Following the departure of Collin Olson and the mysterious serious-but-not-catastrophic injury to Matt Tomkins, Ohio State has added two goalies to their roster. Joining Logan Davis are Aaron Kahn of the OSU men's club hockey team and Aaron Gretz who you may already know as the baseball Buckeyes' catcher. Gretz played goal in high school where he was backed up by Olson. You couldn't make up a storyline more bizarre than the Buckeyes' goaltending has been this season. Don't miss brand new episodes of "As the Net Turns" tonight and Saturday at 7pm, featuring special guest stars, the Canisius Golden Griffins.
There are a crap ton of promotions for this series; a food drive, family food vouchers, a postgame skate, etc. Get the details in Ohio State's series preview. There's one in particular I'd like to point out and that's the one involving the women's hockey team. The ladies are playing matinee games at the Schott today and tomorrow. Their opponent is Minnesota-Duluth, a conference foe that usually gives the Buckeyes a tough game. The ladies could use some extra support and any fan who attends the women's games will receive a free ticket for that night's men's game. Since there isn't any charge for admission to the women's games that means you could see four hockey games for free this weekend.
The Buckeye men will take on Canisius in the primetime half of those doubleheaders. The Golden Griffins returned nearly all of the 2012-13 squad that claimed the Atlantic Hockey tournament championship and an auto-bid to the NCAAs. It's somewhat of a surprise then that the team has struggled in the early stages of this season. They're 2-5-0 overall, one of their wins coming at then-No. 16 Denver and one last Saturday in their home opener against Mercyhurst. (Yeah, they just played their first home game. Maybe that's why their students were having such a hard time naming any of the players on the hockey team.)
Some tough non-conference opponents inthe B1G this week.
Ohio State and Canisius have had three previous opponents in common this year: Niagara, Miami, and Robert Morris. The Griffins were 0-4-0 in those games and were outscored 20-7, though they put in a "feisty" effort in the second half of their series in Oxford. Their offense has been streaky but they seem to have finally hit on something against Mercyhurst with the newly-formed line of Braeden Rigney, Matthew Grazen, and Patrick Sullivan. They contributed to all four of the Griffs' goals and propelled the team to a comeback win.
Senior defenseman Ben Danford (1-6--7) is Canisius' top point-getter and a big part of the team's 23.3% power play. Westlake, Ohio native Kyle Gibbons (3-2--5) is another a key cog in the Griffs' offense. He is also three points away from reaching the 100 point mark in his career. In goal, Smith has repeatedly stated that senior Tony Capobianco (4.79 GAA, .879 SV% in four games) is the team's starter, but junior Keegan Asmundson (2.33 GAA, .937 SV% in three games) has been making a very strong case for taking over that title.
Canisius is certainly no pushover but Ohio State has had a fair amount of success against Atlantic Hockey this season. This series should be a manageable one for the Buckeyes as they continue to hone the facets of their game in need of sharpening. It's also a good opportunity to find out where they stand in goal before the Big Ten schedule begins.
Did you know? Kyle Gibbons isn't the only Ohio connection on Canisius' team. Junior Cody Freeman is the son of former Buckeye Mark Freeman (1978-81) and head coach Dave Smith (1988-92) tallied 140 points during his career at Ohio State.
A few pregame links for your edification and amusement...
- CHN has an update on Tomkins, who is officially week-to-week.
- If you were super bummed that Tuesday's post was lacking in MS Paint you'll be happy to know you can find two illustrations relating to the Niagara series on Twitter.
- Don't forget to cast your vote for the defensemen you deem most worthy of being named to the All-Buckeye team.
- Check out the Ohio State's women's preview of the Duluth series here, along with head coach Nate Handrahan's take on the weekend and Chelsea Knapp defining the phrase "square wheels."
- No. 1 thing you ought to do before heading to the arena today is like The Scarlet Liners page on Facebook. It's like The KnuckleBucks, only not just for students. So if you're the kind of fan who cheers until you're hoarse and hates the way opposing teams' fans take over the Schott get thee to liking. While you're there check out the KnuckleBucks' "Stat Trick" of the week which contains fun facts and trivia as well as details of the organized cheers and jeers.
- From Canisius: Braeden Rigney discusses continuing his new line's success and coach Dave Smith reminisces about last weekend as well as his days at OSU here.
- Daniel Fyffe previewed this series for The Lantern here.
- Tanner Fritz talks about having an instant impact in his return and Logan Davis chats about making his first start this weekend here.
- Finally, here are Steve Rohlik's thoughts on last Saturday's effort, this week's series against Canisius, and the state of the Buckeyes:
