Noah Southard // Sooners score a goal on Alabama on Nov. 22

Alabama’s Will Zeek stood right in front of Phil Babb and roofed a shot that made the first intermission’s score 2-0 Tide.

#12 Oklahoma (13-3-0), (7-3-0 WCHL) got a timely seeing-eye-goal from Isaac Bosse 26 seconds into P2, but Will Zeek entered hat-trick watch by dunking the puck into an empty net after an unfortunate loss of it from goaltender Babb some 9 minutes later.

Bama’s Quinn Fahey headed to the box for slashing at the 11:01 mark of P2. The Sooners tried their best until they went with a generally safe bet – Isaac Bosse launched a one-timer 5-hole on Patrick Ostermann to make it 3-2. Scott Joy tied it up as he snuck into the slot unattended. Period 3 started 3-3.

Nick Messina made it 4-3 Tide at the 9:24 mark, but Scott Joy wasn’t done. He tied it up with his second of the game.

Not long after that, Charles Joly pulled up from 30. His transition slapshot beat Ostermann and Ray Wilson’s ENG secured the non-conference sweep; the Sooners went 4-0-0 against Midland and Alabama.

In Saturday’s match, Scott Joy recorded three points and Josh Pusar four.

Candace Riley // Josh Pusar battles for the puck on Nov. 23

The pair of sophomore forwards continue to live in the box score, and such a revelation is welcome as Oklahoma re-enters conference play.

On Friday, Alex Yuk scored his first goal of the season, and what a deserved tally it was. #28 has been the opposite of afraid to go to the net and you get the feel that it was coming. As the Sooners go, so do young scorers. Perhaps the dam is already breaking.

The Sooners never trailed on Friday and turned in two scoreless periods. It wasn’t technically over until Pusar’s ENG.

Overall, as my preview noted, the Tide still have some players such as Taylor Bowman, Nick Messina who were near or at point/game last season as the Tide narrowly missed out on Nationals. Despite the Tide’s now (1-14-1) record, those guys made their presence felt and, in all honesty, the Tide looked a lot better than their sub-.100 record.

As you read before, the Sooners – perhaps as a result of “only” winning the four-game non-conference homestand by a score of 18-10 – fell once again to #12 in the rankings. They started Midland game 1 ranked #10; however, as I wrote before, a top-10 conference opponent is up next anyway. I’ll have a full preview for UCO.

One final note: the Sooners do not regularly play a team that dons crimson on their sweaters; in fact, the #16 Cyclones may be the closest match in terms of jersey colors of teams in the top 25. It was cool to see the two teams skating back and forth with crimson and cream. 

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

Game photo of Pusar is credited to Candace Riley. You can follow her here.

Thanks for reading.