Game #20 - Ohio State v. Miami

Miele's two goals lead #1 Miami to 4-2 victory over Ohio State

Oxford, Ohio (Dec. 12, 2009) - On Friday in Columbus, #1 ranked Miami skated to an easy 6-0 win over in-state foe Ohio State. On Saturday, the Buckeyes were determined to make it much more difficult on their archrivals.

Andy Miele scored two goals during a four-goal third period lifting Miami to a 4-2 win over Ohio State. Miele's first goal, a powerplay marker at 11:43 of the period forged a 2-2 tie. His second goal at 17:41 proved to be the game-winner as Miami rallied for the win.

The victory enabled the RedHawks to maintain their five-point cushion over second place Michigan State who finished off a two-game sweep of Bowling Green by winning 4-1. And, Miami retained their six-point lead over red hot Ferris State who also notched a weekend sweep downing Western Michigan 4-3.

Miami (13-2-5 overall, 10-1-3-1 CCHA) is now off until 2010 when they open the second half of the season with a non-conference home-and-home series against Robert Morris. The first game will be held in Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena on Friday, January 8 as part of the Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase. The Miami-RMU game will be the third of the day that will also see the Robert Morris women's team take on UConn (2pm) and the RMU club team against Penn State (5pm). Miami and RMU will conclude the series in Oxford on Sunday, January 10 before the RedHawks hit the road for a difficult, and lengthy, four-game trip to Big Rapids, Mich. and Fairbanks, Alaska. The Big Rapids trip looks to be one of the season's most important as Miami and Ferris State are separated by just six points in the standings. If Miami could sweep the Bulldogs, they will be in great position as the season winds down to finish among the top two in the CCHA. The following weekend, Miami travels to the great white north where they will face the University of Alaska in a grueling series against a Nanook team that always seems to play Miami tough.

For Ohio State (7-12-1, 5-8-1-1 CCHA), they have to put the first half of the season behind them and use the time over the holidays to regroup. With wins against top ten teams Denver and Bemidji State, the Buckeyes have shown an ability to play with the nation's elite. However, Saturday's loss after playing some of their best hockey for two periods has to be disappointing.

Unlike Friday, on Saturday night, the teams skated a fairly even, uneventful first period with both starting goaltenders seeing action - their first of the weekend as both coaches chose to start their alternate goalie. Buckeye starter, junior Dustin Carlson, was the busier of the two as he made 13 first period stops while Miami starter, sophomore Connor Knapp, made 8 saves in the scoreless first period.

However, the Buckeyes would breakthrough in the second period on junior Hunter Bishop's fifth goal of the season that ended the RedHawks school record scoreless streak at 239:13. It was the first goal Miami had surrendered since the third period of a 5-5 tie at North Dakota on November 28. A new scoreless streak would not last long as Ohio State got a powerplay goal just over three minutes later. Sophomore Zac Dalpe took a long feed from defenseman Matt Bartkowski and skated in alone on Knapp making a nice left-to-right deke and as the Miami goaltender went down far too early, Dalpe patiently waited and easily fired the puck into the top corner for his team-leading 10th goal of the year.

As the second period came to a close, the teams came together resulting in six minor penalties, but the scrum seemed to wake the RedHawks who came out flying in the third.

Miami got within one goal when freshman defenseman Steve Spinell picked off an errant clearing attempt and displayed some nice hands skating from the left point between the circles firing a wrister that Carlson stopped. But, Spinell stayed with his shot and picked up the rebound backhanding it through traffic just inside the far post for his first collegiate goal. Miele would then score twice to put the RedHawks up for good and senior Jarod Palmer added his 7th goal, an empty net tally at 19:33 to finish it.

In scoring four times in the third period, the RedHawks outshot the Buckeyes 17-9 in the stanza and 40-27 on the night. During the third periods of both games, the RedHawks outscored Ohio State 8-0. If nothing else, last year's title game loss to Boston University has taught the RedHawks that no game is EVER over.

