Sports
Ohio Trounces Indiana, 9-1
By: Nick Hart
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A balanced offensive attack from Ohio led the Bobcats to a 9-1 trouncing of the Indiana Hoosiers at Bird Arena on Saturday night. The victory improved Ohio’s season record to 11-4-1 and 4-2-0 in CSCHL play.
The Bobcats saw all nine of their goals earned by nine different players, a rare feat when so many goals are scored. Matt Hartman, Patrick Spellacy, Tom Whetsel, Paul Sergi, Logan Pfeffer, Garrett Williams, Tyler Benson, David Ramos and Derek Rahme all got their names on the score sheet for putting the puck behind Indiana’s netminder, Jordy Reizen.
Ohio head coach Jonathon Sheridan was very pleased after the game with the diversity in his team’s scoring.
“That was awesome,” Sheridan said with a smile. “It’s nice when you have that many guys scoring like that. You don’t have to rely heavily on one line to do it.”
Ohio could have even had a 10th goal, when Mike Kretz thought he had a power play goal in the second period, but the referee was quick to point out the net was dislodged and disallowed the goal.
Shortly after the goal was disallowed, Hartman was cross-checked from behind, and a melee broke out in front of the Hoosiers’ net. Every man bodied up, sticks and helmets went flying, and Ohio’s Scott Fasano and Indiana’s Nick Lucy even dropped the gloves and squared off to fight before a linesman stepped in to stop the two seemingly hesitant combatants before any punches were thrown.
Lucy received a game misconduct and was ejected from the game for instigating the fight, while Fasano earned only an unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty in addition to the respect from his coach.
“I’m glad nothing bad happened out of that. I was proud of [Fasano] for not fighting,” Sheridan said. “They were both ready to go, and he held back. We have more games to come, and there’s a time and place for that and that wasn’t it.”
If Kretz’s goal before the brawl was upheld, it would have made the Bobcats a perfect three-for-three with the man advantage at the time. Instead, Ohio finished the evening two-for-four on the power play and killed three of their own four penalties during the game.
The Hoosiers’ lone goal came on their fourth and final power play opportunity, when Andrew Newman fired a wrist shot over the blocker of Ohio goalie Ryan Heltion with 2:35 left in the second period.
Heltion made 17 saves in the win, improving his own record on the season to 5-3.
After the win, Ohio has little time to prepare for its next game, a matinee matchup against the West Virginia Mountaineers in Morgantown, W.Va., on Sunday. Game time is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the Morgantown Municipal Ice Rink.