Two disappointing losses at Nebraska-Omaha have placed the Ohio State men’s hockey team in a pivotal position.
“This is separation weekend,” said OSU coach John Markell. “We thought last weekend was, but we lost two, and we stayed in second place (CCHA). That doesn’t happen any more.”
The first game of the series with UNO had OSU bombard Maverick goaltender Dan Ellis with 41 shots.
But Ellis was up to the task as he stopped every Buckeye shot.
“He was just unbelievable, and you could feel it. You knew he was in for a good game,” said goaltender Mike Betz.
Violence broke out toward the end of the game as OSU defenseman Nate Guenin and UNO player Jason Jaworski were penalized with five-minute fighting majors and game disqualifications.
Things didn’t get much better the next night as OSU fell again, this time 3-1.
“Anytime you get all those shots, it’s frustrating not to get any in, especially when it took 118 minutes to get a goal,” said defenseman and captain Scott Titus. “They had a hot goaltender. He’s outstanding, and he shut us down.”
Forward JB Bittner scored the only OSU goal, with assists from forwards Miguel Lafleche and R.J. Umberger.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” Titus said. “If you pop one in, things could have been different.”
But the Buckeyes can’t focus on last week. Instead, OSU will travel to Notre Dame for two more weekend contests.
“They’re a big, tough team,” Markell said. “I think they have been up and down this year, and it looks like they’re on their way a little bit. They’re going to try to make the playoff push.”
OSU catches a break this week as top CCHA team Ferris State and Michigan face off.
The Wolverines and Buckeyes are tied for second in the standings.
“Hopefully, they’ll beat each other up enough, and we can move up in the standings,” Bittner said.
Notre Dame is a struggling team with a 9-12-5 overall record.
OSU is on the road for the second straight weekend, and it is not easy to win away from home as OSU has dropped its last two CCHA road series.
“We fly commercially, and we didn’t get back until Sunday at 4:30 a.m. (from Nebraska),” Markell said. “Not that it’s always a hard trip, it’s just time consuming. We have to jump on the bus and away we go.”
If the Buckeyes can stay toward the top of the CCHA, the team will have a better chance of advancing to the CCHA Tournament, which is held at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena.
“We’re definitely looking to have a No. 1 or No. 2 seed going into Joe Louis Arena,” Bittner said. “If you have a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, you only have to win two games to win the tournament.”