Ohio State head coach John Markell tried to find a silver lining to describe the performance.

“I thought we played well, but it was a race to three and they beat us there,” said Markell. “We had a couple of chances to make it three and that would have secured the game. I saw a lot of good things tonight from our team, and I like the way we responded to Friday night’s game.” (USCHO)

The Buckeyes resume play on January 8 when they host Bowling Green in a CCHA series at Value City Arena. They finish the first half of the season in 9th place, but just one point out of sixth where there is a three-way tie between Notre Dame, Nebraska-Omaha and Northern Michigan.

Notes

• Miami's Alden Hirschfeld posted a two-point game with assists on Spinell's goal and Miele's game-winner.
  
• Here is a link to the official box score. (USCHO)
• Miami goaltender Connor Knapp made 22 saves to improve his record to 3-1-3 with a solid 2.18 GAA and 91.3 save percentage.
• Miele's two goals enabled him to regain the top point spot on Miami's roster. He now leads the team with 19 points on 7 goals.
• Jarod Palmer had a three-point night with assists on both Miele goals and his empty-net goal that iced it.
  
• OSU's Dustin Carlson made his first start in five games and is now just 1-8 on the season with a 2.94 GAA and 91.0 save percentage.
  

Red Bull Gives You Wing(el)s

Miami captain Tommy Wingels scores four goals in 6-0 rout of Buckeyes

Columbus, Ohio (Dec. 11, 2009) - With all due respect to Red Bull, maybe their tagline should be revised. Junior captain Tommy Wingels netted #1 Miami's first four goals including three on the powerplay as the RedHawks cruised past Ohio State 6-0.

Wingels, who entered the game with six goals on the season, also added an assist for a final line of 4-1-5 enabling him to assume the team lead in goals (10) and forge a tie with junior forward Carter Camper for team points supremacy (18). It was Wingels first four-goal game of his college career and he couldn't remember a time in recent history that he'd had a similar performance.

"It hasn't happened in a while, maybe not since the squirt leagues," Wingels said. "We're all happy to come out with the win, no matter who scores. Our goal was just to finish with three more (CCHA) points for the team tonight." (Ohio State Buckeyes)

Three other RedHawks enjoyed three point evenings as Camper (0-3-3), junior forward Pat Cannone (1-2-3) and freshman forward Curtis McKenzie (0-3-3) helped set up Wingels and senior Jarod Palmer who scored the sixth and final goal of the night for Miami at 15:49 of the third period.

Lost among the offensive fireworks was the solid defensive job Miami was doing in holding the Buckeyes to just 17 shots on goal. The team effort enabled sophomore goaltender Cody Reichard to notch his second consecutive shutout and lower his nation's best goals-against average to 1.34 as he improved to 10-1-2 on the season. Miami has not allowed a goal since November 28 as they have recorded shutout victories in their last three games. In fact, the scoreless streak has now reached 202:14 minutes which is a school record.

For the Buckeyes, the loss had to be disheartening as head coach John Markell thought he was settling in on a starting goaltender in sophomore Cal Heeter that he could ride during the second half of the season. Heeter came into Friday's game with a 2.75 GAA and 91.4 save percentage. However, the native of St. Louis, Missouri was average at best surrendering all six Miami goals and perhaps had a case of the jitters. With the performance, Heeter earned himself a spot on the bench for tonight's series finale in Oxford. Junior goaltender Dustin Carlson will apparently return to the Buckeye crease to face the always creative Miami student section in Steve Cady Arena.

“(Heeter) is not too happy with himself,” Markell said. “I thought he had some freshman moments there… He made some saves in the second period just couldn’t sustain it.” (USCHO)

With the win, Miami improved to 12-2-5 on the season and 9-1-3-1 (31 points) in the CCHA. Miami will need to continue to win as both Michigan State (26 points) and red hot Ferris State (25 points, two games in-hand) continued to post league W's and are in the RedHawks rear view mirror for the top spot in the conference.

