No. 2 Cool Cats notch first win over Hoosiers since 1993

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By Aaron Smith

With the scoreboard frozen after the final buzzer sounded, UK hockey players stood in the center of the ice, waving goodbye as their opponents trickled off the ice in defeat. It seemed UK was sending off not only a vanquished foe but also ghosts of its own past.

UK (15-2 in Division II play) defeated Division I opponent Indiana (4-12) 5-2 for the first time since 1993.

“We had never beat Indiana since I’ve been around here, but I guess we had to wait until they went to DI to do it,” UK head coach Rob Docherty said. “This win showed we have tons of character, tons of heart, and we earn everything. I’m so proud of them, they worked their butts off to get this win and to get the success we’ve had this season.”

The victory could hardly have come at a better time. ACHA rankings, released on Thursday, put UK at No. 2 in the Southeast division. Beating Indiana, a team that plays a division above UK, would bolster  its chances of grabbing a top spot.  Junior goalie Jim Borgaard called the game a “must-win.”

If UK felt like it was a must-win, Indiana felt like it was a must-answer. No matter what the Cool Cats did in the early going, Indiana countered.

Indiana twice tied the game in the first two periods after UK took the lead before senior Alex Robinson scored a power play goal to close the second period.

“To see the crowd erupt after that goal, and we stormed into the locker room, and the whole countdown with the crowd going ‘3, 2, 1,’ and then I put the puck in, it was all unreal,” Robinson said.

Even with the last-second theatrics, UK found itself in the same situation as it did on Friday: up by 1 heading into the final period. That night, UK failed to ice the victory as IU stormed back with four unanswered goals. Saturday proved a different ending.

Docherty said the Cats failed to crash the net enough in Friday’s 7-5 loss.  UK turned things around in the second part of the home-and-away series with the Hoosiers, scoring two goals off rebounds, including one by Glass in the third period that gave the Cats a 4-2 lead.

“We pounced on rebounds, flew to the goal,” Docherty said.  “Crashing the net was the big difference in getting the result we wanted.”

For all the hype that surrounds the high-octane offense, it was the defense that keyed the victory against the Hoosiers behind Borgaard’s play.

“We really shut them down after the first period,” freshman Dylan Rohar said.  “IU was keeping lots of traffic in front of Jim, but we were clearing the puck out and Jim was so solid in goal tonight.  He had a couple saves on IU breakaways that turned the game for us.”