Ohio Bobcats start the season with two dominate wins against Syracuse
Coming off of their 2026 National Championship win, the Bobcats have been preparing for a brand new season. At their home opener on
September 25th, joined by last season's graduating seniors, they revealed their 2026 National Championship banner. The Ohio Bobcats had their first two games of the season last weekend against Syracuse University.
In game one of the series, the Bobcats came out with a strong presence. Assistant captain Will Cohen opened the scoring just three minutes into the game. Just two minutes later, rookie Alex Thomas scored his first goal as a Bobcat. “The puck was leaving the zone, and I saw Kevin Kasper, who made a nice play down to me. It was a two-on-one with Will Cohen, so I shot it, and it went in,” said Thomas. The Bobcats continued to dominate during the first period. Kevin Kasper scored the third goal of the game assisted by Blake Dustin. A few minutes later, Gavin Keller took a holding penalty to give Syracuse a power play. This did not hold back the Bobcats; Barron Stibbe scored a shorthanded goal with assists from Will Cohen and TJ Richey. Two minutes later, the Bobcats received their first power play, but were unable to score. Laker Aldridge, along with Syracuse defenseman Jake Brown, received offsetting penalties for roughing near the end of the first period.
At the start of the second period, Kevin Kasper scored his second goal of the game assisted by Will Cohen. Laker Aldridge scored and made it 6-0 before the halfway point in the period. TJ Richey took an interference penalty soon after, giving Syracuse their third power play of the game. The Bobcat defense and goalie Matt Zazon kept Syracuse from scoring on the power play. Will Cohen was able to score a shorthanded goal assisted by Barron Stibbe. Syracuse and Ohio both received power plays near the end of the 2nd period, but the score stayed 7-0 in favor of the Bobcats.
Starting the third period, Syracuse received two penalties. Mathieu Ovaert took advantage of the power play and made the score 8-0 with assists from Blake Dustin and Laker Aldridge. The Bobcats received another power play halfway through the period. Rookie Breydan Zupsansky was able to score his first goal as a Bobcat on the power play, finishing off the game with a dominant 9-0 win. Goalie Matt Zazon stopped all 28 shots from Syracuse, giving him his first shutout of the season.
In game two of the series, Senior Kevin Kasper started off the game scoring 11 seconds into the first period. Noah Holt followed with another goal a couple of minutes later to make the score 2-0 early in the second period.
Starting the second period, Ohio got their first power play of the night but were unable to score. Rookie Rylan Oster took a boarding penalty to give Syracuse their first power play. Less than two minutes later Noah Holt took a penalty, giving Syracuse another power play. Ohio persisted and kept Syracuse from scoring. Ohio received their second power play but again did not score. Shortly afterwards, Laker Aldridge scored, assisted by Breydan Zupsansky and Nolan Abraham, to close out the second period.
In the 3rd period, captain Noah Holt scored his second goal of the game; he followed that goal with another one just eight seconds later, giving him the first hat trick of the year. Near the end of the period, rookie Alex Thomas scored his second goal of the year to make the final score 6-0. Goalie Garrett Alderman saved all 26 shots, closing out the weekend with no goals allowed from either game.
It was a very physical series between the two teams, but the Bobcats dominated both games. “We got wins today, and that shows that we’re able to play physically,” said Laker Aldridge.
The Bobcats are back at home for their next two games against the Cincinnati Bearcats. Head over to Bird Arena to cheer on your Bobcats!