Olivia Mobley (15) celebrates Ohio State’s 10th goal of an 11-1 victory against Bemidji State at the Ohio State Ice Rink Friday. Mobley’s assist on Barnes’ goal was Mobley’s 100th point in her collegiate career. Credit: Aiden Ridgway | Lantern Photographer
It’s often said that the best offense is a good defense — but in Ohio State’s 11-1 victory against Bemidji State Friday at the Ohio State Ice Rink, the opposite seemed to be true.
It took over 12 minutes for Bemidji State (4-21-2, 3-17-1 WCHA) to record a shot on goal, by which time freshman forward Jocelyn Amos had already put the Buckeyes on the scoreboard. No. 1 Ohio State (23-2-0, 20-1-0 WCHA) continued to limit Bemidji State’s offensive chances all three periods, outshooting the Beavers 50-14 en route to a program record-tying 11 goals.
“I really appreciated how all five of the players were using each other intelligently in the offensive zone, and no one was really looking to get on the scoreboard, it was just what was the right play,” head coach Nadine Muzerall said.
Just before the Buckeyes scored the record-tying 11th goal, senior forward Olivia Mobley hit a milestone of her own. With an assist to graduate defenseman Cayla Barnes in the third period, Mobley recorded her 100th career point. It was her ninth assist of the season, and the Quinnipiac transfer now has 40 goals and 60 assists in her career.
“I said to the girls in the locker room that it’s been a long journey,” Mobley said. “A lot of ups and downs throughout the career, but it’s really cool to be able to celebrate this at a place like this.”
Heading into the series, senior defenseman Lauren Bernard said winning physical battles in front of the net would be a key to success. After the Buckeyes scored multiple goals from netfront scrums, Mobley said the forwards succeeded in front of the crease.
“I don’t know how many of the goals were just driving hard or on the back door tipping pucks in,” Mobley said. “That’s going to be a huge asset to our team, especially since we’re so fast, beating the D[efense] wide and getting bodies in front, getting shots through and just hammering away.”
Throughout the game, Bemidji State looked to contain Ohio State’s offense by forcing the Buckeyes to the perimeter. Despite the Beavers’ penalty kill-esque defensive strategy, graduate forward Hannah Bilka skated around defenders to create odd-man chances throughout the game and was rewarded with a team-high 4 points.
“I take a lot of pride in using my speed and driving to the net,” Bilka said. “Sometimes those are the hardest games because it feels like you can’t get anything to the middle because they’re so packed in, but I think that’s when, even more than other games, you have to use all five guys on the ice and you just can’t get individual because it feels like you’re swarmed.”
Through two periods, Ohio State generated a 5-0 lead while recording 35 shots on goal. In the third period, the floodgates opened, with six different Buckeyes scoring goals.
“I think they got a little tired from running around,” Muzerall said. “Our team has four lines, so you can go 30 seconds and rest. A lot of teams don’t have that ability, and I think we started to use the width of the ice and utilizing low to high a lot more, and our speed off the wall.”
Despite the double-digit scoring effort, Muzerall said some aspects of the Buckeyes’ game, including the goal concession with under five minutes remaining in regulation, will need to be tuned up before Saturday’s rematch.
“Obviously to the naked eye, it was a strong game, but we did have a lot of breakdowns without the puck,” Muzerall said. “We have to take a little more pride in that zero on the board and not get sloppy just because you have some goals on the scoreboard, you’ve got to care about the entire part of the game.”
