Game Gab - Nightly Post-Game Analysis
Come here after the games for analysis and insights from CHN Staff members.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Ohio State 3, Ferris State 1 - Saturday, March 16, 2013
Ohio State and Ferris State will meet Sunday night for a spot in the CCHA semifinals after the Buckeyes forced Game 3. OSU scored three unanswered goals -- from Dzingel, Max McCormick and Nick Oddo. "Obviously we came out the first period and played our style very well. The team had a different look in their eyes tonight," OSU coach Mark Osiecki said. "Are we going to execute perfectly? No. But as a coaching staff we never question their will to compete and play hard. Missing a step in this sport happens but they prepare well as a team." ... Osiecki said he made lineup changes, but it was just to keep the team fresh. "Hopefully using our depth can be beneficial for tomorrow. Overall, the puck went back and forth tonight and Ferris State does a great job of stretching you out and making it a tough game." ... Said Ferris coach Bob Daniels, "Stamina is certainly an issue. I plan on seeing a lot of energy in the first period and we will have to see what will happen in the end."
Friday, March 15, 2013
Ferris State 4, Ohio State 2 - Friday, March 15, 2013
Ferris State was one of three lower-seeded teams to get wins in the CCHA on Friday. Justin DeMartino scored twice as FSU rallied for the win, getting the GWG early in the third period. FSU then had to hold on. "I would prefer we keep trying to push and find another goal," FSU coach Bob Daniels said. "We have had a fault this year of getting a lead early and trying to milk it the whole way home; I would rather not play that way.”
"It went back and forth, the game changer was us being on a power play and taking a penalty which showed a lack of discipline on our part," OSU coach Mark Osiecki said. "This team has always responded to adversity; the undisciplined errors we have to correct. Ferris State played like they've been through this before and have been through a lot of playoff battles." ... Said OSU forward Tanner Fritz: "There was a different feel tonight but it’s tournament play and things happen so we need to respond accordingly.”
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Michigan 6, Ohio State 3 - Saturday, February 23, 2013
The defense and goaltending hasn't really improved as this long season has dragged on for Michigan, but at least now they seem to have found the scoring touch. That's 27 goals now in the last six games, four of which are wins. This was the first road sweep of the season for the Wolverines. And in so doing, it prevented Ohio State from moving ahead of idle Ferris State, so those two teams remain tied for the final home-ice spot. Actually, they have locked the 4-5 slot, so will play each in the other CCHA quarterfinals, it just depends on where. Ferris State hosts Michigan, while OSU is at Miami, which would seem to favor the Bulldogs, but we'll see.
Brady Hjelle was getting some Hobey chatter coming into the weekend, but that may now be gone. Michigan, meanwhile, goes into next week's finale one point behind Lake Superior for the final home ice spot for the first round of the playoffs.
“We haven’t seen two games like this all year, this is not Ohio State hockey and it is not how we have played this year at all," OSU coach Mark Osiecki said. "But that is probably the best hockey Michigan has played this season. ... Our blue line is thin right now, but going forward we know we have a bye week, which is great. Those six goals we let go were not goals we let through normally which is disappointing. ... We need to turn the page as soon as possible but it has to stay around long enough to sting. We need to remember how this feels on Monday, but we also need to move on and look forward to our next game.”
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Ohio State 6, Western Michigan 3 - Saturday, February 16, 2013
Don't talk about any second-half meltdowns this season. Ohio State is getting stronger and stronger as this season goes on, unlike last year. Alex Szczechura had a hat trick to lead the Buckeyes, who pick up a solid 4 of 6 possible points on the weekend. OSU is 5-1-2 since mid-January and has gotten itself back above .500. ... On the other side -- it's a relatively minor setback for Western Michigan, which sits at No. 8 in the Pairwise.
Szczechura had just four goals last season, but is now up to 10. “At times he was fighting for his right to play," OSU coach Mark Osiecki said. "He’s earned it though and he is very talented around the net.” ... Said Szczechura, “Going to the net, pucks were just kind of landing at my feet so I had a few chances. That is credit to our whole team though. We did a nice job tonight of getting pucks to the net to create chances for us.”
