Athletically speaking, let’s face it: Ohio State is the big kid on the block when it comes to the Buckeye state (just look at the nickname). Besides mascots, there aren’t too many chances to see an Ohio team go in as the favorite against Big Brother 75 miles to the northwest.
But when it comes to the American Collegiate Hockey Association, that mindset takes a 180-degree turn. Ohio, with its three national championships and Division 1 powerhouse status, is Ohio’s top dog.
“If you break it down to ACHA hockey terms, it’s reversed,” coach Dan Morris said. “In the ACHA, we’re sort of Ohio State football. They’re geared up to play us because we’re the big team in the state.”
Even though the Bobcats go into this weekend’s two games as the rare favorites between the two schools, by no means will the Buckeyes be pushovers.
That was the case when Morris first took hold of the coaching reins 11 years ago, and he hasn’t scheduled Ohio State for most of his tenure behind the Ohio bench.
“Going back 10 to 12 years ago, the games were not competitive, like 18-1 football scores,” he said. “I wanted to give our fans competitive hockey; 18-1 games are not fun for anybody.”
But throughout the last decade, ACHA’s Division 2 rosters have bridged the talent gap with the top-tier Division 1 squads, Morris said.
As the Buckeyes started to make inroads in the Ohio hockey scene, starting a new yearly rivalry was a no-brainer, which Morris did three seasons ago.
“As the ACHA has kind of grown, now there’s a lot of good hockey players that attend Ohio State University,” Morris said. “They play against good competition all year, and 10 years ago, that didn’t exist. They’ve got some players on their team that we’d like to have on our team.”
The Bobcats beat the Buckeyes in two November games at Bird Arena last year by comfortable 7-3 and 8-2 score lines.
But Morris pointed out that neither game was a shellacking, with Ohio only pulling away later in each one. Any notion of a mental letdown this week hadn’t crossed his mind.
“The games start 0-0, you’re tied,” he said. “You can’t go into a fight and jab the other guy with a 10 percent effort. You’ve got to go in giving the full jab, the full right hook, everything in the arsenal.”
This weekend also marks the first time in more than a month that Ohio will play two consecutive games at home. The team spent almost all of October in hostile road environments.
The chance to return to a normal routine — and play in front of a big crowd against a big school — is another reason the team will be raring to go.
“You don’t have different time zones or different times you have to get up and get out of the hotel,” forward Jeremy Browning said of playing in Athens. “You know what to expect. You have your routine and, of course, you have the home crowd.”
cd211209@ohiou.edu
