Last season, Bird Arena was a fortress. Ohio recorded only four losses in 22 home games during the 2009-2010 campaign. Through six home games this season, the No. 6 Bobcats (6-3-1, 2-0 CSCHL) are one loss away from tying that mark.
On the road, however, the Bobcats have been a different story. Two weekends ago, Ohio traveled to State College where it split a series at Penn State for the first time since 2007. This past weekend the Bobcats manhandled Iowa State at its own rink in Ames.
Ohio head coach Dan Morris said the 'Cats need to replicate that road success on home ice this weekend when they face-off against No. 3 Arizona State.
We like to play in the open ice a little bit. (On the) bigger ice surface we seem to play a bit better
Morris said. We have to understand that Bird is a different place to play and we need to be tougher on the wall.
Morris emphasized the importance of playing physical, especially on the back end, against a sizeable Arizona State (7-0-2) lineup that likes to spread around the scoring. Twelve different Sun Devils recorded at least a point in their 8-2 throttling of University of Nevada-Las Vegas last Friday.
We've been working on toughness in our end Morris said. A lot of emphasis on one-on-one battles this week.
The Bobcats were buoyed last weekend by the return of sophomore left wing Nick Rostek. Morris pegged him on a line with John Luciana and Jeremy Browning and the trio combined for three goals on the weekend, easing the scoring burden off the top line's shoulders.
It's nice to see that you got secondary scoring and you can actually take the pressure off of (Michael) Schultz and (Tyler) Pilmore to do all the scoring Morris said. (But) I don't think I can ever be satisfied with the level of production.
Morris said he knows it's imperative to get goal support against a Sun Devils that has yet to lose in regulation this season. What better spot to buck that trend than on the home sheet in Athens?
We do play in Bird Arena. It's one of the smallest ice sheets that we play in
so we've got to hold the ground there too
Morris said. It's just preparing for your venue.
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Sports
Bart Logan
