The schneid abides. Despite heavily outshooting the Lakers and often looking like the superior team, the Buckeyes fell to Mercyhurst tonight by a final score of 2-1. Costly mistakes and missed opportunities doomed OSU which dropped to 0-7-0 on the year.
Ohio State looked fantastic in the first period. The Buckeyes dominated the game, outshooting Mercyhurst 12-4. The Lakers' few shots were mostly harmless and did not test goalie Christian Frey.
| boxscore | 1 | 2 | 3 | final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercyhurst | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Ohio State | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
The Bucks’ special teams were sharp. OSU put continual pressure and quite a bit of traffic on Mercyhurst goalie Brandon Wildung. Eventually the solid play resulted in a goal for the Scarlet and Gray.
Drew Brevig dug the puck off the wall and poked it ahead to Nick Schilkey. The Michigan native split the defense, faced Wildung mano a mano, and potted his third goal of the season. The Bucks kept control of the action, kept putting rubber on Wildung, but they did not capitalize on any more chances. This fact came back to haunt them.
Unfortunately whatever good juju Ohio State had in the opening frame was left in the locker room during the intermission break. The Buckeyes skated the first period loose and confident. In the second they were tentative and turnover-y. Two Buckeye giveaways ended up in the back of Frey’s net.
In addition to the defensive hiccups, the OSU offense missed some prime opportunities to improve their score. The Bucks came up empty on a power play chance. Mason Jobst could not convert a penalty shot. Good looks at the net resulted in misses and clanging posts.
| pd | time | buckeye goal scorer (assist) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10:19 | Nick Schilkey (Dave Gust) |
The third period was more of the same. The offensive chances were there for Ohio State but they went unfinished. Already playing from the behind, the Buckeyes also made their road even more difficult by taking frustrated, undisciplined penalties.
OSU outshot the Lakers 40-16 in the game. Schilkey led the Buckeyes with eight shots in the contest. Each team went 0-for-4 on its power play chances.
The bottom line tonight: the Bucks beat themselves. Ohio State seeks redemption tomorrow afternoon in the series finale. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 4pm
