The men's hockey Bucks skated away with a 5-3 decision over Penn State tonight. The win is Ohio State's third consecutive Friday night victory and their fifth in Big Ten play.
Both teams dented the scoreboard in the opening period. Penn State drew first blood thirty seconds in. The team's shoot-first game plan paid off when the puck bounced out of a thicket of players directly to an uncovered Tommy Olczyk. The Nittany Lions had an easy tap-in for the score.
| goals by period | 1 | 2 | 3 | final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penn State | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Ohio State | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
The two teams skated through fourteen back and forth, fairly sloppy minutes before the Buckeyes found an answer. Anthony Greco dished a pass to Matt Weis. The Buckeye freshman collected the puck, made a slick move to confound PJ Musico and evened the score at 1-1.
Ohio State didn't waste any time getting on the board in the second period. The Buckeyes had excellent possession and puck movement on the man advantage. Tanner Fritz's determined work behind the net brought the puck to the front of the net where OSU's senior captain deposited his ninth goal of the season.
The Bucks had to switch gears immediately and kill off a roughing penalty assessed to Darik Angeli. They took care of business and resumed their assault on Musico.
Midway through the frame Weis struck again, completing some pretty tic-tac-goal passing. The freshman's two tallies were a just reward for a solidly played game. I thought it was one of Weis' better overall outings of the season. He had half a dozen good looks on net.
| pd | time | buckeye goal scorer (assists) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14:26 | Matt Weis (Anthony Greco, Justin DaSIlva) |
| 2 | 1:19 | Tanner Fritz - PP (Anthony Greco, Nick Schilkey) |
| 2 | 12:13 | Matt Weis (Craig Dalrymple, Nick Schilkey) |
| 3 | 8:02 | Josh Healey (Tyler Lundey, Chad Niddery) |
| 3 | 8:59 | Luke Stork (Nick Oddo) |
Again the Buckeyes swiftly found themselves on their heels. Justin DaSilva made an inexplicable pass right to the tape of a Penn Stater. The play resulted in a PSU goal and the giveaways spread throughout the OSU lineup.
The turnover yips never really went away for the Bucks. Fortunately Christian Frey stood tall in net. He made many solid saves over the final half of the game. A handful were stellar. All told the sophomore netminder turned aside 46 of Penn State's 49 shots.
Ohio State extended its lead in the third period. Josh Healey threaded a shot through a mass of humanity for his second goal of the season. Luke Stork capped the Buckeye scoring, taking a beauty of a steal to the net and beating Musico.
Penn State refused to die. The Nittany Lions kept coming at the Buckeyes. They managed a third goal then pulled Musico in favor of the extra attacker. This time, though, Ohio State held tenaciously to its lead.
This game was a big step in the right direction for Ohio State. There are still some issues (see: post-goal letdown, turnover situation) but maybe not a whole subscription's worth anymore. The next challenge for the Buckeyes will be to sustain quality play in back-to-back games. Action gets underway tomorrow night at 7pm live at the Schott, on TV via ASN and the CW, and online through BTN2Go.
Lady Bucks Fall Short in Game One
The Ohio State women dropped the first game in their best-of-three series at No. 8 North Dakota. UND took an early lead. Josefine Jakobsen beat Buckeye net minder Stacy Danczak just over two minutes into the game.
| goals by period | 1 | 2 | 3 | final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio State | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| No. 8 North Dakota | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
Ohio State made the most of a pair of second period power plays. Specials teams propelled the Bucks into the lead. Kari Schmitt and Sara Schmitt netted goals on back-to-back man advantages.
It looked like OSU would take that lead to the third period but North Dakota's Andrea Dalen snuck a goal in late in the frame. With just six seconds remaining on the clock she drew UND even with the Bucks.
Dalen struck again midway through the final period. This time NoDak would keep the lead. The UND penalty killers fended off the Buckeyes' last two power play tries. Ohio State made a final push with the extra attacker on but two empty netters for North Dakota put an end to the comeback attempt.
| pd | time | buckeye goal scorer (assists) |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 10:02 | Kari Schmitt (Kayla Sullivan) |
| 2 | 13:34 | Sara Schmitt (Danielle Gagne, Kari Schmitt) |
The Buckeyes executed well on special teams today, an area in which they needed to excel. Unfortunately they didn't quite get the job done at even strength. The teams square off again tomorrow at 3pm ET. A win for Ohio State and the lady Bucks will live to fight another day. If North Dakota prevails then OSU's season is over.
