Men's Hockey
Bowling Green completes sweep of OSU
By Jeff Svoboda
The No. 15 Ohio State Buckeyes and Bowling Green Falcons made the 119-mile trip from Columbus to Bowling Green to complete their two-game, home-and-home series Saturday night, but while the venue did change from Friday, the play on the ice was quite similar.
The Buckeyes (10-8-3 , 6-6-1 CCHA) could not put the puck in the net and Bowling Green capitalized on its chances to post a 2-0 victory in front of 3,680 fans at the BGSU Ice Arena. It was BG’s first sweep of Ohio State since 1999 and the first time the Falcons (10-11-1 , 6-8-1 CCHA) beat the Buckeyes on back-to-back nights since 1993.
A night after both coach John Markell and captain Nate Guenin were clearly frustrated with the lack of effort from OSU, the Buckeyes came to play but could not get one past Falcon goaltender Jon Horrell, who made 23 saves.
“The energy was there, the hitting was there, the second effort was there. We played well as a team,” Markell said. “We’re not scoring. I don’t know what to say. We have to work on it.”
It was clear from the opening draw that the game would be a hard-hitting, intense struggle. The teams were whistled for 12 penalties apiece, and 14 of the 24 total penalties came in a chippy first period.
“We came in here with the intention to play pretty hard,” OSU forward Mathieu Beaudoin said. “I guess we were a little frustrated from last night so we took it out in the first and we got a lot of penalties.”
Among the vast amount of penalties came the deciding goal just 3:46 into the game. With OSU forwards Dan Knapp (slashing) and John Dingle (hooking) in the box, the Falcons converted a 5-on-3 advantage when senior Brett Pilkington put a cross-crease feed from classmate Mike Falk past OSU goaltender Dave Caruso and into an open net. Much like the proverbial cheese, that goal would stand alone until BG sophomore Derek Whitmore put home an empty netter with 22 seconds to play.
Caruso stood tall after the goal and made 18 saves, but Horrell was the star again. After stopping 38 of 40 shots Friday night, he upped his weekend save total to 61 in extending BG’s win streak to six games.
“Obviously he was solid both nights,” Markell said. “He was seeing the puck. We weren’t able to get to any rebounds. Our bodies were flying all over the place. That’s where the majority of the play was.”
OSU had many good chances, but the best would come from Beaudoin. He drilled the crossbar short-handed in the first period, had a deflection gloved by Horrell in the second, and was robbed with by Horrell’s glove shortly after an OSU power play ended in the third.
“He’s a good goalie. He played pretty good this weekend, give him credit for that,” Beaudoin said of Horrell.
In an effort to get OSU’s better effort, Markell shook up all four lines and sat junior forward Bryce Anderson and sophomore forward Domenic Maiani. Markell said Maiani is fighting an injury, but was still clearly miffed at some of the play he saw Friday night.
“Maiani played a big part in our team last year and so did Bryce Anderson, and it’s unfortunate we don’t have them playing at their best,” said Markell before adding, “That’s not the reason we lost.”
But the two, who have spent time on OSU’s power play this season, might have helped the unit. The Buckeyes finished 0-for-7 on the power play, upping their man-advantage dry spell to three games and 15 consecutive chances. The third-period power play before Horrell’s glove save on Beaudoin was played nearly entirely in the OSU offensive zone, but OSU could not get the equalizing goal.
“We’re in their end, moving the puck well,” Markell said. “The one unit was out there for two minutes in their end. I don’t know what more we can do.”
The Buckeyes continued to attempt the pepper the net from out wide in search of rebounds, but many of their chances never became the rebounds or goals they were looking for. Of OSU’s 64 shots taken Saturday, 17 were blocked and 24 off target, leaving the 23 stopped by Horrell. On the weekend, OSU took 140 shots, with 35 blocked, 40 off target, 61 stopped, two off the pipe and two in the back of the net. That means that only 45% of attempted shots ever made it on net, contrasted by Bowling Green ’s 59% percent.
After the disappointing weekend, the Buckeyes return the ice against current No. 2 Miami Tuesday night in Value City Arena. Face-off is at 7:05 p.m.
“We’re not going to give up, that’s for sure,” Beaudoin said. “We’ll be there Tuesday night. We’re going to try hard. This team’s never going to give up until the season’s over.”
(c) 2005 The O-Zone, O-Zone
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