Ohio State comes into today's game completely out of postseason contention. There's likely to be one Big Ten Tournament game, but after that the season will be over. Even a two-game win streak to end the season likely isn't enough to push the team over the hump. And they're not winning the postseason tournament.
Heading to Homewood, to take on an improved Johns Hopkins team, Ohio State is in real trouble. Offensively, the Jays have improved with a new OC and an influx of talent.
Transfer Russell Melendez (#31) is second on the team in points, and has 23 goals. Jacob Angelus (#23) leads the team in assists and points. Freshman Matt Collison (#16) has been a welcome surprise with 17 goals. And Garrett Degnon (#40) is the main Hopkins shooter, with 28 goals on 80 shots. The Buckeyes will have their hands full all afternoon with this balanced Hopkins attack.
Defensively, Johns Hopkins has struggled a bit. They allow 11.23 goals per game, opponents manage to get 60% of their shots on goal, and the Jays get outshot each game. It's not a really tough matchup for Ohio State, but the Buckeyes have been pretty banged up and empirically bad on offense all year. At least against teams with a pulse.
Johns Hopkins will likely start Alex Mazzone (#6), Scott Smith (#18), and Beaudan Szuluk (#44) down low at the pole positions. Ohio State made a big deal about Ed Shean this week, but failed to mention how he will get zero shots as often as he will get a hat trick. We will see if Colby Smith is able to go this week, and how that affects Shean's output.
Facing off, Johns Hopkins struggles. They're under 50% for the year and no FOGO is above .500 either. Tyler Dunn (#30) is likely to be the main faceoff man. With it looking likely that Drew Blanchard is out, the Buckeyes will hope they don't get blitzed like they have the last few weeks.
In goal, Tim Marcille (#10) starts and has a respectable save percentage of .522. Marcille isn't going to be insane, but will be stiff enough that we should worry about the Buckeyes sinking shots. Especially given Wahlund's streakiness.
On special teams, Johns Hopkins is about average on both sides. They're right at 35% on both Man Up and Man Down, which is the DI standard. Ohio State, meanwhile, is good on Man Up (45%) but awful on Man Down (43%). Kind of indicative of how much they have struggled defensively this season.
There's not really much to be hyped about this week. That Team looms next week, the season is basically 3 games from being over, and the phrase "wait til next year" has never been more appropriate. Assuming there's not mass chaos as soon as the final whistle blows. Which could probably be a big assumption.
At any rate, I don't think this is a blowout, but Ohio State has been bad on the road. There's not much hope, and I don't think there's much left to play for.
Final prediction: Johns Hopkins 13, Ohio State 9.
Go Bucks!
Enjoy the spring game.
