By Craig Degel
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Ohio took the Icecats to math class this weekend, where Arizona learned the equation "size plus speed equals superiority."
Defending national champion and top-ranked Ohio (15-0) skated into the Tucson Convention Center and skated out with two convincing wins, 7-2 and 8-2, over the fifth-ranked Icecats (7-3).
"I think the score wasn't necessarily indicative of the game," Bobcats coach Craig McCarthy said. "We just capitalized on our chances."
The Icecats, however, did not.
In the second period Saturday, the Icecats had a man advantage or more for over 13 minutes and scored just one goal: a shot from defenseman Jon Muntz. The Bobcats, shorthanded for most of the period, got four.
Dating back to the round-robin portion of last year's national tournament in Tucson, Ohio has outscored Arizona 22-5. But aside from the scores this weekend, everything else was fairly even.
Arizona managed 24 shots and Ohio had 29. But missed opportunities and a failure to play good, fundamental hockey cost the Icecats a chance at a victory.
For example: Two minutes and 20 seconds into the first period Saturday, Bobcat winger Dan Morris scored a goal off an assist from Brian Fork Ÿ that's Icecat Brian Fork. The freshman defenseman passed the puck out from behind his own net right into the waiting stick of Morris, who was about 10 feet from goalie Joel Hilshey.
Ninety-four seconds later, Peter Scott was found guilty of the same gaffe Ÿ only this time, Ohio's Greg Cherne was the recipient, and the Icecats were down 2-0.
"This was a learning weekend," Icecat coach Leo Golembiewski said. "Are you going to apologize for losing to the number one team in the country? I am not going to."
The Icecats added a goal from Kevin Oztekin, and Bill Roen notched his second goal of the night during the third period for the 8-2 final.
The Bobcats used a quick 5-1 start Friday night to defeat the Icecats 7-2. The weekend's attendance was 10,240.
The Icecats must now face the fact that they still have three more top 10 teams on the schedule: Eastern Michigan, Michigan-Dearborn and Iowa State.
In fact, Eastern Michigan lost to Ohio by a goal and Dearborn shut out Eastern Michigan.
"(The Icecats) are young," McCarthy said. "If they tighten up defensively they'll have to be reckoned with.