Sports
Iowa State Downs Ohio In Sudden Death Overtime
By: Nick Hart
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Ohio was marred by a stagnant power play as they fell 2-1 in overtime to Iowa State at Bird Arena on Saturday night.
The Bobcats went 0-for-7 on the man advantage in the game, and cut their final power play opportunity in overtime short by taking a penalty that eventually led to the Cyclones’ game-winning goal.
“Last night we were 3-for-7 on the power play and tonight we were 0-for-7. We won last night, we lost tonight,” said Ohio head coach Jonathan Sheridan. “I think that speaks for itself, you know?”
Cyclones captain Mark Huber was sprung on a breakaway during overtime while penalties had the two teams skating three-on-three, and flicked a quick shot through Ohio goalie Aaron Alkema’s five-hole to win the game.
Ohio didn’t score until midway through the third period, when Pat Spellacy snuck a bad-angle shot past Iowa State’s netminder, Matt Cooper, to tie the game 1-1.
Cooper made 41 saves in the three periods of regulation and 2:36 of sudden death overtime.
Not only did Cooper keep Ohio off the board for most of the game, he also was very active in the extracurricular activities that occurred after the whistle around his crease in an attempt to get in the heads of the Bobcats.
“That’s the way [Cooper] is,” Sheridan said of the Cyclones’ goalie. “I tell our guys, ‘Let [Cooper] do whatever he thinks he needs to do, and we’ll worry about what we do.’”
J.P. Kascsak scored the first goal of the game for the Cyclones halfway through the second period after a scoreless opening frame.
Kascsak’s opportunity came after an errant pass jumped over Ohio defenseman Tyler Benson’s stick at the blue line. Iowa State jumped on the puck, took it the length of the ice into the Bobcats’ defensive zone and scored on Alkema moments later.
Though the green and white couldn’t muster one goal on the man advantage during seven opportunities, they did successfully kill all four of the Cyclones’ power plays during the game, and yielded no shots on goal during the course of the first two kills.
With the loss, Ohio split their season series with Iowa State 2-2, and the two teams won’t meet again until the CSCHL Tournament in late February.
The Bobcats’ next game is against another CSCHL opponent, the Illinois Fighting Illini. The Illini will spend a two-game series in Bird Arena starting on Friday, Jan. 24, at 7:30 p.m.