Men's Hockey
Buckeyes Thrash Falcons to Open CCHA Play
By John Porentas
The Buckeyes opened the CCHA season by making short work of instate rival Bowling Green to earn a 7-2 road win in their league season opener.
The Buckeyes jumped on the Falcons early, scoring a power play goal, a shorthanded goal and an even-handed goal in the first period to take a 3-0. Sean Collins opened the scoring with a power play goal at just 3:14 of the first period. Tom Fritche scored the first of his two goals of the night, a shorthander, at 11:41, and Rod Pelley closed out the first-period scoring with an even-handed goal.
"Anytime you can jump out to lead in the CCHA, you better protect it with hard work," said OSU Head Coach John Markell.
The Falcons tried to rally in the second period and got a power play goal from James Unger at 2:05 to cut the OSU lead to 3-1. It would be as close as the Falcons would get.
OSU's Jason DeSantis netted a power play goal at 6:25 and Fritche got his second goal in as many periods, this time on the power play, to put the Buckeyes up 5-1 and for all intents and purposes put away the game.
"They didn't quit," said Markell. "We were fortunate to score some goals," Markell said.
Bowling Green's Jonathan Matsumoto scored at 17:17 of the third period, but from that point on, the Buckeye totally dominated play in the final stanza. They were rewarded when Dave Barton scored an even-handed goal at 5:42, and again at 16:18 when Andrew Schembri scored the seventh and final goal of the game for the Buckeyes.
Senior Dave Caruso went all the way in the pipes for the Buckeyes, stopping 20 of B.G.s 22 shots on goal. Ohio State outshot the Falcons 29-22 in the game. The Buckeyes scored on two-of-six power play opportunities, while the falcons scored on two-of-eight.
I thought we played well overall and had some good penalty killing, particularly early in the game," said Markell.
"Caruso was there when we needed him and we scored some timely goals," said Markell.
The Buckeyes are now 2-1 on the season and 1-0 in CCHA play. The Falcons fall to 0-3 overall and 0-1 in the league.
The two teams will meet again on Friday in Columbus. Face off is set for 7:05 at the Value City Arena.
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