Whew. There were many ways the opening game could have gone, but I certainly thought this game had zero chance of ending up how it did. With a final score of 23-9, the Ohio State Buckeyes crushed an outgunned Detroit Mercy team coming off an emotional win over Jacksonville. And it wasn't even as close as the score indicated.

The Buckeyes were led by an attack unit that absolutely dominated the game. Tre Leclaire fired in 6 goals, along with 2 dimes, and Jack Myers added 5 goals and 4 assists.

Jackson Reid slacked off a bit, only putting up 4 goals and 3 assists (!). To put this output in perspective, the goal tallies for Leclaire and Myers represent 20% and 33% (roughly) of their total goals from 2019. Welcome to the New Age, ladies and gentlemen.

The surprise performance of the night absolutely had to be Griffin Hughes, who scored a hat trick in his first meaningful outing in a Buckeye uniform. It's a great way to start the season, and hopefully will lead to many more goals for the young man. Congratulations, Mr. Hughes!

At the faceoff X, with Justin Inacio out for an indefinite period (I think it'll be the year), it was a tough road for the backup FOGOs. Collectively, the three backups went 19 of 36 to start off the year, good for 52.8%.

That's definitely a step down from what the Buckeyes are used to seeing at the dot. Inacio's absence is significant, and could be an obstacle down the road as B1G play starts. That said, the offense more than compensated for the step down in FO wins, and faceoffs aren't everything.

Defensively, we saw two new starters step in as freshmen and make a significant difference. Jake Snyder is a true freshman, but may be the best defender to commit to the Buckeyes out of HS.

He is going to be a force for years to come, and his career literally just started. Ben Williams stepped in as a transfer from Denver, and helped to shore up a weak LSM group. Stephen Zupicich had a really nice game as well today, and should be a player to watch as the year progresses. The SSDMs were led by Ryan Terefenko, the king of midfield, who was an absolute force with 5 gbs and an assist.

After allowing 3 straight goals to allow the Titans to pull within 1 goal early in the game, the Buckeye D didn't allow another goal until after the half, with a lead of 12. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Goalie play was pretty much what we have come to expect from the position in 2018 and 2019. Josh Kirson started, had a save percentage of 59%, but didn't really impress. Skylar Wahlund came in with the backups, not doing enough to take over the top spot. And Mike Clibanoff allowed a goal in under 4 minutes of play. No sign of Christian Tomei. This will be the weakest link of the team moving forward, assuming Inacio isn't out for the entire year.

Overall, with a SOG% well over 60% for much of the game and a shot percentage of 46% for the game, it was an incredible offensive performance. "What has changed from last year?" might be the question on your mind. And the answer, for this game, is dodging.

The Buckeyes essentially used their athleticism to beat defenders well outside the offensive zone, and punished late slides on the pass or with a shot. The Buckeyes utilized a loose 3-1-2 (counting from the top of the offensive zone to the X behind the cage) for much of the game, dodging from the numbers up top or well below GLE.

With Detroit Mercy trying to double team from the adjacent man, and super early, it caused chaos as the man responsible for the double team had to try to cover 8+ yards to get on the Buckeye dodger's hands before the pass came out. That was a poor strategy, and gave the Buckeyes so many open looks it was impossible to not score.

Also encouraging is the fact that the Buckeye offense didn't have a prolonged scoring drought in the middle quarters, which plagued them last year. Ohio State had 18 goals in Q2 and Q3 combined, more than double their opponents' final tally. So yeah, it was a good day.

Next up for the Buckeyes is a trip to Boston to take on a depleted BU team that should be another easy win. The season is young, but enjoy the glory of this W!

Go Bucks!