Hello, Buckeye fans. It's hockey preview time once again, the coolest part of your week. Try to contain your excitement. It's difficult, I know, but you don't want anyone to suspect you're reading this when you're supposed to be working.
Men
Here we go. The Buckeyes have tested the waters of the Big Ten this season but now they're about to dive headlong into it. Ohio State has 17 games remaining on the schedule and they are all against conference opponents.
| OSU | PSU | |
|---|---|---|
| 6-9-2 | Overall Record | 9-6-2 |
| n/a | National Polls | RV |
| 2.71 (30th) | Avg Goals Scored | 3.24 (T-13th) |
| 3.12 (44th) | Avg Goals Allowed | 2.76 (35th) |
| 14.7% (40th) | Power Play | 23.9% (5th) |
| 78.6% (52nd) | Penalty Kill | 80% (T-43rd) |
As up and down as the Bucks' non-conference schedule was, they're actually not in too bad a shape in the conference. They have played three Big Ten games. The team split a series against Michigan State and lost a single game at Michigan. While the manner in which Ohio State played those games was concerning, the actual results of those games aren't any different from last season.
The Bucks got off to a decent start in the season's second half with a win and tie at Mercyhurst last week. It was an encouraging result, but too small a sample of games to definitively declare this team is on the upswing. Cautiously optimistic is your best bet at the moment.
Their opponent this week is Penn State. Though the Nittany Lions are relatively new to D-I the program has been steadily making progress and now finds itself leading the way in the Big Ten. PSU began the season with a 7-2-2 run which included a defeat of then-No. 4 UMass-Lowell.
The last half dozen games have not been as successful for the team. The Nittany Lions are 2-4-0 in their last six games. Both wins came against a beleaguered Wisconsin squad. PSU will likely get a boost this week from their hometown fans. The team returns to Pegula Ice Arena for its first home games since October.
Junior Casey Bailey (11-8--19) leads Penn State in scoring. His 11 goals land him just outside the nations' top ten goal scorers. Senior Taylor Holstrom (4-14--18) and sophomore David Goodwin (6-8--14) follow Bailey on the stat sheet. Junior Matt Skoff (2.45 GAA, .914 SV%) has started the majority of PSU's games in net.
Games are slated for tonight at 7pm and Saturday afternoon at 3pm. Both games are on the radio at 1460 AM. They're also supposed to be streamed online at BTN2Go and something called American Sports Network. I'm not sure whether there's a fee for ASN, but you can find them online here.
A few more notes...
- Heading into B1G play your Buckeye scoring leaders are Tanner Fritz (6-7--13), Nick Schilkey 4-7--11), Anthony Greco and Matt Johnson (8-2--10), and Chad Niddery and Matt Weis (2-8--10).
- Fritz is just four points shy of the century mark. The senior captain currently boasts 96 points in his Buckeye career.
- Johnson is your reigning Big Ten first star of the week.
- Per Ohio State Darik Angeli, Justin DaSilva, Chad Niddery, and Tyler Lundey are on the injury list and out for this week's series.
- In two weeks Ohio State travels to East Lansing to take on Michigan State. A bus load of fans are trekking up to support the Bucks. The bus leaves from Columbus and makes a pick up stop in Toledo. There are still some places available. For tickets or further information check out the Scarlet Liners here.
Conference Outlook
A couple months into the season this looked like Minnesota's conference to lose. The Gophers have come back to earth a little bit since. Are they still your pick to take the Big Ten or has another team caught your eye? Also, do you believe Wisconsin is truly that bad?
| rk | big ten | w | l | t | sow | pts | this week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RV | Penn State | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | vs Ohio State |
| RV | Michigan | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | vs Minnesota |
| Michigan State | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | vs US Under-18 Team (ex) | |
| 9 | Minnesota | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | at Michigan |
| Ohio State | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | at Penn State | |
| Wisconsin | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | vs No. 2 Boston University (nc) |
Women
The success of the Ohio State women has not gone unnoticed. The team cracked the national polls for the first time this season, coming in at No. 10 in both the USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey polls.
The Buckeye ladies look to continue their hot streak on the road this week at St. Cloud State. On paper this looks like a slam dunk weekend for the Scarlet and Gray. The lady Bucks are probably playing as well right now as they have all season. St. Cloud is really struggling and hasn't skated in a game since December 13th.
| OSU | STC | |
|---|---|---|
| 12-8-2 | Overall Record | 6-14-1 |
| 10 | National Polls | n/a |
| 2.36 (22nd) | Avg Goals Scored | 1.52 (33rd) |
| 2.05 (10th) | Avg Goals Allowed | 3.48 (T-32nd) |
| 13.4% (22nd) | Power Play | 12.1% (26th) |
| 83.1% (21st) | Penalty Kill | 76.9% (33rd) |
However, these often seem to be the sort of series that trip the program up and turn a great season into an OK one. The Buckeyes play well against the middle of the pack, maybe steal some points from one of the front runners. Then they cough up games to the season's cellar dwellers.
This weekend's results might not qualify as quality wins for the resume, but they would be bad losses. OSU will need to remain motivated and focused on St. Cloud, not be looking ahead to "bigger" series. Points lost this weekend could make a huge difference in the conference tournament.
Fortunately (unfortunately?) the lady Bucks are aware of the danger lurking in this "easy" series. The Huskies traveled to Columbus back in November where they rallied to defeat Ohio State in the series opener. The Buckeyes outshot St. Cloud 45-19 and held a 2-0 lead after the first period, but went on to surrender four unanswered goals including three unassisted tallies (generally signifying a turnover) and lost 4-2.
The Huskies are led in scoring by junior Molly Illikainen (8-5--13) and senior Audrey Hanmer (4-6--10). Senior Julie Friend (4.24 GAA, .884 SV%) and junior Katie Fitzgerald (2.39 GAA, .918 SV%) have split time in net this season.
Both games in this series are set for 4pm ET starts. Today's game streams online through St. Cloud's website (not sure whether a subscription is necessary).
A few more notes...
- After last week's offensive breakout against Penn State the top of the Buckeye stat sheet looks like this: Claudia Kepler (8-9--17), Taylor Kuehl (7-8--15), and Sara Schmitt (4-11--15).
- And the goalie chart reads: Kassidy Sauve (2.21 GAA, .916 SV%, 4 SHO) and Stacy Danczak (1.42 GAA, .933 SV%, 2 SHO).
- Sauve earned WCHA defensive player of the week honors for her efforts against PSU last week. Kuehl also gets an honorable mention for offensive player of the week.
- Future Buckeyes took the ice this week at the World Women's Under-18 championship. Madison Field is representing Canada while Mikaela Gardner and Jincy Dunne skate for the Red, White, and Blue. Check out Dunne's shootout goal against Canada here.
Conference Standings
| rk | wcha | w | l | t | sow | pts | this week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Wisconsin | 13 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 40 | at Minnesota |
| 2 | Minnesota | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 35 | vs Wisconsin |
| 7 | Minnesota-Duluth | 7 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 25 | vs Bemidji State |
| 10 | Ohio State | 7 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 24 | at St. Cloud |
| RV | Bemidji State | 7 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 23 | at Minnesota-Duluth |
| North Dakota | 6 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 21 | vs Syracuse (nc) | |
| St. Cloud State | 3 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 11 | vs Ohio State | |
| Minnesota State | 0 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 1 | at Lindenwood (nc) |
