June 17, 2020 | Matt Bowling    

 

Welcome to a new era of OU hockey.

 

              Not only will the Sooners be playing under a new head coach and a new general manager, they’ll also be playing in a completely restructured conference.

 

This year, the WCHL added Grand Canyon, UNLV, and Utah, giving the conference a total of 10 teams. These teams will be divided into East and West divisions. The Sooners will be in the East Division, as will UCO, Colorado, Colorado State, and Missouri State. The three newcomers, Arizona, and Arizona State will comprise the West Division.

 

Each WCHL team will play two series--one home, one road--against every team in its division, as well as one home series and one road series against teams from the opposite division. That means teams will play 20 WCHL games, down from 22 under the previous format. Three-game stretches and travel partners are also a thing of the past. 

 

Now that we’re up to speed, let’s take a series-by-series look at the Sooners’ 2020-21 schedule. The dates have been set, but exact game times are still TBD.

 

Arkansas (Sept. 10-11)

            The Sooners begin the season by welcoming a former WCHL foe to Blazers Ice Center. Arkansas iced a Division 1 team from 2015-2019 before reconsolidating with its Division 3 team. The influx of D1 talent helped the D3 Razorbacks go 32-4-0 and rise to No. 1 in the Pacific Region last year. Oklahoma took both games against Arkansas at BIC in the D1 Razorbacks’ final season, winning 2-1 and 3-2.

    

@ Lindenwood (Sept. 25-26)

            Last year’s trip to Maryland Heights resulted in one of the most exciting games of the season as the Sooners scored a 3-1 upset over the then-No.3 Lions. Phil Babb made 54 saves and Isaac Bosse broke a 1-1 tie with 1:03 left in regulation before Trevor Finch’s empty-netter sealed the deal. The Sooners ended up on the other side of a 3-1 result the next day despite 49 saves from Babb. 

 

@ Utah (Oct. 2-3)

            The Sooners travel to Salt Lake City for their first conference series against a Utes team coming off a 10-18-1 season. Oklahoma last played Utah two seasons ago, winning 6-1 and 8-2 at the Salt Lake City Sports Complex. 

 

@ Colorado State (Oct. 16-17)

            Colorado State finished sixth in the WCHL last year but managed to split with OU in Fort Collins. The Rams scored two goals late in the third period to steal a 4-3 win (despite being outshot 49-34) after the Sooners won 5-2 the previous night.

 

@ Colorado (Oct. 30-31)

            The Sooners and Buffaloes produced an instant classic when they met in Boulder last season. The score was tied 1-1 after two periods, but Colorado scored three goals in a six-minute span, taking a 4-1 lead with 9:42 remaining. The Sooners didn’t blink, scoring twice in the next three minutes before Isaac Bosse tied the game with 45 seconds left. Josh Pusar scored the lone shootout goal to give Oklahoma a 5-4 win.

 

Missouri State (Nov. 6-7)

            Speaking of instant classics, the previous four games between Missouri State and Oklahoma at BIC were all decided in overtime or a shootout. Last year, Paolo De Sousa scored his first goal of the season with 11 seconds left in OT to give the Sooners a 4-3 win.

 

@ Midland (Nov. 13-14)

            This will be OU hockey’s first-ever trip to Nebraska. The Sooners were scheduled to travel to Fremont for their first games of the spring semester last season, but icy roads left the team unable to drive up. The Warriors finished 14-18-0.

 

 

Lindenwood (Nov. 15)

            It’ll be a quick turnaround after the Sooners’ second game in Nebraska as they head home to face Lindenwood the next day. This will be the third game in three days for both teams; the Lions will play UCO in Edmond while the Sooners play Midland. 

Colorado (Nov. 20-21)

            Oklahoma won 9-1 and 5-3 against Colorado at Blazers Ice Centre last season. The first result was the Sooners’ largest margin of victory and most goals scored since beating Division 2 Texas A&M 11-1 in January 2018. 

 

@ UCO (Dec. 4), UCO (Dec. 5)

            Any OU hockey fan should remember what happened when the I-35 Rivalry came to BIC last fall: a Scott Joy goal with 18 seconds left in regulation broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Sooners their first home win over UCO since February 2016. This fall, Oklahoma will host the second game of the series for the first time since the 2017-18 season.

 

Arizona State (Jan. 15-16)

            OU swept Arizona State for the first time ever last season, winning 6-2 and 4-3 at Blazers Ice Centre before winning 3-1 in Tempe a month later. The Sun Devils went on the finish 23-11-1, their best record in three years.

 

@ Missouri State (Jan. 22-23)

            While the Sooners have had great results against the Ice Bears at BIC recently, Jordan Valley Ice Park has been much less kind to them; they’ve gone 1-5-0 there over the past two seasons. Without starting goaltender Phil Babb, Oklahoma lost 3-2 and 5-4 in Springfield last February.

 

@ Arkansas (Feb. 5-6)

            The Sooners lost just once in Springdale during Arkansas’ D1 tenure. Most recently, they won 4-0 there in January 2019 to complete a season sweep of the Razorbacks. Josh Pusar scored twice and Babb made 30 saves.

 

Colorado State (Feb. 12-13)

            Oklahoma held on for a 4-3 win after taking a 3-0 lead into the third period when the Rams visited Blazers Ice Centre last January. The Sooners haven’t lost to Colorado State on home ice since October 2016.

 

Midland (Feb. 19-20)

The first-ever meeting between Oklahoma and Midland did take place as scheduled when the Warriors came to BIC last November. The Sooners won both games 4-2 without trailing in either contest. Midland scored one even-strength goal.

 

UCO (Feb. 26), @ UCO (Feb. 27)

            There’s a decent chance the spring edition of the I-35 Rivalry could decide the East Division title. The last time the Sooners played UCO to close out the regular season was 2017.