With the Central States Collegiate Hockey League regular season title on the line, goaltender Ryan Baksh only wanted to be between the pipes for the Bobcats.
Baksh was granted his wish and delivered, recording a shutout as Ohio defeated Illinois, 3-0, to complete a sweep of the No. 1 team in the American Collegiate Hockey League. The Bobcats also clinched their fourth consecutive regular season CSCHL title with the victory.
Our senior class has won the league championship all three years
and I wanted to go out with four regular season titles under my belt Baksh said.
Typically, the Bobcats start Baksh and Chris Carlson one game each weekend, but after Baksh turned in an impressive performance in Ohio's 3-2 victory on Friday, coach Dan Morris wanted to give his senior goalie another start.
We decided that since it was Baksh's senior year and since he was undefeated in league play we would give him a start on Saturday if he won on Friday
Morris said. The pressure was on him last night
and tonight there was no pressure
so there was a difference in his play.
Ohio's victory on Friday was decided in the opening five minutes of the game as the Bobcats jumped on the sluggish Illini to score two goals. Right wing Brandon Hanley notched the first goal, and center Jim Fuhs scored 43 seconds later for Ohio.
Getting a 2-0 lead was the hockey game
Morris said. When you get your chances you have to bury them
and when we had our chances we executed. That was something we hadn't done lately.
Following the early lead, the Bobcats never trailed and were forced to kill a number of key penalties in the closing minutes of the game.
We have been working on penalty kills a lot lately
and it has become one of our strengths
left wing Dave Fitzgerald said. They had a lot of five-on-threes
but we stuck together and executed.
On Saturday, Ohio jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, and two second-period goals then iced the victory for the Bobcats. Following a Dave Moyer slap-shot goal at the end of the second period, Illini tempers flared, resulting in three player ejections to close out the period.
Left wing Jeff Jepson sat out of this weekend's series because of questions surrounding his eligibility. Jepson is in his first season with the Bobcats after transferring from Eastern Michigan.
It is unclear if Ohio will have to forfeit the games that Jepson played in earlier this season. The team is expected to make an announcement today regarding the league's decision.
If we have to forfeit games then they will take our league title away from us
