Noah Southard // The trio of Bickford, De Sousa and Pard celebrate the game-winning goal on Oct. 17, 2019

Cameron Bickford had a purpose.

He took the puck from his own blueline to behind Bailey Stephens to give #14 Oklahoma (5-1-0), (3-1-0 WCHL) the lead in the first period.

He launched an off-angle shot towards the net that Luc Whyte creatively deflected home for an early 3rd period PPG.

His parting gift to the Sooners in capping off the homestand was a sneaky backdoor pass to Paolo De Sousa – who promptly scored in overtime right after – to bring his teammates off the bench to celebrate.

It capped off a three-point night for #24 as he continues to prove his dynamic worth on the Sooners’ blueline.

Candace Riley // Cameron Bickford #24 skates on Oct. 17, 2019

Oklahoma fell behind 1-0 on a floater goal from MSU’s Chris Brown – but off a faceoff some five minutes later, Jeff O’Dea found himself all alone and staring down Bailey Stephens. A quick backhand eluded Stephens’ glove to tie it up. As mentioned above, Cam Bickford then made the score 2-1 heading into intermission.

https://twitter.com/OUTV_johnny/status/1186375035075940355

As has been life for the Sooners this season, the second period was eventful, but only Hunter Cooley of Missouri State was able to find the scoresheet – making it 2-2. However, Chad Lounder’s cross-checking minor at 19:27 of the second eventually became Bickford’s hail-mary to Luc Whyte. Bailey Stephens also shut down two Sooner breakaways.

https://twitter.com/OUTV_johnny/status/1186375338995134464

A bouncing puck at the blueline and an opportunistic Alex Rubin jumping out to a breakaway were able to tie it 3-3 at the 8:55 mark of the final frame.

Worth mentioning: the Sooners did well defending a Missouri State powerplay that possesses plenty of firepower, but the Ice Bears did miss the services of (scratched) Nikita Salnikov in the end as the man-advantage went cold – only on the 4-on-4 did Missouri State convert in non ES (even-strength) conditions.

And boy is 3-on-3 overtime entertaining and nerve-wracking.

Oklahoma iced Isaac Bosse, Cameron Bickford and Raymond Wilson to start, and after a stalemate from both sides that lasted nearly the entire extra frame, Zach Pard and Paolo De Sousa joined Bickford with 25 seconds left; here’s what happened next. 

https://twitter.com/OUTV_johnny/status/1186375717065502720

Bickford evaded a check that – if it turned into a breakaway the other way – would’ve been a near-death experience even with Phil Babb in the cage. Instead, he calmly launched another shot on Stephens, picked up the rebound and fed De Sousa a pass that only #88 knew was coming. Babb recorded 28 saves and got the W.

Oklahoma was without the services of Hunter Lane, Cam Brown, Scott Joy + Jared Mara – we were told the illness bug got around. However, OU delivered another classic against a rival that has played them extremely close for the better part of the last 9 times.

Our broadcasting platform ‘Black Dog Hockey’ provided a full highlight pack: click here.

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Colorado trip

The Rams and Buffaloes have both had a noteworthy start to the season, no matter how you frame it.

The Buffaloes started off the season with a nonconference slate that rivaled only UCO’s trip to Lindenwood (speaking in terms of WCHL teams) by playing UNLV twice in Vegas. (Keep in mind that the Rebels & Buffs will soon be conference foes.) UNLV took two victories in regulation, and there isn’t really any shame in that. Colorado then lost twice in regulation to Midland, and they may have wanted to avoid that as they were set to welcome the defending champs – Minot State – into Boulder (Beavers won both of those, too).

Colorado’s first and only win was Oct. 5 in Springfield @ Missouri State. I would go further but it would seem as if I’m twisting the knife. The Buffs are 1-10-0 but they’ve played a pretty good schedule (with nearly twice as many games-played as OU.) This is also to say that they have little to lose and a big opportunity to play spoiler when Oklahoma comes to town on Thursday. A regulation loss would not only deprive Oklahoma of conference points (more on that later) but stall their ascension up the rankings.

The Rams have had so much happen in just six games. Their season opener was a shootout loss to Midland. They followed that up 22 days later with a shutout of then-#19 Western Michigan – and here’s where it gets wacky. 1-0-1 & unranked Colorado State defeated the Stallions 10-2 on Oct. 12, and the WMU staff at one point got a white fabric (likely a towel) and waved it on top of a hockey stick as to signal surrender. (Don’t believe me? Click here.) While this didn’t earn CSU a spot in the top 25, it dropped WMU three spots. CSU has now scored 18 goals in 6 games with a 3-2-1 record. They shutout current WCHL #1 Arizona 1-0 on Oct. 18. So the Rams have proved their offensive and defensive abilities, and again: a pair of conference wins are up for grabs. That leads me to the final section…

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So how are the WCHL standings ACTUALLY being decided this season?

This was something that colleague Matt Bowling and I figured out by curiosity. We previously thought it was (conference wins/conference games) straight up. However, if you look at the most recent table…

Table is credited to the Western Collegiate Hockey League office

It is going to be the “ACTUAL LEAGUE POINTS EARNED” divided by “AMOUNT OF POSSIBLE LEAGUE POINTS EARNED” column. Of course, the Razorbacks’ departure – leaving the conference with seven teams – means that it’s now points %. In seasons past, it was highest points total all the way down. 

https://twitter.com/mattbowling12/status/1185217980654870529

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PROJECTED STARTERS:

THURSDAY, OCT 24 (@CU)

Babb vs. Payne

FRIDAY, OCT 25 (@CSU)

Babb vs. Morgan

SATURDAY, OCT 26 (@CSU)

Hawkes vs. McDonnell

Cover photo is credited to Noah Southard. You can follow him here.

Second photo of Bickford is credited to Candace Riley. You can follow her here.

WCHL standings are credited to the league office.

Thanks for reading.