The Plague gets licks in against Denison

In a heated rivalry matchup against the White Hats of Denison University, Oberlin's ice hockey team, the Plague, managed to accumulate 49 minutes of penalties in a game that lasted only 45 minutes.

For all but about 10 minutes of their 8-5 loss, Oberlin played short-handed. At one point Oberlin had three of four defensemen in the penalty box serving a cumulative total of 29 penalty minutes.

Regardless, OC managed to keep the game exciting. Despite falling to an early 1-0 deficit, the Plague responded beautifully, trading goals with Denison. This was attributed to Oberlin boosting their aggressiveness after a lackluster start. "Our aggressive rebound was due in most part to cheap shots given by Denison," sophomore Rory Keohane said.

The highlight of the period was first-year Tyler Kord's "Christmas gift" assist to junior Scott Sheppard. Kord, after burning Denison's center and defensemen looked to an open Sheppard, who flipped the puck past Denison's goalie, tying the score at three. Kord attributed the assist to "having a good hair day, not to mention getting good support from Sheppard." On his ability to stay focused, Sheppard said, "the rest of the team was going crazy with the physical stuff. I just maintained my cool head and played my game."

The second period started with the two teams even at three. Even after a rallying first intermission pep talk from first-year Dan "Raymond" Bourque, Oberlin failed to start the second period strongly. With two quick goals in a time span of 42 seconds, Denison managed to ice Oberlin for the second time.

Following interludes of nasty talk by both teams' players and fans, particularly by Oberlin's coach, first-year Andrew Poe, several fights erupted. Commenting on his instigation of the first fight, senior Seth Hosmer said, "I got slashed in the throat my first shift out. Next time we play Denison, I'm gonna break out the cement shoulder pads."

As the period continued, sophomore Parkins Burger and senior John Upton also spent substantial time in the box with misconduct penalties. Following the game, Burger said that the game reminded him of "Jersey style hockey," a game characterized by fights and with cheap shots the norm. Despite being severely shorthanded throughout the period, Oberlin managed to kill two five-on-three Denison power plays and added a late period goal by forward first-year Ben Bernard.

At the start of the third period, tension climaxed as both teams fed each other's anger. Denison's coach, upon being angered by Oberlin talk about several of Denison player's being arrested and expelled for misconduct after a game earlier in the season, stormed the Oberlin bench and threatened Oberlin players and coaches. The dispute ended without harm to either side. Meanwhile, play continued as Denison increased its lead to 8-4 early in the period.

Oberlin played a very tough 10 minutes and took 12 shots on goal, holding Denison to five. Sophomore Greg "Snipps" Scranton scored the final goal for Oberlin with a slap shot to the top of the net followed by an obscene taunting gesture to a heckling Denison fan.

Overall, Oberlin played a tough match but lacked aggressiveness. The final score was 8-5 and goalie junior Nick Bicknell stopped 27 shots on goal.

The two teams will meet again at the Conference Championships at Denison during the first weekend of March.

The Plague's next game is against Wittenberg University this Friday.

This one's legal: A member of the Plague goes low in a match that saw Oberlin p[layers going out of their way to put the hurt in against Denison's hockey goons. (photo by Fernando Miguel Bretos)