Bucks lose weekend pair to Miami

The No. 12-ranked Ohio State men's hockey team lost to No. 2 Miami, 5-1, Friday in the Schottenstein Center in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association opener for both squads.

Ohio State lost back-to-back games to rival Miami University Friday and Sunday, dropping its overall record to 2-2-0 (0-2 in Central Collegiate Hockey Association).

"I'm grateful that we have a day off. We didn't do the little things that make you a good hockey team, against a very good hockey team, and it cost us," OSU coach John Markell said, following Friday's loss.

The day off was not enough time for the Bucks to figure out how to play the No. 2 ranked RedHawks (4-0-0, 2-0-0) that were victorious 5-1 in both games against an OSU team that includes 14 freshmen on its roster.

"It didn't matter what the score was. We were going to play the same way; we trust our gameplan," Miami coach Enrico Blasi said following Friday's win.

When asked about facing such a young team Blasi said, "Our focus is on how we play." He said he didn't know how many freshmen OSU has this season.

OSU struck first in Friday's game. Senior Tom Fritsche scored a short-handed goal with help from fellow senior Tommy Goebel. That proved to be all for OSU, as Miami forward Justin Mercier scored twice in the first period to give the RedHawks all the offense they needed.

"Getting the lead at the end of the first was big," Mercier said.

Miami freshman forward Tommy Wingels added a goal and an assist and goaltender Jeff Zatkoff stopped 24 of 25 shots for Miami.

The most unusual moment of the game came in the third period when Miami forward Jarod Palmer and OSU defenseman Johann Kroll got into a scuffle with Palmer, headbutting Kroll. Both players received two-minute penalties for cross-checking, but the referee told OSU captain Matt McIlvane he did not see the headbutt.

Sunday was equally as frustrating for the Bucks. With OSU trailing 3-0 in the second period Goebel scored on a power play, but that was all OSU could put together. Wingels scored twice for Miami, and Mercier had a goal and an assist.

Each team was 1-for-9 on the power play in the game, combining for 79 penalty minutes (OSU 14 pen/41 PIM; MIA 15 pen/38 PIM).

OSU will travel later this week to Minnesota for a pair of games with the Golden Gophers on Thursday and Friday.

James Crepea can be reached at crepea.1@osu.edu.