Western Michigan coach Andy Murray said, "I give my full compliments to Ohio State, they were faster to the pucks. Not enough of our people impressed me tonight. ... When you don't stay humble, you get humbled."
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Notre Dame 2, Ohio State 2 - Saturday, February 2, 2013
With a 2-7 record in the last nine games, Notre Dame has pulled a deja vu of last season's inexplicable second-half meltdown that cost the Irish an NCAA bid. It looks like it could happen again, though at least for now Notre Dame halted the slide a little bit. It won the shootout, though that won't matter for NCAA purposes. Saturday was a rough 6-3 loss to Ohio State, a game in which Steven Summerhays got pulled; and understudy Mike Johnson got the start Saturday. ... On the other end, the Irish actually played a strong offensive game, but were stymied time and again by OSU's Brady Hjelle.
“We had a hard time getting out of our zone," OSU coach Mark Osiecki said. "I thought Notre Dame played extremely well. They played desperate and had us on our heels. We played tough though. When you find a way to hang tight and to keep it close, that’s when you need some of your big guns to step up and steal the game. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen tonight. ... We certainly didn’t have the same jump tonight. This team is in good shape. It was just one of those games. You can’t play on top of your game, like we have been, for four weeks in a row. You’re going to have a game when it is not absolutely perfect. On a national scene, it’s a tie and that’s a great point for us.”
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Ohio State 6, Lake Superior 1 - Saturday, January 26, 2013
Ohio State gets the weekend sweep, determined not to let last year's second-half swoon happen again. The Buckeyes have crept into a tie for fifth in the CCHA. Ohio State scored the first five goals of the game, all in the first period, two from Alex Szczechura, en route to the win. The Buckeyes had 41 shots on the game. “We wanted to be on our toes. That’s how we wanted to play. We wanted to be aggressive, that was our mentality," OSU coach Mark Osiecki said. "I don’t think our guys have lost any confidence but it certainly helps to win. Now we have to turn the page and get ready for the Irish.” ...“We haven’t been the highest scoring team but this weekend the goals were coming all night so that’s definitely a confidence booster for us," Szczechura said.
Lakers goalie Kevin Murdock was pulled after making just two saves on five shots, but Kevin Kapalka didn't fare much better. Lake Superior is 1-4-1 since its five-game winning streak ended. “My two (goalies) have played great all year and they had a bad night today," LSSU coach Jim Roque said. "I give credit to Ohio State. I thought they played great all weekend. They were on the toes and played with energy. They had a lot of good chances both nights. You could tell they were desperate, hopefully we’ll get desperate this week to bounce back next weekend. ... I think (our forwards and defenders) played okay. When you get down that much early in the game, your game plan changes. You have to gamble and take chances. It’s a hard game to really judge. Our guys competed hard and wanted to try and get back in the game. They didn’t quit that’s for sure.”
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Northern Michigan 3, Ohio State 2 - Saturday, January 19, 2013
After a terrible start to the season, Northern Michigan has turned things around, unbeaten now in six straight after sweeping OSU. Freshman Jared Coreau is one of the best unheralded goalies in the country; the junior has played every game this season, and put in a 30-save effort in this one. ... Unfortunately, Ohio State is going the complete other direction. After a good start to its season, it has gone 1-7-2 in the last 10, bringing back nightmares of last season, when the team sat atop the Pairwise on Jan. 1 only to win one game the whole rest of the year.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Ohio State 2, Robert Morris 2 - Saturday, December 8, 2012
Robert Morris shook off 45 shots from OSU on Friday, and got a shorthanded and power-play goal in a 3-2 upset win over the Buckeyes. Instead of a big letdown from that, the Colonials followed up with a solid tie, and even outshot OSU 5-0 in the overtime.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Ohio State 4, Northern Michigan 2 - Saturday, November 17, 2012
Fifty-four seconds into Friday's game, Northern Michigan's Matt Thurber was given a game misconduct for a hit to the head. The CCHA office gave him a one-game suspension after that, so he sat out this game, another loss for NMU. Brady Hjelle had the shutout Friday for the Buckeyes, while Collin Olson needed just 12 saves for Saturday's win, as the reeling Wildcats turned in a lackluster effort. “We had some guys stay home with injuries and lost some guys to penalties, which left us with a shorter than usual bench," NMU coach Walt Kyle said. "However it gave some different guys a chance to get in-game experience tonight."