Ohio State will be looking for a better effort in tonight's rematch in Oxford as they saw their record drop to 7-11-1 overall and 5-7-1-1 in the league. The Buckeyes' 17 points is good enough for 8th place and the final home ice slot if the CCHA playoffs began today.

Notes

• Reichard's shutout was his third on the season which is a new career high. Last year, Reichard posted two shutouts during a stellar freshman season.
• Given the winter break begins after tonight's game, it will be interesting to see if Miami coach Enrico Blasi goes with his typical Saturday goaltender (sophomore Connor Knapp) or if he goes with the red-hot Cody Reichard as this is the final league game for about a month, and as such, is very important for Miami.
  
• Wingels is just five goals behind his career high of 15 that was established during his freshman season with more than 18 games to play. He has responded both on and off the ice in his new role as RedHawk captain.
• Camper recorded the 100th point of his career with his assist on Wingels' second goal.
  
• The Buckeyes have been shutout three times this season and are averaging just 2.31 goals per game.
• Miami was 4 for 6 on the powerplay while Ohio State was 0 for 6.
• Miami has now successfully killed 23 consecutive opponent powerplays and Ohio State has not converted in their last 24 man advantage situations.
• Heeter made 27 stops as the RedHawks outshot the Buckeyes 33-17.
• A pro-Miami crowd of 4,496 was in attendance at Value City Arena.
• Tonight's game will be televised live across the great state of Ohio on ONN at 7pm.
  

Four Lines Deep - 12/10/09

Jackets at Nashville Predators; The Death Star

8 p.m. (EST); Fox Sports Ohio

The Nashville Predators, referred to as "Darth Vader" by Coach Hitchcock, love having the Jackets as guests.

As fans, we know the Nashville Predators. The Jackets know the Nashville Predators. And most importantly, the Predators know the Predators. They have retained a consistent style of hockey since the inception of the franchise, and as such, you know what you're going to get from them every single night.

The Predators went on a torrid pace in November and emerged from the bottom of the division to a viable contender in the West. The Preds are (14-5-1) in their last 20. Impressive. Nobody really saw this coming as they made very few alterations to their lineup in the off-season, and they just don't have a lot of goal scoring support. Or so we thought. Players such as Martin Erat have stepped it up, and he had a hat trick on home ice against a very respectable Vancouver team earlier this week. The Predators are 2-2 in their last four, but the Jackets haven't won in Nashville since 2006....as in THREE years ago. Think they're due?

The Jackets earned a much-needed win against Florida last night, and Mason earned a much-needed shutout. The team was in dire need of confidence, and hopefully found some in the 3-0 victory. That being said, Florida is a pretender and Nashville is a contender. Last night's win will quickly lose it's luster if the Jackets fail to get a point this evening. Preferably two. The division race is heating up quickly, and as Hitch eluded to in his post-game presser last night, some of the teams in the West (LA, Phoenix, Nashville) are starting to take off.

Regardless of whether it makes much sense or not, the Jackets benefit from hard-working grinders like Murray and Dorsett in the lineup. Certainly, that style of play is needed against the Predators, who don't give up many goals (82) and have extremely dependable goaltending in Pekka Rinne. As a side note, if Mase ends up with the start tonight, he could really earn some more confidence if he clearly outperforms Rinne. Certainly, Garon could get back in his groove with a solid outing as well.

There isn't any complex strategy to win this game -- the Jackets just need to replicate the play from last night. First off, the defense needs to play with a comparable sense of urgency -- they jumped on loose pucks, skated the puck out of harm's way and jumped on opponents behind the net.

