Ohio's snipers outdueled Iowa State's machine gun-style offense this weekend as the Bobcats swept the Cyclones and claimed a league title.
Friday's 1-0 victory cemented the team's position atop the Central States Collegiate Hockey League. Ohio (29-6-2, 14-1-1 CSCHL) will have the top seed in the league tournament in Ames, Iowa, in two weeks. The win also gave the Bobcats an automatic berth in the American Collegiate Hockey Association national tournament in March.
Paul Marshall stopped all 37 shots he faced Friday to pick up his 15th career shutout. Marshall's performance absolved Ohio of its defensive errors, as Ryan Tessmer scored the game's only goal in the third period.
For the first couple periods
we were giving up prime scoring chances assistant coach Chris Carlson said. Marsh put the team on his back tonight and that gives our guys a lot of confidence. It was all him tonight.
The Bobcats had puck possession problems in the first two periods of the game but settled in after Tessmer's goal early in the final frame.
We got to work once we got that one goal lead
Carlson said. Guys were doing the simple things.
Coach Dan Morris was not present for Friday's game. Carlson and assistant coach JJ Plutt were the only two men in suits on the bench.
He had to attend to some family business
Plutt said.
(My role) doesn't really change that much
Carlson said. The guys know how to play.
Saturday, Ohio stretched its win streak to three games behind Marshall's netminding and goals from the team's top scorers as it topped the Cyclones 4-2.
Michael Schultz opened the scoring in the first period, and Zach Barbis extended the lead in the second. After the Cyclones' Brian Spring cut the lead in half, Tyler Pilmore scored to restore the two-goal lead. Iowa State's Mike Lebler scored in the third period, but Pilmore tallied his second goal of the night to seal the victory.
Marshall faced 45 shots on the night, but the Ohio defense cleared lanes for him to see the puck.
We know they're going to shoot from everywhere. What you've got to do is let Paul see it
Morris said. They get shots and they're looking for rebounds
and Paul just wasn't giving up the rebounds.
Ohio capitalized on transition offense, scoring three of its four goals before it set up the offense.
We knew there was an opportunity to be opportunistic on transition
so we did practice that a lot this week
Morris said.
