Saturday was another hard-fought effort by the Bobcats, which played through a game defined by physicality and missed calls.
However, they came up short in an overtime loss.
The Iowa State Cyclones finished off Ohio, 2-1, on an overtime breakaway goal by Mark Huber to secure a weekend series split between the two teams.
Ohio’s lone goal came off the stick of Patrick Spellacy, who scored his 16th of the season with 9:21 left in regulation to force overtime.
The Cyclones kicked off the scoring in the second period, when J.P. Kascsak notched a goal at exactly the 12-minute mark. Although Iowa State registered the first tally, it was not an easy road for the Cyclone offense nearly the entire night.
Because of superlative play by the Bobcat defense, the Cyclones were held to a mere seven shots on goal through the first two periods of the game, in comparison to Ohio’s 22 shots through two. It was not until the third period that the Cyclones began to find a bit of an offensive spark, as they registered 12 shots in the third period.
However, it was nothing in comparison to Ohio’s assault on Iowa goaltender Matt Cooper. Cooper had an outstanding night in goal, as the netminder stopped 40 of 41 total shots directed his way by the Bobcats.
In other words, it was a night of missed opportunities for Ohio. The Bobcats far outshot the Cyclones, 41-20, yet failed to capitalize on key opportunities, most notably posting an 0-7 mark on the power play.
