The men’s hockey Buckeyes knocked off the seventh ranked Golden Gophers on Friday. Like so many of their other successful results this season, the Bucks built their win on solid, team wide defense. Ohio State bottled Minnesota up for 56+ minutes. The home ice jinx threatened late, but the Scarlet and Gray rallied to pull out an overtime victory.
| Scoring by Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 7 Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| No. 13/15 Ohio State | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
The Buckeye penalty killers set the tone early. Minnesota went on the power play less than a minute into the contest. OSU’s kill stood tall and did not allow the Gophers a single shot on goal during the advantage. The Bucks’ team defense remained strong, even at even strength. And, when he was called upon to make tough saves, netminder Sean Romeo was stellar.
| Buckeye Goal Scorers (Assists) | Pd | Time |
|---|---|---|
| PP - Tanner Laczynski (Mason Jobst, Matt Weis) | 1 | 14:46 |
| Christian Lampasso (Dakota Joshua, Luke Stork) | OT | 3:44 |
Ohio State edged ahead late in the first period. An attack by the Freddy Gerard-Matt Weis-Tanner Laczynski line drew a holding penalty against the Gophers. The Buckeyes shuffled the puck around during the advantage until it came to Laczynski. The sophomore spotted a sliver of net by Eric Schierhorn’s ear and fired home his seventh goal of the season.
GOAL! Tanner Laczynski buries his seventh goal of the year to give the Buckeyes the 1-0 lead!#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/4OYQUmBx0S
— Ohio State M Hockey (@OhioState_MHKY) December 9, 2017
Mason Jobst assisted on the score. The helper was career point No. 100 for the Buckeye captain. Weis also had a hand in the goal. His assist brought his career point total to 99.
Minnesota grew stronger as the game progressed. Early in the tilt the Gophers got few shots off that weren’t at least muddied up by a Buckeye stick or body. They generated better chances as time wore on. Romeo made several top notch saves to preserve the Buckeye lead.
But as the Gophers’ offense revved up, the Buckeye defense became more and more conservative. By the midway mark of the third period OSU seemed to be trying to sit back and lock down a 1-0 win. You know what they say about prevent defense. Sure enough, with a little over three minutes to go Rem Pitlick tied the game with a Minnesota goal.
The 1-1 score held up through regulation, but the Bucks had a little magic left for the overtime session. They left Romeo to mind the net and let their scorers loose once again. With 1:16 left on the clock, Christian Lampasso stuffed the gamewinner past Schierhorn. The Gopher goalie could do little but shake his head as he skated off the ice.
Buckeyes win!
— Ohio State M Hockey (@OhioState_MHKY) December 9, 2017
Lampasso with the OT winner for a 2-1 victory over No. 7 Minnesota. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/Zx52LC8mHl
While it would have been nice to see Ohio State close out the regulation win, the end result is the same. The Buckeyes pick up three huge conference points and knock off the No. 7 team in the country. The teams return to the ice tomorrow night to conclude this week’s series. This was a pretty good hockey game, bone rattling hits, huge saves on both sides, and tons of skill on display. I expect more of the same tomorrow. If you get the chance, catch some of the action either in person or on BTN beginning at 8pm ET.
- The Buckeyes blocked 20 shots in the contest, led by Sasha Larocque and Matt joyaux with four each.
- OSU won tonight's special teams battle with one PPG in four tries and a perfect 5-for-5 penalty kill.
- Laczynksi was a force to be reckoned with. He scored the Bucks' lone regulation goal, put seven shots on net, and authored several of the team's better scoring chances.
- Lampasso's gamewinner was the fifth goal scored by the senior in the last six games.
- You can see tonight's boxscore here.
