No Shortage of Rookies As Hockey Preps for 2015-16

Hello again, hockey friends! A new season stretches before us like a fresh sheet of ice and brings with it an enormous cast of new characters on both the men’s and women’s teams. Read on to learn what you can expect in 2015-16.

Men

2014-15 Recap 

When last we met, Ohio State rode some late season momentum (6-3-1-1 over the final ten games) to an upset of upset of Penn State in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals. Eventual B1G champ Minnesota ushered the Bucks out in the semis with a 3-0 decision. Success was truly a team effort throughout the year as no clear stars emerged. Instead, a scoring-by-committee approach fueled the squad. 

Moving On 

Gone are last year’s seniors Darik Angeli, Clark Cristofoli, Justin DaSilva, Tanner Fritz, Matt Johnson, Al McLean, Chad Niddery and Nick Oddo. Sam Jardine opted to forgo his senior season and this summer signed a professional deal with the AHL’s Rockford Ice Hogs. The staff even took a bit of a hit with assistant coach Brett Larson pulling up stakes for a position closer to home.

Moving In

Filling the roster void is an enormous freshman class, eight forwards, and two defensemen. All 10 rookies come to Columbus from the USHL. NHL draft picks Miguel Fidler (Florida Panthers), Dakota Joshua (Toronto Maple Leafs), and Tyler Nanne (New York Rangers) are the most heralded.

At first glance Joshua is likely the one to make the biggest impact in his freshman season. He’s coming off a breakout season with Sioux Falls in which he helped the Stampede to a Clark Cup championship. Judging by the scouting reports Nanne is a slight but nimble defender, capable of running the power play unit.

The scouting on Fidler is scarcer but his online highlight packages seem to indicate he’s less of a sniper and more like a rebound-seeking missile. Freddy Gerard, Mike Gillespie, Mason Jobst, Brendon Kearney, Sasha Larocque, Tommy Parran, and John Wiitala complete the freshman set.

Mark Strobel fills the assistant coaching vacancy. Strobel honed his coaching skills under some top notch head coaches at Minnesota-Duluth and Nebraska-Omaha. He brings those mad skills to Columbus where he reunites with fellow Badger alum and UMD colleague Steve Rohlik. 

2015-16 Outlook

This season’s challenges are much the same as last season’s. The team still lacks the kind of star player who can take over a game singlehandedly. Success continues to hinge on a consistent team-wide effort. The margin between victory and defeat will be small. Solid goaltending is key.

These challenges were overcome by last year’s Buckeyes (eventually). However that roster was stocked with veteran guys. The 2015-16 squad is an inexperienced one, containing just ten upperclassmen, three of which are goalies. While Rohlik cautions against depending too heavily on the large freshman class he believes they can still make an impact.

“We’re not expecting any one of those guys [freshmen] to come in and carry the team, but I think that all of them can contribute. I think it has brought a lot of energy to the weight room, off ice, on ice, just kind of that enthusiasm. I’m looking for all those guys to come in and bring competition each day into practice and push each other.”

Expect a lot of growing pains, especially with such a brutal schedule. A whopping 10 of OSU’s 14 non-conference games are against teams ranked in the top 16 of USCHO’s preseason poll. As a group the murder’s row of opponents could easily be overwhelming so Rohlik preaches a narrower focus: 

“We’re going to take it one week at a time. I think our kids have been working awfully hard and I think we’ve just got to find ourselves on a consistent basis. I don’t think we can get too far up or too far down…With ten new guys in the locker room, all the other guys that have been around hopefully can kind of steer the ship a little bit.”

I’d like to promise you a better outlook but truthfully the upper limit for this team is probably fourth place in the conference and a Big Ten tourney finals appearance. That’s if the rookies adjust quickly, the returning skaters make collective progress, and the goalies limit bad goals.

It doesn’t sound particularly exciting, I know, but it’s important to have realistic expectations. Then you can be surprised and amazed when things come together quickly and, battled-tested by their non-conference schedule, the Buckeyes make some noise in Big Ten play.

Early Players to Watch

Offense: The Big Ten says they’re junior Nick Schilkey and senior Anthony Greco, and if the Bucks are going to have any success this season those two will have a major role it. I’m also keeping an eye on sophomore Matt Weis who got off to a slow start as a freshman but really picked up his game in the second half of last season.

Defense: Provided he stays healthy, senior Craig Dalrymple is the lynchpin of the Buckeye blue line. And of course fans will take a keen interest in the battle for goalie supremacy between juniors Christian Frey and Matt Tomkins. 

