Bucks Lose Special Teams Battle to Gophers

By Aubrey Nelson on February 7, 2015 at 12:18 am
Greco, rolling.
Ohio State University
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Men's hockey returned to action tonight against Minnesota. While the Buckeyes put together some good stretches, they weren't able to overcome a slow start. The Gophers prevailed 4-2.

Minnesota started strong and Ohio State was on its heels much of the first period. The Gophers outshot the Buckeyes by a hefty margin but only beat Christian Frey twice. OSU couldn't get much going offensively, settling for a handful of low percentage shots.

goals by period 1 2 3 final
Ohio State 0 1 1 2
Minnesota  2 2 0 4

The Bucks had a much better start to the middle frame. They upped their physical game, built on a successful penalty kill, and put together a few good offensive zone shifts. Five minutes in they were rewarded with a goal.

Sam Jardine rattled a long pass up the ice. Tanner Fritz couldn't corral the puck but Anthony Greco pounced on it. The Buckeyes' leading scorer split the Gopher defensemen and wired a shot past Adam Wilcox for his thirteenth tally of the season.

OSU continued to put an emphasis on finishing checks. Unfortunately they had trouble finding the line between being physical and visiting the penalty box. Back to back checking fouls tipped the ice back in Minnesota's favor.

The second best power play unit in the nation took full advantage of those opportunities, picking apart an overmatched Buckeye penalty kill. The Gophers scored on the first power play and a couple ticks after the expiration of the second.

pd time buckeye goal scorer (assists)
2 5:09 Anthony Greco (Tanner Fritz, Sam Jardine)
3 18:10 Nick Oddo (unassisted)

Despite being down by three goals, the Bucks continued to battle. Late in the game Christian Lampasso's dogged harassment of the Minnesota puck carrier led to a turnover which Nick Oddo patiently deposited in the Gopher net. OSU tried for some last second magic with the extra attacker but finished on the wrong end of a 4-2 score.

Christian Frey stopped 38 shots in the loss. I thought he played relatively well, four goals against aside. Three of them were essentially power play goals. Two were great shots through heavy traffic.

Frey's counterpart, Adam Wilcox, didn't face near the volume or quality of shots. The Buckeyes struggled to penetrate the Minnesota defense. On the few occasions they did make it through Wilcox hoovered up any potential rebounds.

Ohio State just doesn't have the skill this season to unseat a good team that's playing well. The best the Bucks can do is to limit their errors and capitalize on the mistakes of their opponent. Tonight, Minnesota played well and Ohio State was the team dealing with miscues.

The Buckeyes get another shot at the Gophers tomorrow night at 8pm ET. Fans following at home can watch the game live on FS North or SportsTime Ohio.

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