Despite a pair of losses last weekend, Ohio moved up one spot in this week's American Collegiate Hockey Association rankings, and the Bobcats are eager to prove the jump was merited.
No. 2 Ohio (2-1-1) will try to bounce back this weekend as it hosts No. 9 Oakland (4-1-1) in a two-game series starting today. The Grizzlies and Bobcats split their series last season, with Oakland winning 3-2 Jan. 22 and Ohio getting the 3-1 victory the next day.
The Grizzlies' past weekend very much mirrored the Bobcats' after being swept by No. 15 Liberty. Oakland fell 5-3 Friday night and lost 5-4 in a shootout the following evening.
You've got two teams coming off weekend sweeps last weekend
and nobody wants to go down three-in-a-row or four-in-a-row Ohio head coach Dan Morris said. It's going to be a great battle. I think you're going to have real two hungry teams.
Morris' squad went through a gut check this week after a pair of league-opening losses to No. 7 Davenport. The Panthers exploited Ohio on the man-advantage, scoring four power-play goals in two games against an inexperienced and, at times, chaotic penalty kill.
We did some activities [during practice this week] where we exposed some guys' weaknesses Morris said. I think they were a little bit shocked at how quickly we exposed them and how quickly other teams could potentially expose them. We saw some good improvement.
The leadership core of captain Mark Tracy and assistant captains Billy Hemann, Brett Molnar and Michael Schultz are eager to make amends after, according to Morris, they failed the first big test of the season.
As a group
we've kind of come together and we've got to start
you know
just playing better
Schultz said. Especially on special teams.
Tracy said Ohio needs to come out and set the tempo early with tough, physical play against a sizable Oakland team. The captain acknowledged that the Bobcats need to stay out of the penalty box.
Last week we had a couple bad breaks
including my penalty. There's no excuse for that stuff
Tracy said. We're the best team five-on-five. No doubt about it. If we stay five-on-five
we'll win games.
