Where OSU men’s hockey stands near end of 2022-23 regular season
To Steve Rohlik, the weight behind Ohio State men’s hockey’s weekend series against Michigan was not new. It was just typical Big Ten play.
“Every night’s a playoff game in our league no matter who you play,” said Rohlik, the Ohio State men’s hockey coach.
But Ohio State needed a boost.
Entering the final home game of the regular season, the Buckeyes had recorded four losses in their past seven games, not including a shootout loss on the road against Notre Dame. Even with a seemingly secured spot in the NCAA Tournament, Ohio State went into its final regular-season series with momentum on its mind.
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Momentum is what Ohio State secured, winning five of six possible points with a shootout win against Michigan in the final home game of the season before a 4-2 win against the Wolverines at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.
To Rohlik, Ohio State showed the same narrative it had shown all season. And with one road series to go against first-place Minnesota, that is what Rohlik expects to continue into the postseason.
“We’ve been battling and we’ve been playing some pretty decent hockey,” Rohlik said. “I don’t think we’ve got the results that maybe these guys have deserved. But that’s what hockey is, right? So you got to just go back to work like we will on Monday and try to get better.”
Ohio State buys into penalty kill
For the Buckeyes, success starts with the penalty kill. No team in the country has found more success at stopping power plays than the Buckeyes, allowing 13 goals on 130 chances. Ohio State is the only team in college hockey to have stopped 90% of power play chances.
That success crept into the Buckeyes’ series against Michigan, allowing no power play goals on 12 chances.
Ohio State’s success against the power play has helped with the team’s overall defense, allowing 2.38 goals per game.
Rohlik credits assistant coach Luke Strand for Ohio State’s power play strategy, saying the Buckeyes have bought into everything he’s introduced in his first season with the team.
But to Rohlik, the power play success is more of a state of mind, starting with goalkeeper Jakub Dobes, “who’s got to be your best penalty killer,” and trickling down to the rest of the defense.
“It’s attributed to being prepared from coach Strand and having the confidence to go out there and go, ‘Hey, no matter what time of the game, you get a penalty, let’s just get the job done,’ ” Rohlik said. “And that’s what our guys believe in.”
Ohio State keeps energy up on offense
That buy-in has shown up for Ohio State offensively, as well.
The Buckeyes have one of the most aggressive offenses in the Big Ten, averaging more than 36 shots per game.
Against Michigan at home Thursday, Ohio State tried for an offensive onslaught, outshooting the Wolverines 40-17 while only connecting on three scores. This included nearly seven minutes of power play in the first period in which the Buckeyes could not connect on a score. But the offensive mentality never swayed.
“We just kept going,” Rohlik said. “Tried to tell the guys, ‘Don’t be frustrated. You may not score on a power play, but you know what? They had to defend for five straight minutes. Keep the energy up. Keep the pucks going to the net.’ And I thought our guys bought into that.”
The pace turned into scores in Cleveland, with four goals on 34 shots, including power-play scores by Jake Wise and Stephen Halliday, just above Ohio State’s average of 3.38 goals per game.
To Tate Singleton, who scored two of the Buckeyes’ three goals on senior night against the Wolverines, that is just the product of a contagious offense.
“When the line in front of you has a good shift, you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m going to go do the same thing,’” Singleton said. “And then it’s just a cycle of just domination.”
Resilience turns into momentum for Ohio State
Before the tides turned from the Michigan series, senior Dalton Messina knew how resilient Ohio State could be. He called the Buckeyes’ mature roster “strong,” a team that has shown it could bounce back from adversity quickly.
“We’re hard to play against,” Messina said.
In front of a capacity home crowd Thursday, Ohio State showed that resiliency.
Deadlocked at three goals heading into shootouts, all eyes were on Dobes: the Ohio State goalkeeper, who had allowed three goals on 17 shots. But Dobes was perfect when he needed to be, saving all three of the Wolverines’ shot attempts to secure the shootout win.
This resilience turned into a dominant victory against Michigan in Cleveland in front of a record-breaking crowd, showing fans the possibilities for an Ohio State team many had never seen…
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