After a slow, injury-hampered start to the season (January is first month in which he has started consecutive weeks), Christian Frey is finding his rhythm in the Buckeye net. In his last four starts he owns a 1.48 goals against average and a .961 save percentage. Such feats of goaltending excellence have the Ohio State senior pilling up the hardware. He is among Big Ten Hockey’s top performers for the second consecutive week.
| osu men's hockey | accolades | week |
|---|---|---|
| Nick Schilkey, Sr. F | Big Ten First Star of the Week | No. 3 |
| Matt Weis, Jr. F | Big Ten First Star of the Week | No. 4 |
| Tommy Parran, So. D | Big Ten Third Star of the Week | No. 4 |
| Nick Schilkey, Sr. F | Big Ten First Star of the Week | No. 6 |
| Dave Gust, Sr. F | Big Ten Second Star of the Week | No. 6 |
| Matt Tomkins, Sr. G | Big Ten Second Star of the Week | No. 7 |
| Tanner Laczynski, Fr. F | Big Ten Third Star of the Week | No. 7 |
| Christian Frey, Sr. G | Big Ten Second Star of the Week | No. 16 |
| Christian Frey, Sr. G | Big Ten Third Star of the Week | No. 17 |
Frey’s steadying presence was critical to containing the persistent Sun Devils last week. On Friday he stopped 35 shots in the Buckeyes' 6-1 win. Some of his most important saves came in the second period as he stifled ASU’s would-be rally. Although the visitors outshot the Bucks 17-8 in the middle frame, they drew only incrementally closer to OSU on the scoreboard. Frey denied all but one shot, and that goal came on an Arizona State power play.
In Saturday’s tie...well, it if hadn’t been for Frey we’d probably be calling it Saturday’s loss. The Arlington, Texas native’s 26 saves buoyed the listless Buckeyes in the series finale. In doing so he may well have preserved the bubble-sitting Buckeyes’ shot at an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. An outright loss to an unranked team is no bueno in the PairWise. He will certainly be a key factor in Ohio State’s tourney hopes as the season enters its most critical stages over the next two months.
Frey and the Buckeyes hit the road this week for a rematch with No. 1/2 Penn State. (The scheduling is weird this year, man. Season finale against the Nittany Lions before we even see a team from Michigan.) Games are set for 7pm ET starts this Friday and Saturday.
Other Notables
- PSU’s Chase Berger (four points vs Michigan State) and Minnesota’s Vinni Lettieri (hat trick against Michigan) are the Big Ten’s First and Second Stars of the Week, respectively.
- In case you missed it, Nick Schilkey is one of 15 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award, honoring outstanding achievement in the community, in the classroom, in character, and in competition. The winner will be announced during the Frozen Four in April.
- Ohio State's 1-0-1 weekend against Arizona State dropped the Buckeyes to No. 11 in both national polls and, more importantly, to No. 13 in the PairWise (which mimics the selection committee's formula for determining the NCAA's 16 tournament teams).
