Sports
Ohio Hockey: Bobcats defeat No. 4 Lindenwood 2-1 in OT
By: Anthony Allocco
Posted on:
The Ohio Bobcats hockey team’s 13th win of the season came quite differently than the majority of the first 12, a 2-1 overtime victory over the No. 4 Lindenwood Lions.
The Bobcats (13-2-1) entered Friday night’s matchup, coming off of two victories last weekend with a combined score of 16-1.
Facing the fourth ranked Lions (8-5-2), the Bobcats showed signs of surprise early on in the game where neither team managed to get much going.
“At first our habits weren’t great,” head coach Seth Hogan said. “You could tell we got away with some stuff last weekend and it transferred over a little bit.”
The ‘Cats didn’t settle in until Tom Whetsel took a pass from Derek Rahme, split the defense and scored on a backhand to beat Lions goalie Cody Karpinski.
Daniel Rosse answered for Lindenwood a few minutes later after a mad scramble in front of Ohio goalie Aaron Alkema. Alkema had 12 saves on the night in over 63 minutes between the pipes.
After both teams picked up the physical side of their respective game plans, the penalty minutes started adding up. Ohio had four penalties to Lindenwood’s five.
“I think we are an ultra physical team. That’s what we want to do,” Hogan said. “If teams want to play with us man-for-man physically, we win that battle.”
Matt Wipper of Ohio was on the wrong end of a big hit into the corner of the boards by the visitors’ penalty box, to set the tone physically for both teams. Wipper would not miss out on any ice time.
Neither team managed to score in the second or third periods, but not due to lack of chances. The Bobcats had multiple chances in the last 15 seconds of the third period, but the Lions defense managed to scramble and keep the puck out of the net to force overtime.
Lindenwood won the faceoff in overtime, but that was about all they could manage to get. Ohio dominated the rest of the overtime period with puck possession and multiple scoring chances.
The ‘Cats were able to net one early on in OT during a net-front frenzy that would be waved off by the officiating crew. Less than a minute later Ohio put pressure on Karpinski yet again and this time the goal stood.
The game-winning goal, originally awarded to Nathan De La Torre, was eventually given to Matt Hartman in the official stat report.
Ohio and Lindenwood will face off again Saturday evening. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m. in Byrd Arena.