After a 3-1 start to the season, Ohio DII Hockey sits at a 4-3 record on the season. With two shootout losses in its last two games, the first of which featured Ohio coming up short to Penn State last Saturday. The second of those came Thursday in its late-night matchup against Dayton, who entered the game 1-4.
The game started slowly, but the Bobcats maintained some semblance of control, finishing the first period up 1-0. Following up the solid first period with a quick hitter early in the second, both goals being scored by Nolan Herubin. The Bobcats seemed like they were on pace to run away with the game against a Flyers team that had proven to be marginally weaker throughout the season thus far.
The rest of the game told a different story, though. Dayton scored two goals in quick succession, one by Sebastian Althoff and one by Aidan Ward, managing to keep Ohio on the defensive for the rest of the second period.
Looking at a tied game entering the final period has started to become a trend for this Bobcats team. They’ve been prone to rallying off two or three goals in the first two periods, getting out to an early lead with full momentum. Out of nowhere, as it did on Thursday, that momentum is disrupted and then flipped entirely.
Dayton scored early in the final period, establishing its first lead of the game. The Bobcats wouldn’t score again until the last minute of the game when Nick Coward slipped the puck past the Flyers goalie to tie the game and eventually send it to overtime.
Through the five-minute overtime period, no goals were scored, sending Ohio to the team’s second shootout in its last two games. The winning goal in the shootout was scored by Owen Meichanbaum, getting the puck past the Bobcats goalie, Matthew Zazon.
Penalties were maintained relatively even for most of the night. Both teams managed to stay out of the box as Dayton logged seven penalties in comparison to Ohio’s five. However, bad timing on these infractions, caused by crucial pieces in the Bobcat attack ultimately caused the sudden shift in momentum that gave the Bobcats their second loss in their last three games.
