The ice heats up this week as both men's and women's hockey battle bitter rivals for all-important conference points. The guys are at Yost for a one-night-only showdown with the Mitten Weasels. Meanwhile, back in Columbus, the ladies tangle with WCHA nemesis No. 8 Minnesota-Duluth.
Men
Ohio State plays one final game before going on its holiday break and it's a doozy. The Buckeyes and Wolverines meet at Yost Ice Arena tonight at 7pm. This is a single game affair rather than a series. It's also the last the time Ohio State will take the ice in 2014.
| OSU | MICH | |
|---|---|---|
| 5-8-1 | Overall Record | 7-6-0 |
| n/a | National Polls | RV |
| 2.50 (T-32nd) | Avg Goals Scored | 3.77 (4th) |
| 2.86 (T-40th) | Avg Goals Allowed | 2.92 (43rd) |
| 17% (31st) | Power Play | 14% (37th) |
| 84.8% (28th) | Penalty Kill | 78.3% (46th) |
Folks had high hopes for this season's Wolverines. Michigan began the season ranked among the nation's top 10 teams and was predicted to finish second in the Big Ten, but thanks to an underwhelming start the team had slipped out of the national polls all together by November.
Now, though, it's beginning to look as though Michigan is getting its act together. The Wolverines are 5-1-0 in their last six games. They've won three straight, including two hefty wins over Penn State (8-1) and RPI (6-0). A major reason for Michigan's success is its impressive offensive output.
The team has eight players with double digit point totals. Senior Zach Hyman (6-9-15) and sophomore Alex Kile (7-6--13) are averaging more than a point per game. Kile also owns four of the Wolverines' seven power play goals.
Overall Michigan owns the nation's fourth best scoring average at 3.77 goals per game. At that rate all the Wolverines have needed from sophomore goaltender Zach Nagelvoort is for him not to be terrible. Nagelvoort has managed to do that, posting a 2.63 goals against average and a .911 save percentage through 11 games.
It's been awhile since Ohio State won one of these match-ups. The Buckeyes are 0-7-1 in their last eight outings against Michigan. Many of those games were contested right up to the final horn, but at the end of the day a one-goal loss shows up the same as a blowout.
OSU comes into tonight's game off a Jekyll and Hyde showing at the Shillelagh tournament. The Bucks followed a disastrous performance against Western Michigan with a decisive victory over Notre Dame. It's an unfortunate, but continuing pattern for Ohio State.
The Buckeyes, as a team and as individuals, have had some great moments and some real stinkers this season. It isn't necessarily concerning that the team has struggled. That happens, particularly with the kind of roster realignment Ohio State had this season.
What is a bit worrisome is the fact that the Buckeyes' game is all over the map rather than a series of progressive improvements. On any given night the odds that they'll upset a nationally ranked opponent and the odds that they'll be blown out by a terrible team are about even. Their game takes one step forward, two steps back, three diagonally, and then roundhouse kicks Notre Dame into the stratosphere.
At the moment the only thing you can predict the Bucks will be is unpredictable, but Ohio State is going to do something two times in a row eventually. (And by "something" I mean "something good.") This week would be a good time to start. Back-to-back wins over Irish and Wolverines would be a nice way to close out the first half of the season.
Tonight's game is set for a 7pm start. It airs live on BTN and streams via BTN2Go. The Scarlet Liners are hosting a watch party at Cbus Sports Pub. Herb and Mo call the action on 1460 AM. Twitter will be hopping. Pick your poison.
Big Ten Outlook
Minnesota knocked off Boston College last week, clinching victory for the conference in the Big Ten/Hockey East Challenge. The six people out there who care about that are probably pretty stoked. Wisconsin finally got on the board with a win over Ferris State. All the action this week is for conference points.
| rk | big ten standings | w | l | t | sow | pts | this week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RV | Michigan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | vs Ohio State |
| Michigan State | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | vs Minnesota | |
| Ohio State | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | at Michigan | |
| RV | Penn State | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | at Wisconsin |
| 3/6 | Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | at Michigan State |
| Wisconsin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | vs Penn State |
Women
Ohio State's rivalry with No. 8 Minnesota-Duluth is a young one compared to OSU-Michigan, but the teams have laid a good foundation for continuing animosity. The Buckeyes and Bulldogs have met in the opening round of the WCHA tournament for three years running. UMD has a slight advantage in postseason play with two series victories to OSU's one.
| UMD | OSU | |
|---|---|---|
| 11-5-2 | Overall Record | 8-7-1 |
| 8 | National Polls | n/a |
| 2.89 (11th) | Avg Goals Scored | 2.25 (22nd) |
| 1.94 (10th) | Avg Goals Allowed | 2.31 (14th) |
| 21.1% (9th) | Power Play | 9.9% (30th) |
| 88.2% (10th) | Penalty Kill | 83.3% (21st) |
A slight advantage is all a team can usually gain in this series. Ohio State and Duluth met seven times last season. Five of those games were decided by a goal or less. Over the last three seasons 10 of their 18 meetings have been single goal affairs.
The Bulldogs got off to a slow start this season, though that's not unexpected when a team plays Minnesota and Wisconsin in consecutive weeks. Duluth recovered quickly. The team has only lost one game since the middle of October. The Bulldogs were on a nine game winning streak before splitting with Bemidji State last week.
A number of familiar faces power UMD. The Bulldogs are led in point scoring by sophomore Ashleigh Brykaliuk (9-9--18) but seniors Zoe Hickel (11-5--16) and Jenna McParland (6-9--15) aren't far behind. Fellow senior Kayla Black (1.76 GAA, .932 Sv%) patrols the Duluth net.
The steady point production of senior captain Sara Schmitt (4-10--14) continues to lead the Buckeyes' scoring-by-committee. Kayla Sullivan and power play assassin Taylor Kuehl are two of OSU's hotter sticks at the moment. Sullivan has four points over her last two games and Kuehl has eight in the last nine.
Both games of this series, tonight and Saturday's, are slated to begin at 6pm. If you're headed out to the games be sure to note the parking situation is wonky due to the OHSAA football championships being played at Ohio Stadium. If you can't make it out to the game you can follow along from home with a Buckeye Vision subscription or via Scarlet and Gray Sports Radio's free broadcast.
WCHA Outlook
As if the rivalry weren't enough this week, Ohio State and Minnesota-Duluth both need a good points weekend to keep pace with the WCHA pack. Either team could leap frog third place North Dakota which faces Wisconsin this week. It isn't looking like anyone will unseat Minnesota or Wisconsin, but home ice for the other two playoff series is very much up for grabs. UND, UMD, and OSU, along with Bemidji State (which is very likely to take all six points from Minnesota State this week) remain in contention.
| rk | wcha standings | w | l | t | sow | pts | this week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Wisconsin | 11 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 34 | vs North Dakota |
| 2 | Minnesota | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 29 | vs St. Cloud |
| RV | North Dakota | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 21 | at Wisconsin |
| 8 | Minnesota-Duluth | 6 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 20 | at Ohio State |
| Ohio State | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 17 | vs Minnesota-Duluth | |
| 9 | Bemidji State | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 14 | vs Minnesota State |
| St. Cloud | 2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 8 | at Minnesota | |
| Minnesota State | 0 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | at Bemidji State |
