Huge Deficit Sets Tone For Final Series

ATHENS – Senior weekend has hit the bricks. The Ohio University Bobcats took on the Kent State University Golden Flashes for their last two games until the playoffs.

To start off, this season came full circle in their first matchup. If one can recall, even though it was not the first game, Ohio beat the University of Toledo Rockets 10-1. Well, the end of the season is upon the Bobcats, and Ohio took it again 10-1 against the Golden Flashes.

But before the game even started, there was a 15-minute delay due to a light fixture that came loose after a Kent State player hit it with the puck during warm-ups.

That delay slowed the first part of the first period down immensely. Despite the amount of goals, it took some time to get the ball rolling.

“Both teams were affected by it and did a good job playing through it,” head coach Cole Bell said.

And so it did after Gianni Evangelisti snagged the first goal of the weekend. J.T Schmizzi, Kyle Craddick and Craddick again all increased the lead in the first period alone.

The beauty of the score was not only the amount of goals but four Bobcats were in competition for a hattrick. Those players were Schmizzi, Craddick, Evangelisti and Jake Houston.

“I think that whole game we never coached to the other team,” Bell said. “We were focused on what we were doing and talked about it on the bench.”

Not only were the goals high, they were spread out all around the roster. Jake Houston, Zach Frank, and Sam Turner were among the seven Bobcats that scored in this game.

“It was awesome, we saw some great stuff, we worked a lot this week on scoring goals and it’s good to see some of that work paying off and I think having that many guys get on the boards speaks to the talent on this team,” Bell said.

To top off the scoring sheet, Tommy Pokorney got a goal to send Kent State out of Bird Arena.

The offensive production and intensity on the forecheck were key to pushing the game forward and securing another win going into the playoffs. A win of this stature is something that Ohio can take with them going forward into the playoffs, despite it not being labeled as a must-win game.

“I think we played a pretty good game tonight, although the score was what it was, we played the way we want to play, a little bit of the game we did sink down to their level and gave them a goal, but really I think we played well,” Schmizzi said.

With that label on the game going into it, Ohio did not let that define the game as they dictated the pace the majority of the sixty minutes, only allowing one goal from Zach Zwierecki of the Golden Flashes.

Now with Ohio getting the rest of the kinks worked out this weekend, the confidence and ability to produce on all cylinders is important for another win and another strong push through the playoffs.

 “I just want to keep on contributing,” Schmizzi said.