The forwards need to dominate the faceoff circle (again), limit turnovers in the defensive zone and drive hard to the net. Rinne has a quick glove and the Jackets will have to throw pucks and bodies at the net to shake him. Hopefully, Chimmer and Brass can carry their newfound momentum forward, and it would be great to have Rick Nash dent the twine. He was really gripping his stick in the offensive zone last night and ripping slappers as opposed to driving the net. Rinne won't be caught sleeping on a deep slapper, so I hope he drives hard to the net to create scoring opportunities.

Afternoon Scrum 12/10/09

A New Hope?

Hockey headlines for the CBJ and from around the league. Mmmmm... hockey

• CBJ in Nashville tonite to take on the Preds in what is now being called the Nashville Arena. Readers of this blog are no doubt keenly aware, but as Aaron Portzline points out, the Jackets have dropped their past 12 visits in the Music City.
  
• The Canadian Press is reporting that NHL Commish Gary Bettman is hip to the idea of returning a team to Quebec City. No mention in the story about the all important issue of whether or not this team would be of the relocated variety or an expansion one. And why not send the 'Yotes back to Winnipeg while we're at it? TSN has both stories.
  
• A few weeks ago we shared a story about the on-ice communications between refs and players. The latest installment in A Ref's Life, a series running on THN.com written by Rory Boylen concerns the in game communications between the team of refs/linesman with each other. Interesting stuff.
  
• Game previews for tonite's matchup between the CBJ and the Predators. The Columbus Dispatch and The Tennessean.
• Columbus Business First has a piece on a gentleman named John Rosenberger who has been hired by the City & County to develop a strategy to resolve the financial woes of the Jackets. I'm sure John P. McConnell and Mike Priest are happy to have the City and the County offering some help in solving the issue.
  
• Remember the Ov's Line of the Red Wings from a decade ago? 51 year old D Slava Fetistov will suit up for a game with CSKA Moscow of the KHL. Yup, that's the same team 19 year CBJ property Nikita Filatov plays for.
  
• Finally, if you have never seen bears playing ice hockey, you really have to check this out. As a friend of mine put it, I hope it's not a contract year for the goalie.

#1 Miami v. Ohio State - 12/11/09 & 12/12/09

#1 Miami and Ohio State renew their rivalry this weekend

Miami and Ohio State will tangle in a weekend home-and-home with the opener in Columbus on Friday at 7pm. The Big Ten Network will stream this game live on its website. Saturday's rematch will be held in Oxford also at 7pm and will be televised live around the great state of Ohio on ONN.

• Miami leads the all-time series 58-56-11 but is 8-1-1 in the last ten meetings vs. Ohio State.
• This series will close the first half of the season with both teams off until the weekend of January 8.
  

• Miami is 11-2-5 overall and 8-1-3-1 in the CCHA (1st). The RedHawks have been #1 for 10 consecutive weeks which equals the school record set in 2007-08.
  
• Ohio State is 7-10-1 overall and 5-6-1-1 in the CCHA (7th).
  
• Ohio State freshman, Devin Krogh was named the CCHA Rookie of the Week for his efforts vs. Michigan. Krogh was a +6 in the two games with a goal in Friday's 5-3 victory and added an assist in Saturday's 2-1 loss.

Last Weekend
Miami and Ohio State went a combined 3-1 last weekend with Miami getting the home weekend sweep (and shutout) of then #14 Notre Dame 1-0 and 4-0. Ohio State split a home series with Michigan winning 5-3 on Friday and dropping the finale 2-1 on Saturday night.

