Hockey Bucks Face Ranked Foes in Early Season Tests

Welcome to your weekly hockey preview, ladies and gents. The OSU men are about to kick off their season with a pair of games versus in-state rival Bowling Green. Meanwhile the women are in Wisconsin to open conference play against a veteran Badger team. 

Men

Ohio State opens the 2015-16 season with a home and home series against in-state rival Bowling Green. It’s the first in a long list of high quality non-conference opponents for the Bucks. BGSU returns three of its top four scorers as well as its full complement of goaltenders. The team also adds the WCHA media’s preseason rookie of the year pick, Stephen Baylis.

If the Falcons have a substantial weakness this season it’s the inexperience of their defensive corps. They graduated three key blue liners in Rusty Hafner, Connor Kucera, and Mike Sullivan, a trio that accounted for nearly 400 collective career games. BG’s current defenders have a total of 183 games under their belts. (And the Falcons’ bench just got a bit thinner as freshman Matthew Ferrari opted to leave the team this week.)

Despite their untried defense the Falcons are projected to contend for both the WCHA title as well as an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. They narrowly missed last season, finishing third in their conference standings and getting as far as the WCHA semi-finals before falling to Michigan Tech. In the final national poll of 2014-15 BGSU ranked No. 18.

Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik remains philosophical about facing a highly regarded team right out of the gate.

“That’s college hockey, you know, the parity across the board. That’s the kind of team we want to be. We want to be one of those teams that everybody doesn’t want to play. You can’t dodge anybody in college hockey so let’s go out and play the Bowling Greens and right down the row.”

Unlike Bowling Green, OSU does not bear the burden of expectations. The Bucks lost many key contributors from last year's team and welcome a ton of freshmen. They also face one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation. No one is forecasting a stellar non-conference record for the Scarlet and Gray. (Read more about this in our hockey season preview.)

While the results may be questionable in the early going, Ohio State can (and should) be setting a solid foundation for the Big Ten portion of their calendar. Over the next month and a half fans should look for consistently solid fundamentals, increasing chemistry, and the establishment of a rhythm to the Buckeyes’ game, particularly (hopefully) on special teams. All of these things will help propel the team to in-conference success.  

Last season the Bucks and Falcons split their series with the road team prevailing in each contest. Matt Weis and Tyler Lundey (1-1--2) and Brent Tate (2-0--2) were the top point-getters for OSU and BGSU, respectively. Both teams are eager to get the season going. They’ll be skating in front of rowdy, mixed fanbase crowds this weekend. I think another split is a very likely and acceptable result.

Did you know?

• Bowling Green freshman Conner McDonald is a native of Westerville.
• The Falcons allowed just 16 power play goals last season, an average of one every 2.45 games.

Women

The lady Bucks make a quick transition to conference play this week, heading north to take on No. 3 Wisconsin. Ohio State comes into the series fresh off a season-opening sweep of Lindenwood. The Scarlet and Gray cruised to a 5-1 win on Friday and held off the Lions on Saturday, winning by a final of 3-2.

Twelve Buckeyes tallied at least a point in the series. Senior Kendall Curtis led the way with three total goals and an assist. Freshman Maddy Field chipped in a pair of goals and also contributed an assist, earning WCHA rookie of the week honors. Senior goaltender Stacy Danczak and sophomore goalie Alex LaMere split the starts and the victories.

The wins over Lindenwood were the first D-I victories for new Ohio State head coach Jenny Potter. This week’s opponent, perennial powerhouse Wisconsin, is a considerably tougher test for the Buckeyes. Badger coach Mark Johnson recalls that “tougher” always brought out the best in Potter as a player:

“Jenny falls into that category where she was the -- the tougher the game got, the more pressure the game that she was involved in, the better she played. She always loved to play against Canada. She's a very well-educated player, and…very highly decorated. She'll take all those skill sets that she learned and put it into her coaching philosophy. I think she's going to do a great job.”

Hopefully some of that mindset trickles down to her students this week. The ladies will have their work cut out for them against a very good, very experienced Badger squad. Wisconsin’s roster contains only three freshmen, two of whom (Sophia Shaver and Mikaela Gardner) garnered votes in the WCHA’s preseason rookie of the year poll. UW is particularly impressive on defense and is backed once again by stingy netminder Ann-Renee Desbiens.

The good news for the Buckeyes is that, as dominant as Wisconsin can be defensively, they don’t always post a ton of points. If the Bucks can keep the score manageable and win the special teams battle then they might have a shot at a win. It’s a pretty tall order though, especially this early in the season. Plucking any points from this series is a positive as Ohio State continues to get its sea legs.

Again, if you missed our hockey season preview you can check it out here.

Did you know?

• UW freshman Mikaela Gardner is a former Ohio State commit.
• Wisconsin is practically home ice for Buckeye senior Claudia Kepler who hails from nearby Verona.