Wildcat hockey lost 4-3 at top ranked Ohio on Friday night.

The No. 17-ranked Arizona (4-3-0) kept it close, but the Bobcats (9-0-0) proved to be too talented.

“We’re getting better for sure,” head coach Sean Hogan said. “We’re working harder, we didn’t work really hard at the beginning of the year even though we have a lot of talent, but we’re working harder, so that’s good.”

The Wildcats, after already traveling three hours into the eastern time zone, lost sleep because their bus broke down in Thursday night.

“That wasn’t ideal, but you can’t blame that,” junior forward Andrew Murmes said. “We fought hard and we’ll be ready to go tomorrow and it will be a good game.”

The Wildcats opened the scoring when freshman forward Tyler Baumanis scored a goal, assisted by sophomore forward Jason Effertz and freshman defenseman Kyle Ambrosie. The Bobcats answered quickly and led 2-1 during the first intermission.

The one goal loss is a lot different than their 11-3 and 4-1 losses at No. 2 ASU a few weeks ago. Murmes said that was due to the Wildcats adding a lot of new players and only having five practices before hand.

“We’re improving every day and people will realize that we’re the real deal,” Murmes said.
Arizona tied the game on a power play goal from senior forward Brian Slugocki, assisted by freshman defenseman Bryan Drazner and junior defenseman Mike Basist. Ohio would answer again and lead during the second intermission 3-2.

The Bobcats stretched their lead to 4-2 early in the third, but Murmes scored a power play goal to make it 4-3.

“We hung with them and we’re going to get them tomorrow,” Murmes said.

Junior goalie Steve Sisler made 30 saves.
“Sisler played really well,” Hogan said. “One bad goal, but other than that he played great.”

The UA penalty kill was notable, as the Wildcats held the high-powered Ohio power play to 0-4, while Arizona was 2-4 on power plays.

“We’re making progress,” Hogan said.

This weekend is Arizona fourth on the road in a row to start the season, for a total of eight games.

“Road games are tough,” Murmes said. “But other teams have to do it as well.”