Team Updates

• Scoring leaders for each team -
  
• Miami: Juniors Andy Miele 5-11-16 and Carter Camper 8-7-15 lead the team in scoring. The top scoring defenseman is sophomore Cameron Schilling with 1-7-8. Freshman Joe Hartman leads all Miami defensemen with 4 goals.
• Ohio State: Sophomore Zac Dalpe 9-9-18 and junior Peter Boyd 5-11-16 pace the Buckeyes while junior Shane Sims leads the defense in scoring with 2-5-7.
• Miami's Cody Reichard leads the nation in goals-against average at 1.45 and also sports a 93.4 save percentage (4th in the nation) with two shutouts. Needless to say he has shaken off the devastating loss to BU in the national title game quite well.
• Sophomore goaltender Cal Heeter looks to have taken over the position of starting netminder for the Buckeyes. Heeter, who had been starting on Saturdays in head coach John Markell's rotation system was between the pipes for both games last weekend against Michigan. Overall, Heeter is 6-3-1 with a 2.75 goals-against average and stellar 91.4 save percentage.
• Miami's other goaltender, sophomore Connor Knapp (2-1-3, 2.21 GAA, .911), is the brother of Ohio State freshman goaltender Chelsea Knapp who skates for the Buckeyes' women's ice hockey team. I suspect we'll see Cody Reichard on Friday night in Columbus and Knapp on Saturday at Steve Cady Arena.
  
• Overall, Miami is averaging just a shade under 3 goals per game but is giving up only 1.78 goals per contest which is good enough for 3rd in the country.
• OSU is averaging 2.4 goals per game and surrendering 2.9 goals per game meaning the Buckeyes will need to find a way to put the puck in the net against an incredibly stingy defense and be mindful in their own end.
  
• After this weekend's series, the Buckeyes will have faced the #1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7th ranked teams in this week's Pairwise rankings that determine the field for the 16-team NCAA tournament. That, my friends, is a difficult schedule.
• Miami killed all 15 Notre Dame powerplays last weekend in their sweep of the Irish. The RedHawk penalty kill is ranked 6th nationally at 88.7%. On the other hand, the Buckeyes powerplay unit has not connected in the past four games and has not converted its last 18 attempts.
  

Keys to the Weekend
These two teams don't have a lot of love for each other. For Ohio State to have an opportunity to steal a game this weekend, they need to play physical without taking dumb penalties. To date, they have been unable to do that. They also need John Albert and Kyle Reed to do what they do best against Miami and that is to score goals. Reed has 4-6-10 and Albert 3-6-9 against Miami with Reed netting his only career hat trick in a game last February in Oxford. Ohio State also needs much better defensive zone coverage and goaltending than they have gotten this season. With Cal Heeter now, apparently, assuming the starting goaltending role, this could be an area of improvement for Ohio State. For Miami, well, they simply need to do what they have been doing for the past nine months. Play sound, structured defense and use their size and speed to create mismatches and opportunities to put the puck in the net. Miami looked like a legitimate national title contender last weekend against Notre Dame. They were all over the Irish for the better part of both games and surrendered just 42 shots against over the two games. With scoring coming from all four lines and the defense, Miami is incredibly difficult to defend. If they maintain their balance and poise this weekend, they should emerge with two victories.

Fearless Predictions
Friday - Miami 3-0
Saturday - Miami 3-1


Extracurriculars
Last night was a big night for former Miamians in the pros.

• Former MU captain and current New Jersey Devil Andy Greene posted his first career two-goal game. Greene now has 5 goals and 12 assists on the season.
  

• "We're not an overpowering team offensively, so we need goals from our defensemen," (head coach Jacques) Lemaire said. "I always have a feeling that Andy is going to slow down, but he never does. He plays well every night. It doesn't matter who we're playing against. He's very good. He controls the puck and makes plays. I never thought he could be this good, but right now he's playing like an All-Star."
  

• Current San Jose Shark assistant captain Dan Boyle netted his 99th career goal.
• And, a senior on last season's national runner-up, Justin Mercier made his NHL debut last night with the youthful Colorado Avalanche. The former Miami sniper was credited with 7:55 of ice time and was -1.

Four Lines Deep - 12/9/09

Florida Panthers at Blue Jackets; Nationwide Arena

7 p.m. (EST); Fox Sports Ohio

The Jackets need to find ways to distract Tomas Vokoun tonight.

