Ohio coach Dan Morris spent his Thursday morning reading about how a Notre Dame football player might have made up a fake girlfriend.
But when he arrived at Bird Arena, he knew he had to put in last-minute preparations for a weekend series against a very real Robert Morris squad.
The Eagles enter the tilt on a seven-game winning streak where they’ve averaged just under seven goals per game. Morris knows that his team will have to play its A-game in the series against second-ranked Robert Morris if they want to protect their home ice and gain ground in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League.
“They’re firing on all aspects,” Morris said. “What do we do? We work on things throughout the week and make sure we get to those moments where we execute. …It’s just a question of how quick we can adjust throughout the course of a game and the advantage we have is that we’re playing at home.”
Though the Bobcats have split their past three series at home, Ohio is happy to be back at Bird Arena after losing three of four games on the most recent road trip.
“Any game in Bird is big for us,” junior Brett Agnew said. “We take pride at winning in our arena. It doesn’t matter who comes in, we’re going to make sure we give our best effort in front of our home fans.”
To stop the Eagles, the Bobcats will have to lock down Robert Morris’ dynamic pair of forwards. Juniors Christopher Cimoch and Gehrett Sargis lead the team with 39 and 37 points, respectively, and have been a big thorn in the side of opposing squads in the American Collegiate Hockey Association.
That’s why Morris has catered part of his game plan to limiting the opposition’s dynamic duo.
“The thing that we have to do is key in on their best players,” he said. “We understand their abilities. They’re a really skilled team and they play well together and are well coached. It’s a challenge.”
Ohio will also look to maintain momentum from what Agnew described as a “huge” 8-5 victory last Saturday against Iowa State, where the Bobcats erased a 4-0 deficit and scored six goals on five power play chances.
And while Morris will continue to drill in important lessons during practice, he doesn’t want to fix something that isn’t broken.
“You have to be hands off,” Morris said. “If they’re scoring goals (and) understanding what (coaches) want … why change it if you’re successful? … If they see the success by sharing the puck and seeing what teams give them instead of seeing in their mind what pre-set play it’s going to be, then we’re successful.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
