IU Hockey still stuck on 8 wins

The IU hockey team was 8-2-1 after a weekend series sweep against Southern Illinois in early November. Two-and-a-half months and 10 games later, the win column still stands at eight victories.\nLeague opponent Ohio State (14-6-1) prevented IU from picking up a much-needed win last weekend. The Buckeyes forced a 5-5 tie Friday and finished their home stand in Columbus with a 7-5 win Saturday.\nThis weekend, IU (8-9-4) takes a break from league play to host Central Michigan (11-12-0) for a weekend series at Bloomington’s Frank Southern Ice Arena. Junior Mike Vaughan was cautious about taking Central Michigan too lightly, despite the team’s sub-.500 record.\n“They’re a similar team to us even though they are not in our region or conference,” he said. “Obviously you can’t look at the record to see how good they are because I think our record doesn’t show how good we are. We’ll have to play well if we want to win.”\nLast weekend, which IU coach Al Karlander described as “the most important weekend of the season” did not go well for IU. The team was looking to hold its No. 5 ranking, one spot ahead of Ohio State in the Southeast region. The Hoosiers were also hoping for a Greater Midwest Hockey League win after starting league play 0-6-4 and falling to last place in the league.\nA week after displaying one of its most impressive defensive performances, allowing No. 1 Illinois only two goals, the team allowed 12 goals in two games against Ohio State.\n“It’s kind of a mental thing,” Vaughan said. “We knew (last week) Illinois was going to be good and that we had to play well defensively. This week, we knew that we needed to play very well offensively. We thought a lot more offensive-minded and did not pay attention to the defense and that hurt us.”\nOn Friday, IU took a 3-1 lead after the first period. Ohio State responded with three goals of its own to lead 4-3. The teams continued to trade goals as IU took a 5-4 lead. However, Ohio State added a fifth goal to tie the game and take a point from IU’s season standings. Vaughan, sophomore forward Joe Fornari, sophomore forward Adam Logue, junior forward Adam Fishbein and freshman defenseman Ryan Gidley each scored once for IU.\nOhio State jumped on IU early in the second game, taking a 2-0 lead before the teams started exchanging goals for the rest of the game. Ohio State won 7-5.\n“We needed those games bad and we came out with a tie and loss,” Logue said. “Defensively we couldn’t stop them. There’s no way you should score five goals and lose.”\nThe team still maintains its focus for the national tournament at the end of the season. Vaughan said the sense of urgency to end the winless streak pales in comparison to playing well in the postseason.\n“We talk about (winning) every single game,” he said. “We put ourselves in a position to win but we haven’t been able to shut the door on anybody, but we’re still at a point in the season where we can turn things around.”\nThe team has four more league games before preparing for the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II regional in late February.\n“You know a team is going downhill when it gets used to losing,” Fornari said. “And we can’t get that way.”