January 23, 2008 - Another set of weekend home games, another pair of 4 point CSCHL games, and another opponent from Ohio. Last weekend it was 9th ranked Kent State Golden Flashes, this weekend the Illini take on the #8 ranked Bobcats of Ohio University.
Ohio has been having a rather atypical type of season, normally finding themselves leading the pack in points as the CSCHL season winds down, and normally ranked in the top 4, this season the Bobcats have an overall record of 18-11-0 and in 3rd place in the league, holding onto a slim 6 point lead over 3 other teams. It's not that the Bobcats have been playing bad hockey, they have been putting up good numbers, averaging over 4.5 goals per game, while allowing only 2.5. The Ohio offense is being lead by a group of seniors and a couple of their alternate captains, with senior Jim Fuhs "A"leading with 36 points (15 goals, 21 assists). Three other players are tied with 27 points, including senior Dave Fitzgerald "A" (16 goals, 11 assists), sophomore Ryan Tessmer (13 goals, 14 assists), and senior Jeff Jepson (8 goals, 19 assists). While the forwards have been piling up the points, the defense has been shutting down their opponents, allowing an average of just over 23 shots on goal per game. Doing his best to stop those shots is junior goaltender Paul Marshall. Marshall has been spending the most time in net for the Bobcats, and with good reason, holding a Goals Against Average of 2.22, a save percentage around the 90% mark, and 4 shutouts to his credit this season. Sophomore Chris Carlson, while having spent only half as much time between the pipes as Marshall, still touts a respectable 2.82 GAA.
Look for a good hard fight between these rivals as they battle for those all important CSCHL points. Both games will start at 7:00pm this Friday and Saturday nights at the University of Illinois Ice Arena with live broadcast online thanks to 107.1 WPGU-FM.
Don't forget that this is also Alumni weekend for the Illini Hockey club, with the annual Alumni game Saturday afternoon and a special acknowledgement between periods during Saturday nights game. The Alumni game will take place at 4:30pm at the Ice Arena and is free to the public, so stop on out and see some of these old timers take to the ice once more in what always turns out to be a defensive battle.
