Sports
Bobcats Advance to ACHA
By: Matt Summers
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Midway through the second period, the Bobcats were manhandling the Adrian College Bulldogs in the offensive zone, outshooting them 22-3 at the end of the first. Ohio had to kill off a penalty to get back to full strength, but Patrick Spellacy and Gianni Evangelisti didn’t want to wait until then.
Evangelisti ripped one and Spellacy tipped it in to set the Bobcat faithful on fire, putting the ‘Cats up 1-0. Ohio went on to win 4-2 and will play in the ACHA Finals.
The whole crowd thought Evangelisti scored the first goal, but it actually hit Spellacy in a place a player typically doesn’t aim for.
“It actually hit off my butt. I kicked it out to G (Evangelisti) and he shot it, hit my butt and went in,” said Spellacy. “Good things happen when you go to the net.”
The Bobcats would have gotten the party started earlier with a goal but it was called back from a high sticking call. However, that didn’t stop them from applying the pressure needed to eventually find the back of the net.
The Bulldogs answered shortly after during a huge cluster of players in front of the net and the puck happened to find the back of it, but Spellacy wasn’t having it.
Just 29 seconds into the third period, Spellacy used his stick this time to find put the Bobcats up 2-1. Liam Geither and Bryan Lubin put their names on the stat sheet before the night was over, giving Ohio a 4-1 lead.
Adrian pulled their goalie with about four minutes left in the third period and was able to score one goal, but it wasn’t enough as Ohio coach Sean Hogan’s crew are muscling their way back to the ACHA Finals for the first time since 2004.
It had been 13 years since the Bobcats had been in the finals and everyone is well aware of it.
“They know. We don’t want to dwell on how long it’s been. We just want to focus on the next 60 minutes,” said Coach Hogan. “The way that we are playing right now, we’re gonna be hard to beat. I think we’ve played really well.”
The Bobcats are roaring and have one more game to bring home the trophy back to Athens and Bird Arena.
The players have a lot of family in Columbus so they are spending it with them before they play at the Ice Haus in Columbus Tuesday at 7 p.m. against the winner of Minot State and Central Oklahoma.