While the state of Indiana is focused on Indiana University’s top-ranked basketball squad, the school’s hockey program is doing its best to earn some of the spotlight.
The Hoosiers (7-4) travel to Athens this weekend to play a two-game set with the Bobcats on Friday and Saturday night. Indiana, which started off the season with three straight losses, has rebounded to win three of its past four games, including a decisive 15-1 win against Youngstown State and a split with No. 11 Iowa State at home.
Coach Dan Morris said the games this weekend are an important conference matchup as the team returns home after splitting two road series against Liberty and Illinois.
“It’s a conference game and those are always tough,” Morris said. “Any team that can score 15 goals you have to respect. They also scored four goals on Iowa State. That’s a lot of goals.”
But Morris isn’t preparing the team any differently this week, as he said the team is in somewhat of a groove at this point of the season.
“We’re getting to the point where we see the modifications we have to make in our game and make adjustments,” he said. “We spent some time doing that this week and changing things up a bit. I think the guys responded pretty well.”
There is some fine-tuning for the Bobcats as they adjust from the large ice surface at Illinois to a much smaller rink in Bird.
“Coming back from a big ice surface, one a lot bigger than our rink, we’ve been doing a lot of passing and skating drills,” junior defenseman Jonathan Gulch said. “We’re playing with small-ice surface skill. We’ll play a skilled game, a quick game and try to get around them.”
And the Bobcats return to Bird lined up with Dad’s Weekend, which gives the team a fun crowd to play in front of, Gulch said.
“It’s always an advantage playing at home, especially during Dads Weekend,” he said. “My freshman year we were home for Dads Weekend and we had a sold-out crowd before the game even started. It gives you that extra boost of energy to come out and win one for the fans.”
Sophomore forward Tom Whetsel, who scored two goals in a 3-1 win against Illinois this past Saturday after overcoming a strained MCL, was pleased to return to a line with junior forward Brett Agnew and freshman center James Howard.
“We have good chemistry,” Whetsel said. “We always know where each other are going to be it seems like. It helps a lot when you’re comfortable with your line mates.”
ch203310@ohiou.edu
Up Next:
Indiana
Bird Arena
7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday
— Indiana is coming off a split with No. 11 Iowa State.
— The Bobcats split their only series with the Hoosiers the past season.
— Ohio is undefeated at Bird Arena this season.