"It is not so much our defensemen, it is our forwards putting pressure on the other team’s defensemen," OSU coach Mark Osiecki said, of the low shot total allowed. "We are moving our feet more and utilizing one of our strengths, our speed." ... OSU forward Riley Simpson, a redshirt freshman, got his first career goal. "It feels really good, like a weight has been taken off my back."
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Alaska-Fairbanks 3, Ohio State 1 - Saturday, November 10, 2012
Fairabanks got five points on the weekend, following up the shootout win from Friday. After Nolan Youngman was given a 5-minute major in the third period, Fairbanks was not only able to kill off the penalty, but score a shorthanded goal in the process that sealed the game. Ohio State lost despite 42 saves from freshman goalie Collin Olson. "It was very high tempo," OSU coach Mark Osiecki said about the game. "They're a fast team. The power plays were going both ways, which made it a pretty interesting game."
Said Dallas Ferguson, Alaska head coach: “We always want to be playing quick when we can. One of our major focal points is getting a lot of pucks at the net, and you have to play quick to do that. The difference this year is we’re generating a lot more quality looks out of that quantity. ... You always come into the game with a plan for what you want to do, but a lot of times you just have to be able to adapt. We teach our players to have a short memory and not get too high or too low throughout the game when adjusting to the referees, penalties or goals.”
Ohio State has been struggling offensively so far this season, scoring just one goal in five of its last six games.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Ohio State 3, Bowling Green 3 - Saturday, October 27, 2012
Photo: Todd Pavlack
Another couple of freshman goaltenders squared off -- two more in a long line of them in the CCHA this season -- OSU's Collin Olson and Bowling Green's Tommy Burke. In this case, as opposed to the all-freshmen tandems at Miami and Michigan, these guys are splitting time with seniors, OSU's Brady Hjelle and Bowling Green's Andrew Hammond. Burke has the better numbers so far, and gets a shootout win here. Hjelle and Olson have identical numbers for the Buckeyes, who are off to a 2-2-2 start.
Ohio State 3, Ferris State 2 - Sunday, March 17, 2013
After three hard-fought, one-goal games, Ohio State advances, winning the final two games of the series. The series was everything you'd expect from the 4-5 seeds in the CCHA. Ohio State will face second-seeded Notre Dame in the CCHA semifinals on Saturday in Detroit. Brady Hjelle made 47 saves to stave off Ferris State, and got a third-period goal from Anthony Greco for the game winner. Ryan Dzingel added three assists. Said Greco, "I just know they were changing and we were just trying to transition and it was (Curtis) Gedig that made a good pass to Dzingel for the shot. I was just trying to go in there hard."
“All in all, I am very proud of our guys. They played a great game. I’m not upset with them or the effort at all, just the end result," Ferris State coach Bob Daniels said. "There is so much that goes into the season from your equipment managers to the trainers to the players. It’s really sad when it comes to an end, just because of all the effort everyone has put in in order to have a great year. Since everyone is invested, when you lose, it hurts.”
"I told our team it's a huge step (getting to Joe Louis Arena), we haven't been there in a while," OSU coach Mark Osiecki said. "We're still learning how to play in big games and how to win. They played for their lives today. I can't be prouder of the way our guys played. ... We were on our heels in the second. In the third period we played pretty well and pretty structured; we played harder and blocked a few more shots heading to the end and I was impressed with our wing guys playing better on the walls."
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