Bird Arena might as well be called The Puddle.
If Illinois' home ice is known as the Big Pond Bird Arena might as well be called The Puddle.
No. 3 Ohio (26-6-1, 11-1-0 CSCHL) will face the fourth-ranked Fighting Illini this weekend on the ACHA's largest sheet of ice. Playing in Champaign is always a huge change for the Bobcats, who play their home games on the league's smallest rink.
Illinois (has) the biggest adjustment to make coming here and we've got the biggest adjustment to make going there
coach Dan Morris said.
Once used as a speed-skating rink, the Big Pond is significantly longer than the Bird Arena ice. It is wider than Olympic regulations and places the fans above the ice surface, making for a loud and intense environment.
If you go into our bench (at The Pond)
it's like going into a dugout
Morris said.
The fans are right there
so you've got to go under where they hang over. You can hear every word somebody says above you.
The Bobcats have not won a regulation game in Champaign against Illinois since 1996, Morris said. They managed to sqeak out one shootout win there since the last victory. Similarly, Illinois has never won a regulation game in Bird Arena but has one shootout victory.
In order to break precedent, the Bobcats made some interesting changes in practice this week. Tuesday, they turned a net sideways and used the length of Bird Arena to simulate the width of The Pond.
Morris has also been experimenting with different line combinations, trying to get offensive balance while maintaining strong defense.
It's trying to figure out who's playing well with who
and lines do change throughout the year
he said. This is more along the lines of how we envisioned the team to look.
This weekend marks Ohio's last road trip of the regular season and the Bobcats' third straight trip to a top-four school.
It's a big battle of three and four this weekend
Morris said. We've got our work cut out for us.
