Despite an intense defensive effort, Colorado State University hockey’s losing streak extended to 4 against the University of Central Oklahoma in a 3-2 loss on Nov. 9, 2024.
After losing to the UCO Bronchos previously by a score of 3-1, a slow start by the CSU Rams ended up biting them in the second night of this back-to-back.
The Bronchos started scoring with a goal in the 4th minute in the first period by forward Sebastien Doucet, but the Rams’ defense held taut after this, led by junior Ty Doan. This score would hold for 22 minutes of play, until the 7th minute of the second period, when Central Oklahoma’s Ondrej Blaha would slap together another goal, making it 2-0.
CSU’s Alex Latkovski then took control. The spark-plug senior forward scored the Rams’ first goal of the night with less than a minute left in the second period, drawing rapturous applause from the crowd.
The Rams and Bronchos stood at a standstill for another 12 minutes of game time, until Latkovski scored the equalizer with 7:34 left in regulation, which brought all of his teammates to their feet.
30 seconds later, OCU’s Cullen Hogan scored off of the crossbar on a controversial goal that had both players and fans shocked and ended up being the game-winner for the Bronchos.
“From my angle, [there was] no shot, but what can you do,” Doan said after the game. “We can only control what we can, and we need to score more.”
And ultimately, that has been the story of not just this game, but the losing streak as a whole. “We need to improve our conditioning, because some of the guys look a little tired in general,” Doan said. “We also need a little less passing in the offensive zone. We’re already getting blocked, we should just shoot and go to the net.”
Regardless, the defense held up their end of the bargain in this game. CSU’s goalie, Cross North, only let 3/29 shots on goal into the net, while the Bronchos let 2/28 in.
The main reason for this success was the defense’s ability to break up passing lanes and equal Central Oklahoma’s physicality, which has been a strength recently, with CSU only allowing more than 3 goals in one of the last 4 games.
Ultimately, Doan thinks that the key to trying to stay competitive in games like this one moving forward is emotional regulation and focus. “We need to stay not too high, not too low,” said Doan. “We need to keep the energy up, and celebrate the little things.”
The Rams will be traveling to face the University of Oklahoma Sooners on November 21st and 22nd.
You can find CSU’s hockey schedule at csuhockey.com, and more information about UCO Hockey at ucohockey.com.