By Miles McQuinn
Only two weekends left, third place Michigan is slowly creeping
away, and this weekend they host the number one ranked team in the
country for a weekend series.
For the Ohio State Buckeye hockey team, it's time to put up or
shut up.
After gaining only two points in the Big Ten Conference standings
after a good showing against rival Michigan last weekend, the Scarlet
and Gray have their work cut out for them in the last few weekends of
the season.
The past two series, the Buckeyes have had phenomenal performances
in the series opener, defeating Wisconsin on Feb. 14 and ousting
Michigan on Feb. 28. The second games of both of those series did not
end well for Ohio State, dropping both contests by scores of 4-2
against the Badgers and 4-3 against the Wolverines.
Head coach Steve Rohlik is nearing completion of his first year at
the helm of Ohio State and his work is just beginning.
Minnesota reclaimed their No. 1 ranking after previous No. 1
Boston College lost to then No. 14 ranked Notre Dame last weekend at
home. The Gophers head into Value City Arena at the Jerome
Schottenstein Center with a four game winning streak, the No. 6
ranked offense, and the No. 1 defense in the country.
If Minnesota wins tonight, combined with a Wisconsin loss to Penn State, the Gophers will clinch at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season title. If they sweep the Buckeyes, they will lock up the No. 1 seed for the conference playoffs.
If you take a look at the scoring distribution among the Gopher
lineup and compare it with the rest of the country, you'll notice
that Minnesota doesn't have a scorer in the top 50 in the country.
Their leading goal scorer, junior Seth Ambroz, has 13 goals this
season.
You must be saying “You've got to be kidding, right?”. The
nation's top team doesn't have a Johnny Gaudreau? No player who's
name is written all over the stat sheet every weekend?
I kid you not.
Ask any hockey coach in the country at any level, from the mites
all the way up to the NHL, and they'll tell you the same thing. A
coach would much rather have depth on all positions rather than a few
superstar players that carry the team from night to night.
Don't be fooled though, the Minnesota Golden Gophers are a team
loaded with both depth and talent, even if they aren't putting up
video-game-like numbers. This is a luxury head coach Don Lucia has
taken full advantage of.
The Gophers boast 14 players on their roster drafted into the NHL.
Minnesota has seven players with 20 points or more this season with
two more soon to come in the form of senior Nate Condon (7 goals, 12
assists) and freshman Taylor Cammarata (8 goals, 10 assists).
Defensively, Minnesota is giving up just under 2 goals per game.
Hobey Baker candidate, sophomore Adam Wilcox, is one of the toughest
netminders in the country to slip the puck past. Wilcox heads into
Columbus with a 21-4-5 record, posting a 1.94 goals against average
and a .932 save percentage.
A tough task ahead for the Buckeyes, but not an impossible one.
Ohio State had Minnesota on the ropes the last time the two
squared off in Minneapolis back on Jan. 17. In the first matchup
between the two teams of the season, The Hockey City Classic, held at
TCF Bank Stadium (home of the Gopher football team), 45,021 hockey
fans watched as the Gophers grinded out a 1-0 win in what was a very
even contest to the final buzzer.
The following night the teams went back indoors to play the second
game at Mariucci Arena. Ohio State jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a
little less than six minutes left in the opening frame. Junior Sam
Warning had seen enough. The Gophers leading scorer decided to take
matters into his own hands, scoring a natural hat trick to put his
team ahead 3-2. Junior Seth Ambroz completed the sweep adding a goal
at the 7:13 mark of the third period to give Minnesota a 4-2 victory.
Expect the same excitement in Columbus this weekend for both
Friday and Senior Night Saturday*.
*Note that four seniors will be part of their final home series
this weekend (captain Curtis Gedig, Alex Lippincott, Travis Statchuk,
and Alex Szczechura)
Szczechura, who had a goal, as well as the winning shootout goal
against Michigan on Feb. 28, will not be in action this weekend due
to a leg injury sustained in the Michigan game on March 2.
As deep as the Gopher lineup is, the Buckeyes have their own depth
to brag about.
Ohio State's offense, headed by Big Ten leading scorer junior Ryan
Dzingel (17 goals, 21 assists) is ranked a few spots behind Minnesota
at No. 9, averaging 3.33 goals per game. Juniors Max McCormick (11
goals, 15 assists), Tanner Fritz (5 goals, 20 assists), and Nick Oddo
(7 goals, 17 assists) have also put up great numbers this season as
well.
Defensively, the Buckeyes will need to buckle down, specifically
in penalty killing area, if they are to upset the nation's top ranked
team. Michigan went 3-4 on power play opportunities in their 4-3 win
over the Buckeyes at Nationwide Arena last Sunday.
Rohlik will have a tough decision to make on who to start in the
net this weekend. Freshman Matt Tomkins had a solid weekend in net
against Michigan, especially last Friday, stopping 35 of 37 shots. It
would be no surprise though if he starts freshman Christian Frey.
Frey currently has a 6-2-2 record with a 2.10 goals against average
and a .934 save percentage.
Capitalizing on power plays, locking down on defense, and doing
all the little things that help hockey teams win games. It takes a
near-perfect game to beat Minnesota and that's exactly what Ohio
State will need to do to beat the No. 1 Gophers.
The puck drops tonight at 7:30 p.m. Saturday's contest is set
to begin at 6:30 p.m.
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