Ohio State Men's Hockey Advances to CCHA Semifinal

By Grant Miller on March 17, 2013 at 10:24 pm
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What a day to be a Buckeye. Hours after Thad Matta's men won the Big Ten tournament the Buckeye men's hockey team completed their quarterfinal series turnaround by beating Ferris State 3-2. 

Just like the night before, the Scarlet & Gray had to come from behind to clinch the victory. Max McCormick was on the scoresheet once again only a minute and a half into the game, but two goals in a minute flipped the scores in favor of the Bulldogs. With a little over a minute left in the opening period Curtis Gedig tied things up on the power play to set up two more frenetic frames. 

Again it was Hjelle who kept the Buckeyes in it — he faced 35 shots in the final two periods alone, but stood tall on each one of them. With their talisman on the top of his game all Ohio State needed was one chance, and early in the third Ryan Dzingel's slap shot wasn't collected cleanly and Anthony Greco was on hand to stuff in the rebound. Cue bedlam in the OSU Ice Rink.

A tense final 16 minutes ensued, with Ferris throwing everything at Hjelle. But as the seconds ticked down the crowd grew in volume, and even the extra attacker couldn't make the difference as the Buckeyes held on for the 2-1 series victory. They now find themselves in the CCHA semifinal on Saturday at Joe Louis Arena against Notre Dame, with the winner facing either Miami or Michigan in the final on Sunday. 


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