I would struggle trying to think of a time when the Jackets were more in need of a win. The players need a win. The coach needs a win. The general manager and the owners need a win. And most of all -- the fans need a win. Nobody wants to talk about the wheels falling off -- and that's because they haven't fallen off. Yet. But they're getting shaky. This team is in dire need of a shot of confidence and success. They've had stretches of playing the right way, and stretches of not playing the right way. But everyone knows they certainly have the talent to meet with success. For whatever reason, the Jackets have clearly had issues with maintaining focus -- and ultimately, that's an issue of leadership. Not necessarily leaders with the No. 61 on their sweater, because different leaders emerge at different points in the season. Right now, that could be Vermette, or Mason or Dorsett (who makes a welcome return to the lineup this evening). We don't know, and the team doesn't know, but that leader better show up soon.

Florida is coming to Nationwide on a three game losing streak. The Panthers have lost eight of nine. Much like the Jacket's, they've been squandering leads and giving up a lot of goals in the third period. They do not have very good special teams play, with the 29th ranked penalty kill and the 27th best power play. Further, they've given up almost as many goals as the Jackets (103).

Vokoun has played well this year, but has struggled recently. Regardless, he can still take over a game and he will shut down the Jackets if he has a chance to get square to the shot and maintains good sight lines. The top three scorers for Florida (Horton, Weiss, Reinprect) will likely find themselves on the first line tonight. They have combined for nearly 75 points. Weiss has some sick puck handling skills. The Jackets defensemen will have to be pretty physical with him to slow him down in the neutral zone and defensive zone. Once again, the Jackets are confronted by a struggling team - with poor special teams play - that has one line that's a true scoring threat. Sound familiar?

Regardless of which Jackets team shows up at Nationwide tonight, the keys to the game remain pretty simple.

Limit defensive zone turnovers - Tyutin and Stralman, please take these words to heart.

Don't play East Coast hockey - For those of you keeping score at home, this style doesn't suit the Jackets this year. Our history of Eastern dominance has ended, and that's because we try to match the open style played in the Eastern Conference. We simply aren't good enough on transition defense - or goal tending - to do it any longer. Tight checking and responsible play in the neutral zone will shut down the Panthers cold. Weighty, Dorsett and Boll...have at it.

Check hard in all three zones - The lack of a penalty kill and powerplay for the Panthers should allow the Jackets to play a little more reckless and provide the (still) highly effective powerplay units on the Jackets some opportunities to get on the board.

Get plenty of traffic in front of Vokoun - He has the skill to dominate a game; the Jackets need to utilize their size and strength to create havoc in the crease and let Russell, Tyutin and Stralman put pucks on the net from the points

College Weekend Roundup - 12/7/09

RedHawks complete sweep of Notre Dame, Michigan earns split against the Buckeyes

Oxford, Ohio -

The #1 ranked team in the nation was slumping. Mired in a 1-1-4 stretch that included four straight road games, Miami returned to the friendly confines of Steve Cady Arena to host the #14 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. On Friday, behind 24 saves from sophomore goaltender Cody Reichard and a shorthanded goal from freshman Joe Hartman, Miami got back into the win column claiming a hard-fought 1-0 win over the Irish. But, on Saturday the RedHawks left themselves more margin for error by completing the weekend sweep by again shutting out the Fighting Irish 4-0 on the strength of 18 saves by sophomore netminder Connor Knapp. Sophomore defenseman Cameron Schilling had three helpers and Miami got powerplay goals from junior captain Tommy Wingels and junior center Pat Cannone.

With the win, Miami improved to 11-2-5 overall and 8-1-3-1 in CCHA play (the last '1' is for a shootout win that contributes one point to the totals). Miami has earned 28 league points and holds a five-point lead over second place Michigan State and six points over third place Ferris State who has two games at hand (CCHA regulation and OT wins are worth three points each). The Irish fell to 7-7-4 overall and 4-4-4-2 in the league, good enough for a tie for fifth place.

