Despite forcing overtime in its second contest of the season, Ohio walked away with a split against Iowa State in a pair of contests at Bird Arena.
During alumni weekend, No. 6 Ohio (22-7-1) split a two-game series with No. 7 Iowa State (26-8-2), winning the first game, 5-2, and dropping the second in overtime, 2-1.
“I think we played well on Friday, but not very well on Saturday,” coach Jonathon Sheridan said. “We’re going to have to figure out how to (win) two games back-to-back if we are going to be successful down the road.”
On Saturday, another factor seemed to be an inconsistent game called by the officiating. Although it appeared at times that the Bobcats were flustered, Sheridan said it is just something that his team would have to deal with.
“I think there were some calls that could have went either way for both teams,” he said. “The refs called (the game) the way they did and we have to be able to play through that.”
The Bobcats dropped game two, but it seemed as if they turned in a performance that typically would have been sufficient enough to win.
Iowa State goaltender Matt Cooper faced an onslaught of shots all throughout the game, including 19 in the third period alone. Overall, he stopped 40 of 41 Bobcat shots for a .976 save percentage on the night.
“Cooper is a great goalie,” said Sheridan. “He represented the USA at the WUG (World University Games), so that speaks for itself… But we need to do a better job of not making Cooper look so good.”
Equally as impressive as the Bobcats’ shot assault, which totaled 73 over two games, was their defense, which held the Cyclones to a mere seven shots through two periods of play. However, a series of offensive zone turnovers and missed opportunities, namely on the power play (on which Ohio went 0-7), were what ultimately doomed the home team in game two.
Over the weekend, forward Patrick Spellacy continued his stellar work, as he scored his 16th goal of the season during game two and notched a two-point performance in the series. However, he also took three penalties in game two alone and a total of four for the weekend.
Michael Harris also scored two goals in the series, and Matt Hartman registered two points.
The most impressive Bobcat performance of the series, however, was arguably that of Ohio net minder Aaron Alkema. He turned aside 38 of 42 total Cyclone shots (.905 percent).
“I thought Alkema played well,” Sheridan said. “I’m sure he would like to have the first goal (in game two) back, but he kept us in the game.”
Amidst all of the present hockey action, the Iowa State series also marked alumni weekend. Among the alum weekend activities and celebrations included the 2014 Ohio Hockey Hall of Fame inductions.
The inductees included former Bobcat defenseman Brandon Alviano (1995-99), forward Derek Partlo (1993-97) and goaltender Mike Lee (1991-96), all of whom led Ohio to much success during the 1990s. Alviano, Partlo and Lee were all teammates during back-to-back-to-back ACHA championship runs in 1995, ’96 and ‘97, which marks the team’s greatest run of success in program history.
The last time Ohio won the ACHA title was back in the 2003-04 season, when the Bobcats beat Penn State for the national crown.
