The behemoth of the Big Ten looms Sunday night, as Ohio State gears up to brawl with the Terrapins of College Park, Maryland. Maryland welcomes the Buckeyes after breezing through the first 8 games of the season, their worst game a 4-goal victory over #5 (at the time) Rutgers.
Maryland has been challenged, as evidenced by their early 5-0 hole last week, however a 16-0 run over TTUN stamped their mark all over that game, and the conference.
The Buckeyes are going to be in trouble from the opening whistle Sunday night. Maryland starts potentially the best unit in the country at attack. Jared Bernhardt, Logan Wisnauskas, and Daniel Maltz mesh perfectly, and have carried Maryland on offense all year long.
Interim OC Bobby Benson, who should be losing that tag ASAP, has unlocked the potential of all that talent in College Park, and has the offense humming. When your worst offensive performance is 13 goals, you know you're doing some good work.
The Maryland middies barely have to do anything, as the attack unit steamrolls opposing defenses. For Ohio State, they'll need to recover the magic of the Rutgers game to try and have a hope of winning this game.
Offensively, Ohio State needs Tre Leclaire to get himself back on track. Leclaire is in an ice-cold shooting slump, and that will need to change drastically for the Buckeyes to really have a shot at the upset.
Jack Myers has emerged as the offensive sparkplug for this team, and leads all scorers. A disparate mix of other players have chipped in, depending on the day, but Ohio State needs Leclaire the shooter to return to his old form.
The Buckeye attack unit is a poor man's version of the Maryland pattern, and will set the tone for the offense. Grant Mitchell and Mitchell Pehlke are going to need to be on their game in midfield to stir the drink, and get the elite Maryland defense moving their feet. Without that, the attack unit will be on an island, and really suffer.
Specialists will be in a dog fight, between Inacio at the faceoff dot and van de Bovenkamp in goal. Both are going to be in a good position, and have been the most consistent performers on the Buckeye roster. That said, they'll be heavily relied upon to take another step and give Ohio State the best chance of pulling out the W.
There's certainly a pathway to victory for Ohio State, but they'll need to play a nearly perfect game. Having Ryan Terefenko back is huge, but will not be a cure-all. Holistically, the Buckeyes will put up a fight, but not have enough in the tank. The middle quarters are where Ohio State is at their worst, and the Terps are at their best.
Final prediction: Maryland 16, Ohio State 12.
Go Bucks.
Edit: Game is Sunday at 5 p.m. EDT on BTN.
