Weekend in Review
The Buckeyes split last weekend’s series against No. 20 Minnesota-Duluth. Their season record remains a middling 4-4-0, but they’re 4-1-0 in the last eight days. I started to outline what went wrong in the series for Ohio State, then realized it was going to be a real short list. The only thing I could think to write down was “Not a heck of a lot, actually.”
The results were so-so, but the Buckeye team that split with Duluth looked like a better team than the one that swept Robert Morris. They dominated the puck possession on Friday night, winning 53 of 78 faceoffs and outshooting UMD 29-24. Aaron Crandall (28 saves) and the Bulldog defense (19 blocked shots) were able to clog the game up. Duluth made the most of the few mistakes the Buckeyes did make and put the kibosh on an Ohio State victory.
"I can’t fault our effort. We made mistakes, and the mistakes we made ended up in our net. Overall, though, I felt it was one of our better, more complete games of the year.” Steve Rohlik after Friday's game
A power play goal gave UMD the lead midway through the opening frame. They’d go up by two after a failed odd man rush stranded the Buckeyes up ice and gave the Bulldogs a 2-on-1. I think the third goal was the result of a forced turnover, but I don’t see that on the highlights. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. Anyway, it looks much worse put down in consecutive sentences like that than it did on the ice.
UMD didn’t have such a chokehold on Saturday’s game. The freer flow was right up the Buckeyes’ alley and they quickly ran up a 3-0 lead. A more open game meant more action for Matt Tomkins. He rose to the occasion with 39 big saves, especially as the Bulldogs gained steam in the second period. Nick Oddo said in the postgame press conference that he didn’t think the five games in eight days affected the Buckeyes at all. He ought to know better than me, but I’m still inclined to give the team the benefit of the doubt.
"We played in spurts tonight, but all in all I thought it was our best weekend of hockey this season. We can be a pretty good hockey team when we play a full 60 minutes." Rohlik following Saturday's game
The series wasn’t without its flaws. A couple bad decisions by the Buckeyes gave Duluth the win on Friday and Saturday’s victory was nearly sunk by a sluggish second period. All-in-all, though, Ohio State played well against one of the country’s better teams. They continue to make progress toward being a fully operational and wholly dangerous team. Buckeye fans should be feeling much better about the season than they were a month ago.
You can see a lot of awesome things in the highlight videos: Tyler Lundey finishing off a Max McCormick pass and also bamboozling Crandall into assisting on his second goal of the series; Nick Oddo slicing and dicing through the UMD defense to set up Alex Szczechura; McCormick with the winner winner chicken dinner goal, Ryan Dzingel providing Big Macs to the masses. But the highlights rarely tell the whole story. Here are some things you may have missed by not being at the Schott last weekend…
Ohio State continues their homestand against Niagara this weekend. Saturday's opening faceoff is scheduled a bit later than usual on account of there's a basketball game in the afternoon. I'll be sure to point out any time/traffic news for the series in Friday's preview, but you should still check OSU's website before heading out to Saturday's game. The ice is going to be super fantastic for that one. Plays from the Minnesota-Duluth series which were not prominently featured in the highlight video
A few interesting links from the UMD series...
- Check out Rachel Lewis' photo gallery from Friday night here.
- OSU's game recaps (Friday and Saturday) have links to all the boxscores, highlights, postgame press conferences, etc.
- Other game recaps: Bruce Ciskie (Friday for The Ciskie Blog), Paula Weston (Saturday for USCHO), Daniel Fyffe (series for The Lantern)
- The Dispatch is in midseason form already, misspelling Tyler Lundey's name in their mention of Saturday's game.
Short Shifts
Buckeye Men
The biggest loss OSU suffered last week was in net. Twitter exploded on Sunday with the news that Collin Olson had decided to leave Ohio State and return to the USHL. Ohio State confirmed that with a press release. It isn't particularly shocking. Olson hadn't much playing time during his time with the Buckeyes. He did what he felt was best for him and I wish him luck so long as he stays far away from the Big Ten. It does stink that he's hacked the goaltending depth chart half to death, though. Here's an idea: The Bucks keep Tomkins and Logan Davis in bubble wrap between games.
More links...
- College Hockey Inc. showed some love for Darik Angeli.
- Alex Lippincott was featured in Ohio State's student-athlete spotlight.
- Nationwide Arena is one of the finalists to host a Frozen Four between 2015-18.
Buckeye Women
The No. 10 Buckeye ladies had a rough weekend at No. 2 Wisconsin. They took an early lead in each game thanks to goals by Claudia Kepler (her first two as a Buckeye) but the Badgers came back to defeat them on both occasions. Saturday’s game sounded particularly tough as it seemed Wisconsin had the puck about 95% of the time and the Badgers had half a dozen goals waived off. I didn’t get a chance to listen to it, but Sunday’s game looked better on paper. Check out OSU's recaps here and here.
More links...
- Get to know your Buckeye ladies and a little hockey lingo by checking out the team's word of the week videos. The latest featured Ally Tarr and the definition of "sauce."
Big Ten
- CHN and USCHO wrapped up the week in Big Ten action.
- Michigan has lost freshman defender Kevin Lohan for "months" due to surgery.
Buckeye Commits
The World Jr. A Challenge began yesterday in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. The tournament, put on by Hockey Canada, showcases some of the top Under-19 players in the world. Two Buckeye recruits have been selected to represent their respective countries. Forward Matt Weis will don the red, white, and blue for Team USA. Their first game is tonight against Russia. Forward Nick Jones is competing for Canada West and scored a power play goal in the team’s opening game yesterday. The WJAC runs through Sunday. You can keep tabs on all the action via the tournament’s home page.
More links...
- The USHL officially announced Waterloo forward John Wiitala’s commitment to Ohio State.
Nuts Abroad
The WJAC isn’t the only international puck happening this week. The planet’s best women’s hockey players are gathered in Lake Placid, NY for the Four Nations tournament. That group includes five former Buckeyes: Tessa Bonhomme and Natalie Spooner (Canada), Lisa Chesson (USA), and Minttu Tuominen and Emma (Laaksonen) Terho (Finland). Check out the story from OSU here.
More links...
- Zac Dalpe has been recalled by the Vancouver Canucks.
- Speaking of the Canucks, Glenn Kuper wonders if Ryan Kesler and the Sedins can keep up their current pace.
- It's been a challenging year for Dave Steckel but he seems to have found a home with the AHL's Norfolk Admirals.
- Here's Kevin Zalaznik on Rod Pelley, the Albany Devils, and chemistry.
- Big games for Cal Heeter against Binghamton and for Peter Boyd against Gwinnett.
- Matt Bartkowski went trick or treating and helped brighten the day for some sick kids.