Rookie: Dakota Joshua - Already a sizable presence at 6’3”, 194 lbs, Joshua shouldn’t get pushed around like normal sized rookie. He strikes me as being similar to Weis last year, only bigger and coming off a more improved USHL season.

Women

2014-15 Recap 

Senior leadership, scoring contributions from practically the entire roster, and solid goaltending from a pair of untested netminders drove Ohio State to a 17-16-3 record and a sixth place finish in the WCHA. The Bucks enjoyed good results against lower tier teams and even wrested some points from Minnesota and Wisconsin. Ultimately, though, mediocre results against fellow mid-tier teams held them back. The ladies gave a valiant effort in the opening round of the conference tourney but came up short, falling to regular season nemesis North Dakota in triple overtime.

Moving On 

The women’s roster also gets a major overhaul this season. Seniors Danielle Gagne, Taylor Kuehl, Kari Schmitt, Sara Schmitt, and Kayla Sullivan are headed for bigger and better things. Ohio State’s coaching staff is also has a new look with head coach Nate Handrahan and assistant coach Keith Maurice resigning their positions last spring.

Moving In 

This year’s rookie class includes possibly the most hyped recruit in Ohio State hockey history (men’s or women’s). At least, Jincy Dunne is the first recruit to have been featured in a full length ESPN article because she fell just a tiny bit short of making the U.S. Olympic team at a mere sixteen years old. The defender, sister of Buckeye sophomore Jessica Dunne, has tremendous upside and will doubtless develop into an impact player over the course of her OSU career.

The remainder of the rookie class doesn’t generate the buzz that Dunne does, but they are also talented and exciting additions to the Scarlet and Gray. Dana Rasmussen and Laura Boyle were semi-finalists for Minnesota’s prestigious Ms. Hockey award. Rasmussen also made the short list for the title. Maddy Field was a member of Canada’s U18 team at the world championship. Erin Langermeier’s former coach describes her as possessed, aggressive, and good in all three zones. Goaltender Selena Hunter also joins the active roster after red shirting last season.

Behind the bench Jenny Potter takes over the reins of the program. She may be new to the D-I coaching ranks, but she is far from inexperienced. Potter has accomplished almost everything a woman can in her hockey career. She won an NCAA title with Minnesota-Duluth and is still (so far as I know) the Bulldogs’ all-time leading scorer. She was a three time Patty Kaz finalist, a four time Olympian, a ten time member of U.S. World Championship teams, and a Clarkson Cup champ. Most recently Potter coached D-III Trinity College to a NESCAC conference championship and a D-III NCAA tourney berth. 

New assistant Joey Olson completes the coaching staff. Olson comes to Ohio State from Minnesota where he coached girls’ high school hockey and also helped identify and train the state’s elite female players via the Minnesota Hockey High Performance program. 

2015-16 Outlook 

The lady Bucks have a lot of talented new members along with returning offensive weapons like senior Julia McKinnon and junior Claudia Kepler. They also welcome back a pair of goalies, sophomore Kassidy Sauve and red shirt senior Stacy Danczak, who each boasted a GAA under two in last year’s campaign. 

The Buckeyes will play some good hockey this season. However that’s probably going to take some time. The departing seniors were a huge part of last season’s results. They represented five of OSU’s top seven scorers, a massive amount of defensive responsibility, and a big chunk of special teams. There are a lot of key roles to be filled. 

The coaching transition should be taken into consideration too, as well as the fact that Ohio State competes in the toughest conference in college hockey. The Buckeyes are going to get there, but the restructuring and the chemistry are likely going to take some time.

I think Ohio State has too much newness to make a big step up the standings this year, but they have too many talented players to occupy the cellar. Results wise, I agree with the coaches that fifth or sixth is a likely scenario along with a positive foundation for a bright future. 

Early Players to Watch 

Offense: McKinnon and Kepler are clearly worth watching. My not-so-obvious pick is sophomore Lauren Spring who had some occasionally stellar, if somewhat inconsistent results as a rookie last season.

Defense: Cara Zubko is the defensive corps’ most experienced blue liner. In net Sauve and Danczak will no doubt duel for the starting spot and attempt to prove last season’s stats were not simply the result of great defensive support.

Rookie: Jincy Dunne, duh.

Rookie not named Jincy Dunne: I think Maddy Field is one to watch. Advance info suggests she’s a determined, resilient player, two qualities that should serve her well as she transitions to the college level.