Double-OT loss in finals prevents victory for IU

While the IU student body took a break from school, ate leftovers and watched football, the IU hockey team stuffed itself with a full plate of hockey. \nDuring last week's break, IU took home second place in the Hoosier Thanksgiving Classic held in Carmel, Ind. With three familiar Division I teams competing, including Liberty University, Ohio State and Illinois, IU felt good about its chances coming into the tournament. The Hoosiers were able to win their first-round matchup against the Fighting Illini 6-1, but lost a heartbreaker in the championship to Ohio State 4-3 in double overtime.\nIn game one Friday night, IU came out of the gates aggressively as it was able to outshoot Illinois 26-3, and took a 2-0 lead after the first period. Junior forward Mike Casper opened the scoring for the Hoosiers with his fifth goal of the season, ending the Hoosiers' four-game losing streak. \nThe Hoosiers were able to get five more on the board before the Illini scored their first goal of the game in the third period. Senior forward Pete Johnson, who came back from a shoulder injury which prevented him from missing the past few games, added two goals and an assist. Junior forward Reed Schafer tallied three assists for the Hoosiers, who were able to outshoot the Illini 60-19.\n"It felt good to put a full game together," said senior captain Bill Ravensberg. "We needed to break out of our losing streak."\nAfter Ohio State beat Liberty in their first-round game 9-5, the Hoosiers dropped a tough game to the Buckeyes in the championship Saturday, and ended their hopes of coming away with the weekend title. Although IU was able to outshoot their opponents 49-33, they were unable to put the puck in the net when they needed to.\n"I think we need to get a little bit hungrier around the net and start to bury our chances," said senior forward Michael Kearns. "It was extremely evident as we outplayed (Ohio State) tremendously and only scored three goals."\nJunior forward Chad Fiala agreed with Kearns' assessment.\n"We made the opposing team's goalies look good by continually shooting the puck right into his padding, making every shot seem easy to save," he said. "We will work on finishing every shot with the intention of scoring, rather than just shooting the puck."\nIU led the game 2-0 after the first period with goals coming from and Ravensberg. After Ohio St. scored their first goal in the second period, IU was not able to hold on much longer as the Buckeyes quickly tied up the game and took a 3-2 advantage late into the third period. With about five minutes remaining, IU sophomore forward Dan Karlander tied the game to send it into overtime.\nAfter an even first OT, IU controlled most of the second before Buckeye junior forward Tyler Moyer broke away from the Hoosier defense and buried the game and tournament winner. \nRavensberg was frustrated with how the weekend went for his team, but feels good about his team's chances in the future.\n"There have been stints in which we do not work as hard as possible and it has hurt us," he said. "I am disappointed that we didn't win the tournament, but feel that our team can bounce back which will be important."\nThe Hoosiers, 7-7 on the season and 2-2 in league play, hope to get back on the winning end of things as they welcome conference foe Davenport University this weekend in Bloomington.