“You never want to sit there and watch when you’ve been a part of the team for the years that I’ve been,” Holzemer said. “It definitely made it tougher, but at the same time it motivated me to work harder in rehab.”
Holzemer kept rehabbing the knee with team trainer Jarod Keene, hoping to make it back in time for the year-end playoffs. Eventually he was able to skate, if only gingerly.
“It was a time period that was given, and it was going to be tough to get back in time for the end of the season,” Holzemer said. “But our training staff continued to work with me, and we got to the point where I felt like I could skate.”
Last week, less than 24 hours before the Central States Collegiate Hockey League tournament, Ohio coach Dan Morris asked Holzemer if he was ready for game action. It was the question he’d been waiting for.
Keene gave Holzemer the go-ahead. And Holzemer’s return was evident during the first period Friday night, when he a dished a beautiful back-door pass to his roommate, Josh Fodor, for Ohio’s third goal.
“It was one of those things where I felt like I could skate, and I felt like I could play,” Holzemer said. “And it was playoffs, so why not?”
One Bobcat who was particularly happy to have Holzemer back was fellow blue-liner J.C. Gulch, who teamed up with Holzemer to form one of Ohio’s best defensive pairings last season.
Gulch had a similar injury to Holzemer’s earlier in the season and missed the Bobcats’ first 18 games. Friday was the first time the pair had played together in almost a year, but the understanding between the two came back immediately.
“With him coming back, it brings back a lot of chemistry to the defense as a whole,” Gulch said.
“It’s pretty nice knowing that wherever I threw the puck, he was going to be there. He was going to back me up, and I was going to back him up.”
Holzemer’s return allowed coach Dan Morris a full compliment of his top seven defensemen for the first time all season. Heading into next weekend’s national tournament, where the team will have to win four games in five days to be crowned champions, that extra depth could be huge.
“It’s very important. Four games in five days would be really tough,” Gulch said of Holzemer’s return. “With six or even only five ‘D,’ sometimes it’s almost impossible, so getting that seventh ‘D’ back makes a great deal of difference.”
Agnew Impresses
Another bright spot for the Bobcats last weekend was the play of forward Brett Agnew, who tallied two of Ohio’s four goals against Lindenwood and assisted on the other two.
The goals bring Agnew’s ledger to a solid 20 on the season as the sophomore has successfully dodged a second-year slump and is on track to finish behind only senior Michael Schultz in goals scored for the second-consecutive season.
“It’s good to see him with that much compete in his game,” Morris said of Agnew’s performance against Lindenwood. “He was a star on the ice (Sunday) and was probably one of the better players on the ice.”
cd211209@ohiou.edu
