The second period of Sunday's 6-2 victory over No. 11 Oakland in the ACHA Quarterfinals hurt the Ohio in more ways than one. The Bobcats were out-worked by the Grizzlies, surrendering two goals -- nearly a third -- and may have lost their captain for the remainder of the tournament in the process.
With about 6 minutes remaining in the period defenseman Mark Tracy was victimized by a big, clean, open-ice hit near his own corner. The momentum launched him on his back, sliding head-first into the Fred Rust Arena end boards. The senior lie on the ice motionless for a few minutes while he was attended to by trainers.
He eventually was helped off the ice by to the locker room by a pair of his teammates and did not return for the rest of the game. Coach Dan Morris said that he was awaiting the official news on Tracy's status, but didn't sound optimistic.
"It just looked like a good hit. He was away from the boards and then his head hit the boards too, so it was a bad combination," he said. "It was pretty bad. He was out for a little bit. It doesn't look good but I haven't heard the official word yet."
Tracy and defensive partner Ben Gilles have emerged as the Bobcats' shutdown pairing in recent months, but the impact of losing Tracy may be even more substantial off the ice. The veteran of over 150 games in an Ohio sweater is one the vocal leaders and heart and soul of the team.
Freshman Duncan Green saw his minutes increase substantially in Tracy's absences. The 6-foot-4 Athens native performed admirably -- playing a simple game and using his hulking frame and reach to cut off passing lanes -- and will be relied upon heavily if Tracy misses time.
"He played a lot today -- we played almost half the game without Tracy -- and Duncan played well," Morris said.
Loose Pucks
-- While Green played strong in spot duty, it was another freshman that stole the show. Left wing Brett Agnew, who had been unable to find the back of the net in the past five games, scored a hat trick to bust the slump in a big way. The Bobcats' second leading goal-scorer potted first two of the morning and the tallied the game's final with 14:09 remaining in the third.
"He hadn't scored in a few games, and guys were ribbing him pretty good after he scored," Morris said. "It was good to see. Good spirit about it too."
Agnew first two came in a within 4 minutes of each other on bang-bang plays low in the slot. John Luciana fed him from behind the net to capture his first. His second came on the power play, off a beautiful tic-tac-toe play from Schultz and Pilmore, and he was lethal with the one-timer.
His final goal was a terrific individual effort, bodying his way around a Grizzly defender and muscling it past goaltender Alex Pikunas.
"He had three really nice goals. He really capitalized on his chances," Pilmore said."At this time of the year, if you can capitalize and have strong goaltending you're going to go a long ways. It was nice to see our offense is really clicking right now and our goaltending is clicking."
-- Speaking of goaltending, Bobcat netminder Blake MacNicol made 16 saves in the winning effort. Ohio did an excellent job blocking shots but MacNicol was economical with his rebounds and made a number of timely stops.
"Blake made the saves he had to," Morris said. "He made some that maybe that he had no business making."
MacNicol's finest save of the morning came with just 5 seconds remaining in the opening period. MacNicol made the initial stop but the puck floated to the goal line. With the Grizzlies closing in, he committed grand larceny reaching back with his paddle and scooping the puck off the line and safely under his glove.
"Both days he's played great. He made a couple really great saves today," Morris said. "He didn't get a lot of work, but the work that he did get was good, quality work."
-- The Bobcats should know but 9:30 p.m. tonight who they will face in the semifinals on Tuesday evening. Reseeding occurs in the semis, with the second and third highest ranking teams remaining matching up in the first game while the first and fourth highest face-off in the second.
-- The guess here is that the 'Cats will find themselves taking on No. 2 Davenport. The Panthers led No. 7 Rhode Island 9-1 in the third period at the time of writing. Expect Lindenwood to cruise against Oklahoma, ensuring the top three seeds would advance.
-- You can watch all of the Bobcats' tournament games streaming online for free on FastHockey.com. You've got to sign up, but well worth the 5 minutes for a pretty good feed, all things considered.
Twitter: @bart_logan, @ThePostSports
