In a battle of two top carnivores in the Central States Collegiate Hockey League, it was the Lions who took a big bite out of the Bobcats.
Lindenwood swept away Ohio in a crucial conference series this weekend, as the Lions won 5-2 and 4-2. That marks the first time the Bobcats have allowed more than two goals since Dec. 3.
Ohio (21-9-1, 8-3-1 CSCHL) fell out of first in the CSCHL standings and likely will have to settle for second place in the regular season title race unless Lindenwood (21-4-0, 10-0-0 CSCHL) has multiple slipups in the next few weeks.
“(Winning the CSCHL) was the first of three goals we set, so it’s tough for the guys to take,” coach Dan Morris said. “You’ve got to use it as motivation to see how they respond and see if they want to get better.”
As has been the case many times on the road this season, Ohio let in a goal very early Friday when the Lions took the lead just 2:13 in when a Peppi Sipila shot made it past Brendan Madden’s glove. Four minutes later, the lead doubled as Sipila scored on a breakaway after running into Madden.
The Bobcats had two power-play opportunities later in the period but came up short. Their frustration compounded when Lindenwood’s Niklas Bunnstedt deflected a shot in with just 39 seconds remaining in the period on his team’s first power play of the night.
“I haven’t seen us come out like that in a long time,” Morris said. “We didn’t play very well at all. We’d make a small mistake and they’d capitalize on it.”
Teddy Dushkin replaced Madden in net to start the second, but Ohio still couldn’t get anything going on the offensive end. Lindenwood’s lead shot up to 4-0 when Bunnstedt scored another goal late in the second.
Ohio was able to claw back into the game in the third thanks to power-play goals from Josh Fodor and J.C. Gulch, but Bunnstedt replied for the Lions with a man-advantage tally of his own to finish off his hat trick and the Bobcats.
Lindenwood scored an early opener again Saturday, but Gulch was able to level the game at 1-1 after one period. Despite the Bobcats’ outplaying the Lions for long stretches of the game and outshooting their opponents 42-26 overall, Lindenwood was able to get two past Dushkin in the second to take a 3-1 lead.
“We out-chanced them probably three to one but we just could not put the puck in the back of the net,” Morris said.
Joe Bostic then put the game away early in the third on a breakaway, with Michael Schultz scoring a conciliation goal late to make it a 4-2 final.
Although it was a rough weekend, Morris remained confident of his squad’s chances if it meets Lindenwood again in the CSCHL playoff tournament in Athens Feb. 17 to 19.
“We played well. We just didn’t win the game and the whole point of playing the game is to win,” he said. “Hopefully we can use that as motivation to improve our game and work on the things we have to work on so that if we have the opportunity to play them again we can be in a better position to beat them.”
cd211209@ohiou.edu