Junior Carter Camper had a goal and an assist for the RedHawks and leads the squad with 8 markers. Junior Justin Vaive completed the scoring for Miami with his third of the year at 16:55 of the third period effectively ending any remaining drama.

Sophomore Connor Knapp saw his record improve to 2-1-3 as he notched his second shutout of the season. Knapp's goals-against average declined to an impressive 2.20 and his save percentage improved to 91.1. Miami head coach Enrico Blasi was pleased with the effort of his sophmore netminder.

“Connor made some nice saves when he had to tonight and had a very good performance overall,” said Blasi. “They have some really good players on their team, and he kept us on top throughout the game.” (USCHO.com)

The victory over the Fighting Irish will enable Miami to tighten its grip on the number one ranking in the polls where they have held the top spot for the past eight weeks. More importantly, Miami has overcome the fourth toughest schedule in the nation during their first 18 games and finds themselves in good position for a run at the CCHA regular season title. That run will start next week with two games against archrival Ohio State and marks the official start of the second half of the season. Additionally, Miami is rated #2 in the Pairwise rankings that determine the NCAA tournament bracket. With sixteen teams in the post-season event, finishing in the top 4 of the Pairwise would enable the RedHawks to obtain a #1 seed enhancing their chances of advancing in the tournament. We'll look more closely at the national numbers as the season progresses, but at the halfway mark, Miami has done what they've needed to give themselves a chance to accomplish their season's goals. And, at least on paper, Miami's second half schedule is a little easier than the first, but that's why they play the games and there is still a lot of hockey to be played.

For the weekend, Miami's penalty kill unit was a perfect 15 for 15 helping lead the RedHawks to the first back-to-back shutouts over the same opponent, and just the fourth time its happened at any time in school history. The PK unit is now ranked 6th nationally, killing 88.7% of shorthanded opportunities.



Columbus, Ohio -

After winning Friday night's opener 5-3, the Ohio State Buckeyes were stymied by the Michigan Wolverines 2-1 at Value City Arena on the strength of powerplay goals by senior captain Chris Summers and junior Matt Rust and 26 saves by junior goaltender Bryan Hogan.

The Wolverines got on the board first when Summers' scored from the point at 9:50 of the first period. And, on the game-winning goal, Rust would knock home a rebound 21 seconds into the third period to capitalize on a 5x3 powerplay opportunity. Ohio State would close within one with only 11 seconds remaining as junior John Albert scored his fourth goal of the season with the help of an extra attacker. Down 2-0, head coach John Markell pulled goaltender Cal Heeter for an extra skater and it enabled the Buckeyes to trim the deficit to one, but they were unable to tie it despite having one last rush into the Michigan zone.

With the win, Michigan was able to move out of the basement of the CCHA improving to 8-8 overall and 4-6 in the CCHA, good enough for 10th place. Meanwhile, Ohio State fell to 7-10-1 and 5-6-1-1 in league play and is right in the middle of the packed league standings sitting in 7th place.

For the evening, Michigan was 2-6 on the powerplay and those extra chances did not escape the notice of coach John Markell who was upset about the Buckeyes' lack of discipline.

“We gave them three five-on-threes this weekend with hitting to the head,” Markell said. “We just cost ourselves another game with a stupid penalty. What is disturbing is they are supposedly tough and you’re not going to rattle another guy. They have a facemask on; it means nothing. We’re getting it on retaliatory. It cost us the game. When you give that team five-on-threes, they’re going to score. That is the difference.” (USCHO.com)

Moving forward, the Buckeyes have one more series before their holiday break. However, the road does not get easier as they will take on archrival and #1 ranked Miami in a home-and-home. Friday's game will take place in Columbus at 7pm and the rematch a night later at Steve Cady Arena in Oxford also at 7pm (ONN). In fact, after Saturday's series finale against the RedHawks, the Buckeyes do not play again until hosting in-state rival Bowling Green January 8 and 9 at Value City Arena.