Inconsistent goaltending continues to plague the Ohio State men’s hockey team.
Before this past weekend’s series with Alaska, coach John Markell had a conversation with his two goaltenders, in which he was quite frank with them.
“I told them that I wanted to run with a hot goalie. This time of the year you need to do that,” Markell said.
As of late, the Buckeye goaltenders had been anything but hot. And more of the same was seen in Friday and Saturday’s matchups with the Nanooks.
Cal Heeter started between the pipes Friday for the Buckeyes. Heeter allowed three goals on 20 shots and has allowed more than four goals per game over his last four starts. His performance, along with the rest of the team, left much to be desired.
“It starts with effort and tonight it wasn’t there,” Markell said. “It was totally out of character of how we’ve been playing since the break and they paid a dear price for it tonight.”
There was plenty of blame to go around for Friday night’s loss as the Buckeye offense was as cold as the weather outside. OSU fired 34 shots but found the net only once. The lone goal was two less than Alaska forward Andy Taranto scored himself en route to a hat trick. The Nanooks won 4-1.
Following Heeter’s less-than-stellar performance, Dustin Carlson started in net for OSU on Saturday.
In the encore the Buckeyes came out with a renewed vigor and built a 3-1 lead in the second period. Forward Zac Dalpe would later attribute the increased effort to players taking the proverbial long look in the mirror.
However, the Buckeyes blew the two-goal lead, something they have done in three of their last four games. The Nanooks tied the game — on a power play goal — as Alaska forward Carlo Finucci got the puck past Carlson with just 2:59 remaining.
The penalty kill has been an achilles heel for the Buckeyes lately and it haunted them again this weekend. The Buckeyes surrendered a power play goal to the Nanooks in both games in the series and have allowed at least one power play goal in each of their last five games.
Markell believes the goaltenders are as responsible as any for the shortcomings on the penalty kill.
“Your best penalty killer is usually your goalie,” Markell said.
Neither of the two goalies have played up to their capabilities in the past couple weeks, Markell said.
On a positive note, the Buckeyes took two points from Alaska Saturday by winning a shootout after neither team was able to score in overtime. Carlson saved all three shots he faced in overtime and blanked the Nanooks in the shootout.
“When it came down to the shootout, I wanted it,” Carlson said. “We need points as much as anyone right now. I was going to do whatever I had to, to help us get those points.”
Dalpe, who shot second for the Buckeyes, was the only player to mark in the shootout and led the Buckeyes to a 1-0 shootout victory.
In overtime and the shootout, Carlson showed flashes of his brilliance from last year when he recorded 21 wins for the Buckeyes. After the game, Markell recognized his effort.
“Any time you’re aggressive like that and you get three stops [in a shootout] it’s very good,” Markell said. “I thought he got back on his game a little bit. He knows in himself he’s got an even better game and we’ll need that.”
