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Chelsea, Michigan- The Eastern Michigan Eagles and the Ohio Bobcats skated to a 3-3 tie tonight at the Chelsea Ice Coliseum in Chelsea, Michigan. The Eagles however earned the second point in the game by winning the shootout by the score of 3-2 on the winning shootout goal being scored by Mike Opyd.

The Eagles struck first with an unassisted goal by Jeff Jepson. Against Ohio, you need to take advantage of as many opportunities as you can get. In this single case, Ohio did not cover Jepson and he was easily able to fake out the Ohio goaltender, to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead 11:04 into the period. With 3:05 left in the period following an EMU Penalty, the Bobcats tied the score up on a hard slapshot from Travis Preble which snuck by EMU's goalie Jake Pruss. However, Pruss in the period made several huge saves which kept the score at 1-1 and really helped weather the storm for the Eagles throughout the period.

The second period scoring started off in a very similar manner, as the Eagles came out and scored the second goal but in actuality it wasn't really, an Eagle who scored it. On a really awkward play, with a mad scramble in front of Ohio Goaltender Derek DeFelice, Charlie Jones shoots the puck towards the net and the puck was deflected into the Ohio net accidentally by Preble who scored the first goal of the game. It was an awkward play that happened really quick that I believe that Preble was just trying to deflect the puck away from the front of the net, but fortunately for the Eagles is pounded home for a 2-1 lead 3:34 into the period. Ohio responds though 3 minutes later on a wonderful play. Ohio makes two great passes to get the puck into position in front of the net, while executing a quick line change getting Clay LaBrosse onto the ice streaming from the bench. They end up passing the puck to LaBrosse who shoots it on net, and on the rebound watches Jordan Levy pound the puck behind Pruss to tie the score up at 2.

The third period scoring showed a change in the pattern that the game seemed to be following. Ohio scored 4 minutes in, to make the score 3-2. Ohio then proceeded to play extremely conservative for a large portion of the period really preventing the Eagles from being able to execute any real offensive attack. The time continued to tick down until there was only 2:30 left in the period and the Eagles found the goal they needed. On a wonderful individual effort from Carl Voelker deking out two Ohio players, and from a couple of wonderful passes from Jones and Opyd, Voelker was able to pound the puck past the Ohio Goaltender and tied the game up at 3.

The overtime period really was the Eagles best period overall of the game as they spent a large majority of the time in the Ohio zone having a few very good chances. Ohio also had a few good chances, that were stopped by Pruss which set up the shootout to determine who would earn the additional point.

Both EMU and Ohio in the shootout missed their first two shots. Ohio then missed their third which turned out to be the difference. The Eagles then proceeded to make all three of their following shots in the shootout, while Ohio made both of their remaining as well. Jake Pruss came up huge for the Eagles in getting the first three stops, and the Eagles were able to salvage a 3-2 split in the points of this vital series.

Let us begin with the good about the Eagles. The Eagles have continued to show an emphasis on defending their net really well. When Ohio got the puck into the EMU zone the Eagles really did a great job preventing a large amount of good open lanes and great shots. The Eagles defense has really looked like it has improved over the past couple of years, as it really seems to be an important aspect to this team. We cannot also deny the great effort from goaltender Jake Pruss who made some incredible saves on a couple of breakaways and on a couple of power plays. Without Pruss the Eagles probably would of lost this game this evening.

However, the Eagles offensively did not move the puck around as crisply as I have seem them in the past. A large amount of their passes were not very accurate and you would see the puck bounce over Eagles sticks the entire evening. Also the Eagles for a large period of the game carried the puck into the offensive zone for way too long against Ohio. Ohio for periods of the game seemed to be playing a trap on defense which caused for them to gain control of the Neutral Zone. The Eagles by not passing enough, and not passing well allowed for Ohio to really prevent the Eagles from attacking at all.

The Eagles powerplay tonight as well, did not really get any opportunity to be executed tonight. Give a lot of credit to Ohio for this. Whenever the Eagles received a power play opportunity, it almost seemed as if half of the power play was in their own zone and that the Eagles would get approximately 20-30 seconds to try to come up with a couple of good shots. Again, I feel this was almost a result from the lack of good puck control and solid passes. Eastern seemed to almost become too dependent upon getting the puck out as individuals instead of working the puck around a little, and setting up an attack back the other way.

However, bottom line is this as well. As is per usual with the EMU-Ohio series, I again was impressed with the effort that both teams showed tonight. Both teams played hard tonight and really played even for a large majority of the game. One shocking thing was the number of misconduct penalties throughout the game as it became chippy at periods. The Eagles also had a large number of tripping penalties called against them today, which was a product of Ohio's strength and speed.

As I've said repeatedly about Ohio, I respect the way they play hockey as I find their style to be one that will keep them in every single hockey game. This year though, they seemed to add a more physical, strong presence to their game. They were big, strong and really dominated large periods of this game at a time with their very patient style. This is a very good hockey team which is to be expected from the defending ACHA Champions. As is again per usual, I expect Ohio to continue to have a great season. Give a lot of credit to Dan Morris for what he has done for this team over the years, he really has himself a good hockey team.

The Eagles looked decent tonight, and decent tonight earned them a tie with the defending ACHA Champions, and a split in the series in Chelsea.

Looking Ahead:

The Eagles after seeing their unbeaten streak end yesterday in a 6-1 loss to Ohio, did manage a split against the Bobcats. The Eagles are now looking forward to a meeting with the University of Washington & Jefferson back at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube. The following weekend is the traditional games at Michigan-Dearborn for the East-West Classic, with the Eagles facing West Chester, Rhode Island and Kutztown(A DIII school in Missouri.) 
Until Next Time, 

GO GREEN!

-Kevin  

B-
Unlike the first game I went to, the passing was not nearly as crisp, the team seemed more individually based on offense and didn't move the puck around enough to give themselves as many good chances as they probably could of had. Again though, credit Ohio for a large majority of this as Ohio does a wonderful job swarming the net.

A-
A very solid defensive effort from the Eagles in my opinion, a couple of lapses yes, but the goals against were not goals that Ohio got for free. I'm very impressed with the improvements made in our defense.

C
Neither our penalty kill or power play were impressive tonight. Our power play spent way too much time being dominated in the neutral zone and spent 1:00-1:30 of the 2:00 minutes in their own zone. We gave up a goal penalty killing off the bat, and did a decent job penalty killing but there is definite room for improvement here.

A
Pruss saved the Eagles repeatedly in this game. He did an outstanding job, and without him EMU would of lost tonight.

B
Overall, it was a solid effort. If you can come out with a tie and a shootout win against a team as great as the Ohio Bobcats are, you have done something right. Overall though, the Eagles could of played a lot better but then again Ohio played really, really well tonight as well. A very good crowd tonight as well from the Chelsea Ice Coliseum helped will the Eagles to a win.

B-
Unlike the first game I went to, the passing was not nearly as crisp, the team seemed more individually based on offense and didn't move the puck around enough to give themselves as many good chances as they probably could of had. Again though, credit Ohio for a large majority of this as Ohio does a wonderful job swarming the net.

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