Ohio defeats Alabama in the first of a weekend series, despite the ejection of Derek Rahme.
The Bobcats spent plenty of time killing penalties Friday.
Oddly enough, that’s when they were at their best.
Powered by two shorthanded goals in the first period, Ohio beat Alabama 6-2 at Bird Arena in the first of a two-game series.
Ohio (14-2-1) was tasked with killing nine minutes of penalties in the first period, including tripping and slashing minors called on Drew Crandall.
“The (slashing penalty) was obviously on me,” Crandall said. “Those are usually the ones that come back to bite you, but the boys were killing all night so it didn’t end up being a problem.”
Ohio did more than just kill all six of Alabama’s powerplays. The Bobcats kept the pressure on by forechecking in the Frozen Tide’s zone to create offensive chances.
“We want to stay up. We want to take away time and space,” Ohio coach Sean Hogan said. “The more aggressive we are, the harder we are to play against.”
Following Crandall’s tripping penalty, Joe Breslin pinched at the offensive blue line and dished a bouncing puck to Matt Rudin, who finished the play with a spin-o-rama goal.
Near the end of the period, Derek Rahme received a five-minute major penalty for hitting from behind and was ejected.
Rahme said he was “overzealous” in the first half of the period leading up to the play and acknowledge that it “wasn’t a clean hit by any stretch of the imagination.”
But, down a man again and leading by just a goal, Ohio remained offensive. Grant Hazel stepped up to score on a one-timer from Patrick Spellacy seven seconds shy of the buzzer.
With Ohio spending so much time shorthanded, all Bobcat forwards were required to log minutes as penalty killers. From the scorers down to the grinders, each of them got the job done.
“We’ve got 12 forwards, and we run one through 12 (on the penalty kill),” Rahme said. “Any guy is going to kill a penalty.”
After the game, Hogan found out the referees had disqualified Rahme for Saturday’s game as well. As a senior, an assistant captain and one of Ohio’s best penalty killers, he could affect Saturday's outcome.
Rahme, who plays aggressive but is not considered a dirty player, said he is disappointed in himself and accepts the punishment.
“I was texting my dad, I was like, ‘I don’t think I’ve been kicked out of a game since maybe pee-wee,’ ” Rahme said. “It’s not the way I want to play. I want to be known for just being gritty and working hard but not trying to hurt anybody.”
Despite three shorthanded goals, Hogan was generally displeased with his team’s lack of aggression. He was also in disbelief that Rahme is forced to sit out Saturday’s game, but chose to see the glimmer of positivity in that ruling.
“It gives another guy a chance to be good,” Hogan said.
@JordanHorrobin
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