 "Photo: Jill Bonnough")
After a record-setting offensive performance at Northeastern (1-2, 1-0 Hockey East) this past weekend, the No. 10 Ohio State women's hockey team (4-0, 2-0 WCHA) continues its road stretch this weekend, traveling to No. 3 Minnesota-Duluth (3-1-0, 3-1-0 WCHA). The Bulldog's lone loss was handed to them by No. 1 Wisconsin in overtime.
The Buckeyes will look to continue last weekend's impressive offense that saw them outshoot the Huskies 93-50 in the two-game series, including a school-record 55 shots Saturday.
OSU's goaltender, junior Erika Vanderveer, shut out Northeastern 3-0 Friday night at Matthews Arena in Boston. Vanderveer stopped all 26 shots she faced to pick up her fourth career shutout
"Having the experience of last year under my belt has given me a lot of confidence in each game," Vanderveer said. "Just knowing that I've been up against each opponent before helps me go into those games mentally prepared."
The Buckeyes were lead by another great outing from their young players. Sophomore center Shelby Aldous scored her second goal of the season on a rebound off a shot by junior winger Katie Maroney at 7:50 in the first period. Freshman defenseman Kelly Cahill continued her strong play with an assist on junior captain defenseman Amber Bowman's top-shelf power-play goal at 11:14 in the third period. Fellow freshman winger Morgan Marziali finished up the Buckeye scoring with her second goal of the season on an empty-netter just before the final buzzer.
The Buckeyes combined the solid play of Vanderveer in goal with a tough defensive attack, especially on penalty kill, holding the Huskies scoreless on all six power play opportunities.
Saturday's game did not go quite as smoothly for the Buckeyes, although it is not apparent by the score. The team tallied 55 shots and defeated the Huskies 6-2, but it took a four-goal final period to overcome a one-goal deficit.
The Buckeyes got on the board first 3:58 into the opening period when sophomore forward Mallory Peckels scored a back-handed goal assisted by senior captain Jana Harrigan and Marziali.
The Huskies tied the game at 1-1 1:34 into the second period when sophomore forward Nikki Petrich scored a power-play goal to end Vanderveer's shutout streak at 101:19. Petrich's was the first power-play goal given up by the Buckeye defense this season.
OSU then faced its first deficit of the season when Petrich scored her second power-play tally of the game halfway through the second period.
The Buckeyes were able to tie it up on a rebound goal by Maroney with less than 30 seconds left in the period. The score now stood at 2-2 even though OSU had outshot their opponent 36-19.
"In the second game when were down 2-1, it showed a lot of character to be able to come back like that," Vanderveer said. "It showed what kind of hard-working program we are."
Harrigan broke the tie 8:32 into the third period with her first goal of the season, and Cahill put the Huskies away for good at 11:25 in the period when she stripped the puck away from a Huskies defender and scored a shorthanded goal on a breakaway.
"We've been getting good early reads, working hard on the forecheck, and we've created a lot of turnovers," coach Jackie Barto said.
This weekend's match-up is certainly the biggest of the season thus far for the Buckeyes. Last season Minnesota-Duluth was 26-6-2 (22-4-2 WCHA), and advanced all the way to the NCAA quarterfinals before losing to St. Lawrence 3-2 in overtime.
"Going on the road against a team ranked as high as they are is always tough," Barto said. "We just have to take our game to them. Not change what we are doing well right now, but do everything a little better."
Adding to that is the fact that the Buckeyes have had little success against the Bulldogs the last three seasons. They have lost 13 of their last 14 games in the series, including a four-game sweep by the Bulldogs during last year's regular season series, as well as a loss in the WHCA playoffs. The last time OSU defeated the Bulldogs was back on February 6, 2004.
"This is a huge rivalry for us," Maroney said. "They are probably the team we hate the most in this league."
"We have something to prove," Vanderveer said. "We're a whole new team this year and so are they."
The Buckeyes are hoping the speed of their younger players will help to change the trend in this series. After an 8-3 defeat to the Bulldogs last season here in Columbus, Barto said her team had trouble containing their opponents speed.
"We are a faster team then we have been in the past so we should be able to do more in against them in transition," Barto said. "We need to put pressure on their defense, and we need to force turnovers. A lot of our best opportunities this season have come off of turnovers. We also need our special teams to come up big. Our penalty kill has been solid this year, but we need to capitalize on more power play opportunities."
The team is hoping another thing that will help them in this key series is their nothing-to-lose mentality.
"The fact that they are ranked so high gives them a lot to lose," Maroney said. "And for us, we can relax and play our game because we have nothing to lose going into this game."
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