Sports
Ohio Hockey Unable to Excel in Opportunities in Loss
By: Jacob Hack
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The atmosphere at Bird Ice Arena on Friday night was great, as ESPN3 was there to broadcast the Ohio vs Jamestown game for the first time in school history and only the second time in ACHA history. Both teams came out fast and ready to go in front of a packed Bird Arena, but Ohio couldn’t capitalize on any of its six power play opportunities, falling to the unranked Jamestown Jimmies, 3-2, in the first of two games this weekend.
Both teams came out with great energy to start the game, but an early Bobcat turnover led to a 1-0 Jamestown lead just two minutes and 50 seconds into the first. The Jimmies picked up the momentum after their goal and put the Bobcats back on their heels, but freshman goalie Jimmy Thomas was up to the task making a couple of big saves to keep the Jimmies lead at one. Sure enough about midway through the first the Bobcats found an answer. Senior forward Patrick Spellacy found the back of the net to tie the game at one and that score remained when the horn sounded for the end of the period.
However, the second period was a different story. The action got started within the first minute. An early Ohio penalty led to a power play goal for Jamestown and the Jimmies took a 2-1 lead. The story line for the second period remained the same penalty after penalty, as the teams combined for a total of five penalties in the period, except there was one difference, Jamestown capitalized and Ohio didn’t. The Bobcat power play struggled all night, they couldn’t seem to get the puck into the zone and if they did Jamestown would quickly gain possession and clear it out. Coming into the season Coach Hogan’s emphasis was on special teams and with OU not being able to score on one of the six power plays it only reassured that for him, “We got out of our system and we stopped skating. They outworked us, we just were not playing our game. It was frustrating, the whole game was frustrating.”
The Jimmies took a 2-1 lead into the third period already having survived their fifth penalty kill of the night. Jamestown took command of the game when Brett Harris tipped in a goal right in front of Jimmy Thomas to go up 3-1 with just over six minutes left, but the Bobcats wouldn’t go down without a fight. Just 32 seconds later Ohio made it a one goal game with a goal from Gianni Evangelisti. Ohio was pushing hard on its forecheck to get an equalizer, but freshman Jake Houston made a costly mistake with 2:27 left in the game and went to the box for a cross check, basically killing any momentum OU had built going into the final two minutes, allowing Jamestown to hold on to down the fourth ranked Bobcats 3-2.
Senior assistant captain Jake Faiella knows his team must respond tomorrow.
“As captain and leaders with the seniors and juniors we have to show up,” he said, “It’s a kick in the teeth we needed to come back down to earth after a while and learn from our mistakes.”
The Bobcats take on Jamestown again tomorrow at Bird Arena looking for a series tie with puck drop at 7:30.