The Buckeyes continue their jam-packed week of games by hosting No. 20 Minnesota-Duluth. Games are set for 7pm both tonight and tomorrow. Ohio State’s gameday page has all the info you’ll need for following from afar. If you’re headed out to the Schott you can get the lowdown on this weekend’s promotions in the series preview, including a postgame meet-and-greet with Buckeye players on Saturday. Huntington Bank customers can also get two free tickets to Saturday’s game. You can find more details on that promotion here.
Minnesota-Duluth should present an interesting challenge for Ohio State this weekend. The Buckeyes are college hockey’s 12th highest scoring team, while the Bulldogs are one of the top defensive teams in the country. They allow an average of just 1.67 goals per game and a measly 21.33 shots per game. They also boast one the nation’s best penalty-killing units (91.7%) which is good because they're also one of the nation's most penalized teams. Last week, in a split with No. 2 Notre Dame, the Bulldogs were assessed 44 PIM and killed off 11 of the Irish's 13 power plays.
UMD is a young group, but their freshmen have been anything but a liability so far this seaon. With five goals and nine assists, they’re college hockey’s seventh highest scoring rookie class. Two standouts, Kyle Osterberg and Alex Iafallo,each with two goals and two assists, are among the Bulldogs’ scoring leaders. Osterberg was also recently named the NCHC’s rookie of the month for October.
In net senior Aaron Crandall and sophomore Matt McNeely are both off to great starts this season. They’ve each allowed more than one goal in a game on just one occasion. The Bulldogs’ defense has given them some pretty good support as well. The two Duluth goaltenders have stopped a combined 118 shots in their six games this season. (By comparison, Matt Tomkins has stopped 138 in five.)
“They’re a very fast-kill team, so it’s going to be a high-tempo game, and I feel like one of our strengths is our speed, so I think we’re going to match their speed and it’s going to be a very intense game.” Ryan Dzingel in Daniel Fyffe's series preview
Some more pregame reading...
- Don't forget to vote! The polls close on the goalie portion of the All-Buckeye team voting this Sunday.
- Rick Weegman wrote about Steve Rohlik and Brett Larson facing their former team this weekend.
- The No. 10 Ohio State women's hockey team is up in Wisconsin to take on the No. 2 Badgers. You can keep up with them via the links in their preseries preview. You may also want to check out the article Meghan Eustice wrote about the series from a Wisconsin perspective here.
I apologize that I don't have more of a recap from Tuesday's game. As long time readers of Deadly Nuts know, the rain washes out my internet connection. It's one of the "perks" of country living, like driving behind combines for miles and wildlife turning up in inconvenient places. Anyhow, I've been stuck offline since Wednesday morning and put all of my limited time this morning into reading up on Minnesota-Duluth. Check out the highlights of the Bowling Green game via BTN and Student U. I'm loving the colorful play-by-play.
