According to coach Dan Morris, the No. 3 Ohio hockey team has three goals at the start of every season. This weekend in Bird Arena, the Bobcats look to take the first stride.
We enter every season knowing we're contenders for the league title
Morris said. Our three goals are always the regular season title the tournament title and the national title. We set our standards pretty high.
A sweep against the visiting No. 15 Kent State Golden Flashes would earn Ohio back-to-back Central States Collegiate Hockey League regular season titles and more momentum heading into the CSCHL Tournament.
Every weekend from now on is going to be our biggest weekend Morris said. We have to treat every weekend like a playoff weekend and approach it with a high level of intensity.
Both games between the Golden Flashes and the Bobcats -played at Kent State in late October -were tied at the end of regulation. Kent State took the first game in a shootout while a short-benched Ohio squad won the second.
They gained a lot of confidence the last couple games they played against us
Morris said. They were struggling early
and we gave them some momentum. They have a young team but a lot of talent and an enthusiastic coach. They're going to be a team to reckon with.
Ohio (17-7-5 overall, 13-3-2 CSCHL) will have a slight advantage to be home in Bird Arena, where the Bobcats are 13-2-1, for the second round of games.
The league has been really competitive this year
Morris said. Last year
we only had the one loss
but now teams like Robert Morris
Michigan-Dearborn
Eastern Michigan -they bring out a lot of talent.
The Bobcats are coming off a non-conference trouncing of Delaware last weekend at home during which Ohio outscored the Blue Hens 15-1.
Kent State (12-13-3, 9-8-1 CSCHL) has been playing a consistent game as of late, earning passage into the national tournament, and Morris knows that the Golden Flashes would
love to play spoilers to Ohio's season goals.
They're going to try and push us around a little bit
Morris said. They're a big
