In Thursday’s Big Ten Hockey tournament quarterfinal Ohio State rallied past Michigan State to claim an overtime victory. The win propelled the Buckeyes into the semifinals and set up a rematch with regular season nemesis Minnesota. Like those earlier battles, this one would go to the Gophers.
| scoring by period | 1 | 2 | 3 | final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio State | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
The Gophers pressed hard in the opening minute, seeking the game’s opening goal. They put three shots on goal and fired another two or three that were blocked or missed the net. Good defense and sharp goaltending by Buckeye goalie Christian Frey kept Minnesota off the board.
The teams’ penalty killing was showcased in the next stretch of the game. First the Gophers held the Buckeyes shotless over a minor advantage. Then Ohio State’s kill unit rose to the occasion and thwarted a major Minnesota power play.
| pd | time | buckeye goal scorers (assists) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13:01 | Kevin Miller (Janik Moser) |
| 3 | 17:44 | EA - Dave Gust (Anthony Greco, Matt Weis) |
When the Bucks returned to full strength they buzzed into the offensive zone and swarmed the Minnesota net. Player after player chucked rubber at Gopher goalie Eric Schierhorn. Eventually Kevin Miller capped the assault by backhanding the puck into a gaping net.
Ohio State nearly took a 2-0 lead when Nick Schilkey rang a shot off the crossbar, but the score remained 1-0 heading into the second period. The Gophers came out of the intermission firing. They had a decisive advantage in possession and applied consistent pressure to the Buckeye net.
But Frey stood firm. He denied every attempt, including a point blank blast from Hudson Fasching late in the frame. The Bucks’ defenders were terrific in support of the netminder. Ohio State carried its 1-0 lead into the third period.
In the final frame the Gophers picked up the pressure right where they left off and soon tied the game. A Buckeye turnover led to Minnesota’s first breakaway of the night (or odd man rush of any kind, really). Tyler Sheehy rolled the puck over Frey’s shoulder and in.
A second Gopher goal followed. Minnesota finally shook free of the OSU defenders deep in the Buckeye end. Vinnie Lettieri roofed the go-ahead tally.
Minny added a third score after some deft stick work by Sheehy picked the pocket of the Buckeye puck carrier. He quickly set up Taylor Cammarata and the Gophers took a 3-1 lead at the 11:11 mark. Five minutes later Cammarata struck again, extending Minny’s advantage to 4-1.
The Bucks had a heck of mountain to climb in the final three and a half minutes but they put their heads down and skated hard to the final horn. Dave Gust narrowed the deficit to two goals with just over two minutes to play and the extra attacker on, whacking home a weird bounce off the end wall.
Ohio State played the last 1:16 of the game with an additional advantage as Minnesota’s overzealous defenders boarded Buckeyes on two separate occasions. However an improbable rally wasn’t in the cards for the Scarlet and Gray. The Gophers won the game and advance to tomorrow’s Big Ten championship game where they will face Michigan.
The Buckeyes did a lot of good things in this game. Defense and goaltending, two concerns heading into the contest, performed well for two periods against a talented Minnesota squad that was essentially playing on home ice. Offensively the Bucks generated some scoring chances, including a couple odd man rushes and a breakaway. They just couldn’t find a way past Schierhorn and ultimately the regular season champs wore Ohio State's defense out.
Buckeye coach Steve Rohlik thought his team had the compete level to win, but not the endurance.
"I think our guys emptied the tank and maybe we ran out of gas a little too early tonight. But I'm proud of the group, proud of the guys in the locker room. They never quit to the end."
Team captain Nick Schilkey concurred.
"We take a five-minute and, you know, we're out there. We killed it off. But, you know, maybe that was a little exhausting...We played two games and maybe they just had a little extra at the end there. But, you know, we kept fighting. We fought all year in those late, you know, late in games and it's just tough we couldn't get one there."
OSU finishes the season with a 14-18-4 record. After a 3-11-0 first half the Bucks rebounded with a 11-7-4 run out of the midseason break. The team showed a tremendous amount of growth over the course of the season (which we’ll explore further in an upcoming year-in-review).
