Screenshot taken from ‘BuffSports Live’ // the Sooners face off against Colorado on 10/24/19

“You’re gonna miss!”

Oh, Josh Pusar did not miss.

In fact, the biggest miss of the night came from the author of this article. I tweeted this when the 4-1 goal (scoreboard shown above) went in:

“Well #Sooner fans, this one’s basically over. I’ll be back to provide coverage tomorrow #ACHA”

From that point forward:

-Goal from Josh Pusar (11:25, 3rd period)

-Goal from Paolo De Sousa (12:56, 3rd period)

-Goal from Isaac Bosse (19:12, 3rd period)

-Shootout goals from Raymond Wilson & Josh Pusar

-5-4 (SO) victory for Oklahoma

The listed events took 28 minutes of real time – enough to make me eat crow and frankly keep the season alive in terms of the conference standings. Trevor Hawkes stood tall and denied three of four Colorado shootout attempts to turn in a very unlikely win.

But the Sooners wouldn’t tell you it was unlikely.

The next night, the Sooners found themselves tied with (currently ranked, previously UR) Colorado State in the third period. Colin Markoski threw an un-screened shot on the net and it found a way through. It was the game winning goal en route to a 5-2 W; Charlie Wilson added a goal to pile on the depth scoring, and Phil Babb recorded yet another victory.

About Saturday, though….

I’m going to try to be fair when discussing penalties, especially given the events that occurred in Manhattan, KS 8 days ago.

Here is the ACHA’s official record of all penalties accrued in Oct. 26’s match against Colorado State.

There are three main important events that occurred. Let’s talk.

19:06 Paolo De Sousa – Misconduct and Major penalty [Head contact]

Let’s look at the events leading up to this being recorded.

(#88) De Sousa pushed back at one Ram player after the puck was deemed dead due to a high stick. However, I’m looking for an infraction that was not only to the head but worthy of five minutes of PK time and a toss from the game. Unless they tossed him for “mouthing off,” this was absolutely the wrong call. (Even if this is the case, it is listed as ‘head contact.’) I would be hard pressed to say it even deserved a minor. He committed one shove post-whistle and let up. (You may be telling yourself that this clip is “convenient,” but PDS was escorted off just seconds after the video ends.)

19:17 – Josh Berge – Abuse of Official minor & misconduct

Upon further review, Sooners coach Berge was given an ejection for mouthing off. De Sousa had just exited the game and a total of eight minor penalties (both sides) plus the De Sousa infraction had already been called. I think both sides were getting a bit anxious as seemingly everything earned a penalty.

9:44 – Josh Pusar – Boarding major and misconduct

I’m not going to show the clip because it does look pretty bad in real time. This one did warrant the call. Pusar gets too much of his opponent and does board him.

Takeaways

It is rather noteworthy that the first period ended 0-0. Nearly all of it was spent outside of even strength. Pard and C. Wilson scored in period #2 and the 2nd intermission was 2-1 Oklahoma. The Rams tied it and Pard scored again to make it 3-2. Two Colorado State shots went in after that though and the game went final, 4-3 CSU.

After manufacturing a comeback in Boulder, earning a regulation win on Friday and almost escaping Fort Collins after everything went down, the Sooners showed some resilience. You only bring so many personnel to a road game, and OU was missing two forwards and their bench boss mid-3rd. I’m interested to see how things go when the Rams visit OKC on January 23.

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Moving on…

We are now in the computer rankings for the league, and there was movement, to say the least.

You’re seeing that right – Indiana Tech jumped from #15 to #3. Wins over Michigan-Dearborn and Davenport have them in good shape. The Cyclones lost 13 spots in the rankings though. They’ve won 7 out of 13 possible games after that run to the National Championship game.

Domestically though, Colorado State is now ranked. Sun Devils are now #10. And your Sooners are #19, a five-spot loss from the coaches’ poll. 

So what does this mean?

The Sooners’ next three games are at Arizona State (1x) and at Arizona (2x). The Sooners are 2-1-0 against the Devils and Wildcats this season, but all were games at the BIC. The Sooners went 2-1-0 in the state of Arizona from Jan. 17-19, 2019. They fell to Arizona in Tucson and defeated the Devils twice, but it wasn’t easy. This upcoming weekend is fully ranked, but also presents an opportunity for Oklahoma to try and impress the computers.

Oklahoma fell 1-0 to Arizona early on in the season, and I’d bet on more goals being had on Friday and Saturday.

PROJECTED STARTERS:

THURS. NOV 7 (@Arizona State)

Babb vs. Yasinski

FRI. NOV. 8 (@Arizona)

Babb vs. Ciurro

SAT. NOV. 9 (@Arizona)

Hawkes vs. Bivolcic

Cover screenshot is credited to the University of Colorado.

Video clip is from ColoradoSports.TV.

Thanks for reading.

Written by John Adkins, Broadcaster and Deputy Media Director