January 16, 2009
Bucking The Trend
Ohio State Is Turning Things Back Around After a Couple Years of Misfortune
by Courtney Lewis/CHN Reporter
At first glance, it might look like Dustin Carlson has been the solution Ohio State’s problems. After riding a roller coaster in net the last few years, the Buckeyes have had steady goaltending this season and have gone from dreadful to in contention.
But coach John Markell insists that Carlson is just one piece.
“We’re getting balanced scoring. Some role players that we didn’t have last year are emerging. The freshmen from last year have used their experience, and we have some freshmen we brought in that have plugged some holes,” Markell said.
“We’re playing better as a group. We’re scoring goals, and we’re responding the right way to pressure. That’s a credit to the group. It’s a team effort more than an individual.”
In 2004-05 the Buckeyes finished second in the CCHA playoffs and made their third straight NCAA tournament appearance. They didn’t win more than 15 games in any of the next three seasons, including a 12-25-4 showing last year, when they placed 11th in the CCHA.
But they’re currently 15-6-1 and on a best-in-the-nation 10-game winning streak that dates back to Nov. 22. They’re ranked 14th nationally and sit sixth in the CCHA, nine points behind Notre Dame.
Carlson, a sophomore from Forest Lake, Minn., has definitely been part of that improved play. Joseph Palmer came in as a highly-touted freshman in 2006-07 but his career has been up-and-down.
Carlson played nine games last year and got his first start this season in the Buckeye’s fourth game. He allowed one goal during a weekend sweep of Michigan State in early November and has been a regular in net since.
“Dusty has been able to sustain consistency more than what (Palmer and freshman Cal Heeter) have,” Markell said. “Has he made mistakes? Yeah. He’s made mistakes that have turned into goals. But you also have to look at how the team plays in front when he does make mistakes. They know he competes. Not to say Cal or Joe don’t compete, but I have to look as a coach at how the team reacts to goaltenders. And they react to Dusty because they know how hard he works.”
Carlson is 13-3 with a 2.26 GAA and a .925 save percentage, and he has posted four shutouts.
Senior forward Corey Elkins said Carlson has given the Buckeyes some stability and confidence.
“When you go into a game and know your goalie is playing well, it’s an instant bit of confidence,” Elkins said. “It keeps your focus where it should be — on scoring goals and playing good defense.”
And Ohio State has been scoring plenty. It leads the CCHA with 82 goals (3.73 per game). Elkins is tied for the team’s scoring lead with 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists).
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound West Bloomfield, Mich. native is having a career year. He registered 14 points as a sophomore and seemed poised to become a big part of the offense, and then he totaled just five points last season.
Markell said Elkins’ talent was always evident, but his level of play would vary drastically from game to game, and he had to become a more complete player.
“He’s protecting the puck better, paying attention to details better, playing the game smarter, Markell said. “It’s not always a finesse game. You gotta get in there and compete, and we had to define compete for him. He always had the skills; it was the other side of the puck that was restricting him.
“It’s him realizing what he can get away with and what he can’t and accepting it and working on it harder. It’s like we were giving him the answers to the exam, and he wasn’t listening. Now he’s listening, and it’s paying dividends.”
Elkins said getting more opportunities to play this season has helped him. He added that he’s been trying to be really active in the offensive end and make sure he’s playing a physical game.
“I’m finally this year starting to be able to play like the player that I remember when I was doing good back in juniors,” Elkins said. “Last year was definitely really frustrating, but ultimately I want to be a hockey player, so I wasn’t looking back or worried about what had happened. I set goals for myself coming in knowing this was my last opportunity to get some interest in me for next year. So I wanted to give everything I have.”
Sophomore John Albert also has 23 points on the season, and classmates Peter Boyd and Hunter Bishop are among the scoring leaders. Markell said the enthusiasm of the freshmen has helped the team, and some of them have piled up points as well — Zac Dalpe is the Buckeyes’ top goal-scorer with 12, and Ian Boots is third in points with 19.
Plus senior Zach Pelletier has recovered from an ankle injury that forced him to redshirt last year, and Markell said Pelletier, C.J. Severyn and Mathieu Picard have become important role players.
The roster includes 22 freshmen and sophomores, but Markell said sometimes that youth works to the Buckeyes’ advantage. He said going into last weekend’s series at Bowling Green, just one guy had played there before, and none of them has skated at Ewigleben Ice Arena, where they take on Ferris State this weekend.
“They have no idea what’s coming,” Markell said. “They don’t understand how hard it’s going to be at Ferris State or how hard Western Michigan comes at you. They don’t understand what a trip to Alaska is about. And that can really help out. We don’t want to scare the heck out of them. Right now, (youth) is causing them to stick together and stick to the game plan.”
Elkins said there’s better chemistry and a different feel this season — and the Buckeyes are having more fun on the ice and in the locker room.
“In the past, even though we’ve had unsuccessful years, we have won big games. But the problem was we got amped up for those games and kind of neglected to take care of teams that weren’t ranked highly, teams that weren’t big rivals,” Elkins said. “It’s definitely a different feeling. Every game, we go in with the attitude that we expect to win, and if we don’t, we’re disappointed. I think a winning team, championship teams, that’s the mindset you have to have. We’re getting there.”
So far, Ohio State has won the games it’s supposed to. Now it has a lot of those red-letter games coming up. After Ferris State and then Western Michigan, the Buckeyes end the regular season with a five-week stretch that starts at Alaska, ends at Miami and also includes Notre Dame and Michigan. That’s four of the current top-five teams in the CCHA.
Markell thinks Ohio State can climb into that tier of the conference, but he knows that one 0-2 weekend could knock them right out of the race.
“I think if we stay even-keeled and we can pick up points every weekend, with the tough schedule ahead, we could possibly contend for a top-four spot,” Markell said. “But at no point can we drop points on a weekend. When Michigan comes here, we need points. We have to beat them. We have to beat Notre Dame. We have to beat Miami.”
Markell is hesitant to look too far ahead, and he also tries to keep the past few difficult seasons in the past.
“I guess what I’m saying is I prefer live in the present, rather than worry about the future or what’s already happened,” he said. “How can we get better today?
“It’s taken a long stretch for us to get some credit, but I want to stay even-keeled. It only takes one loss to lose it. I just know we’re not a team that’s going to go away easy, and we’re not going to blow teams off the ice. But we hope to contend for 60 minutes, and at the end of 60 minutes, we’ll see where the chips fall.”
