Men's Hockey: Team dyes hair scarlet as conference playoffs open

Corey Toy, Ohio State hockey's team-leader in penalty minutes, got stuck with the pinkish scarlet hue. Proposed by roommate forward Todd Rudasill, the mullet, of proud hockey history, should revive Toy's tough-guy image.

With playoff beards just beginning to blossom and mullets requiring months of planning and infrequent barber shop visits, the scarlet dye found little serious competition in the spur-of-the-moment locker room debate.

"It's just to bring the team together, something that we're doing together," senior co-captain Zach Pelletier said. "We're pretty tight right now but this should take us to the next level so we can go into this weekend prepared."

It's strange how the formula for cohesion changes. Against Michigan it took face-to-face challenges in a players-only meeting. Two weeks later, a small bottle and some plastic gloves.

"It's kind of a fun thing to do before playoffs," sophomore co-captain Peter Boyd said. "You don't want to be too tight going into playoffs."

Their bid for fourth place and a first-round bye falling short in Saturday's 7-5 loss to No. 8 Miami, No. 14 Ohio State will face Bowling Green in a best-of-three series beginning Friday at 7:05 p.m. at the OSU Ice Rink.

"We worked darn hard to get home ice," coach John Markell said. "Wherever that might be on this campus, we got home ice. It's our job to defend the crest that's on that ice."

Were the arena a frozen Olentangy River, pride wouldn't be a problem. The proof is in Patrick Schafer's helmet, where the scarlet has begun to bleed.

Though Corey Elkins was less than enthused about the prospect of playing at the Ice Rink, the feeling hasn't permeated the locker room.

"It's a fun place to play," Pelletier said. "It's small. It's gonna be packed. There's gonna be a lot of energy in there."

The result of an NCAA rule that requires helmets not be worn during warm-ups, the red manes and mullets will be on display Friday.

"Hopefully, they had some fun with it," Markell said. "But it's all about what they put on the ice. It's not the color of their hair once that gets covered up with a helmet."