The numbers are straightforward enough: seven teams, six games, five states, four former national title winners, three days, two nights and only one champion.
That makes for simple math but a difficult puzzle, one Ohio will have to solve to win the Central States Collegiate Hockey League tournament this weekend when six league foes converge on Athens in hopes of dethroning the defending-champion Bobcats. It marks just the third time in its 41-year history that the tournament will take place in Athens, with the last occasion coming in 2007. The advantage of playing in friendly confines should be major for an Ohio team that sports a 12-2 record in Bird Arena this season, including a 6-0-0 mark against CSCHL teams, games in which Ohio outscored its opponents 28-7. That home cooking makes the second-seeded Bobcats the team to beat, an opposing coach said.
“I think there’s always a home-ice advantage, especially when playing in front of the fans you guys have at Ohio University,” Lindenwood coach Rick Zombo said. “It’s probably the best arena to play in. I think the advantage goes there to (Ohio) coach (Dan) Morris’ team.”
Though Ohio will be helped by the home-ice advantage, Zombo’s first-seeded Lions seemingly should go in as favorites based on results. Lindenwood rampaged through its regular season CSCHL schedule with a perfect 16-0-0 record, including 5-2 and 4-2 defeats of the Bobcats in January. Though Zombo ranked the Bobcats as the team to beat, Morris thinks differently, instead placing the favorites tag square on the shoulders of the Lions.
“I would definitely give the edge to the team that is ranked higher and we couldn’t beat,” Morris said. One thing the coaches — whose teams have won the last two championships — can agree on is just how hard it is to win the tournament, with Lindenwood beating Ohio 4-0 in the 2010 championship game before the Bobcats turned the tables and beat the Lions 4-0 last season.
This year, the CSCHL has five teams in the top 11 in the latest American Collegiate Hockey Association rankings, making it by far the best league in the country.
The top-to-bottom quality of the CSCHL makes winning its tournament nearly as tough as nationals, Morris said.
“It’s very difficult to win. It’s a feather in your hat if you can win this tournament,” he said. “All the teams involved care about this tournament a lot, so if you can be the last one standing, so to speak, on Sunday, that’s quite an achievement.”
The coaches also found common ground in what it would take to bring the William W. Easton Cup home Sunday. In a small rink such as Bird Arena, where the neutral zone is congested and shots on goal pile up, goaltending and limiting defensive mistakes will be critical, as will players’ ability to stay poised with the puck.
“Good goaltending’s the key. In a small rink like that you’re going to get a lot of leather thrown at you,” Zombo said. “You need poise, you need to be able to stickhandle in a phone booth. You have to have comfort in small areas, so that’s courage.
“You look forward to these type of games, and if you don’t have perspiration coming down your back when you’re putting the equipment on, you’re not ready for this game.”
Illinois and Iowa State will be the first in the sweatbox when they kick off the action Friday at 1 p.m. Indiana and Robert Morris will follow at 4 p.m. and then a 7:30 nightcap featuring Kent State and Ohio — the third time in eight days the in-state rivals will face off.
The Bobcats won last weekend’s games by scores of 9-1 and 3-1, and also beat the Golden Flashes twice back in December. But instead of looking past the Golden Flashes — and every other team not named Lindenwood — staying focused on winning every shift and every period is where Ohio will find success, forward Tyler Pilmore said.
“In these type of tournaments you try not to look ahead, you just look at what’s in front of you and what you have to do to move on. It’s more of a day-to-day type thing,” Pilmore said.
“I think it would be a great game if we do end up playing (Lindenwood), but like I said we’ve just got to take it on a game-by-game basis, and we’re just worried about getting by Kent State.”
After Friday’s first round, the teams will be reseeded. The lowest-remaining seed will face Lindenwood, which has a first-round bye, and the second- and third-highest remaining seeds will face off. The winners of those games will meet in Sunday’s championship game, scheduled for noon.
But beyond the action, the league tournament is also unique in giving Bobcat fans the opportunity to watch matchups they’ve never seen before. The chance to see every team in the league play back-to-back, against opposition that isn’t Ohio, is what makes the weekend special, Morris said.
“I think it’s just great to have this level of hockey come in, just for the hockey fan to be able to come in and see a good brand of hockey and different teams play,” he said. “They always see them play us, but to see them play each other, it’ll be a good day of hockey for sure.”
cd211209@ohiou.edu
