Men’s Hockey: Buckeyes come from behind for second consecutive game, sweep No. 16 Penn State

Cameron Shaffer
Sun, 07 Nov 2021 17:29:05 +0000
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Ohio State men’s hockey celebrates a goal during their 4-3 win over Connecticut in overtime. Credit: Gabe Haferman | Assistant Photo Editor

Despite falling behind for the second time in as many nights, Ohio State fought back and extended its Big Ten winning streak to three.?

For the second consecutive night, Ohio State’s men’s hockey team (6-2-0, 3-1-0 Big Ten) came from behind to defeat Penn State (6-3-0, 0-2-0 Big Ten). The Buckeyes’ 4-1 win gave them a series sweep over the No. 16 Nittany Lions.?

Head coach Steve Rohlik made sure to acknowledge that sweeping a team of Penn State’s quality is no small feat. However, he reiterated his team has not quite reached the level they want to be at.?

“Anytime you can sweep a team in this league, you’ve done something pretty good, especially against a really good hockey team,” Rohlik said. “My guys have worked awfully hard and we’re nowhere near a finished product. We’ve got to keep working to get there.”?

Rohlik admitted that his team has struggled to find that first goal in a lot of their contests, but when they do get that initial score, opponents should watch out.

“We just got to keep doing what we’re doing. It’s kind of been the same story here of late,” Rohlik said. “We’ve just got to hang in there and once we get that one, all of a sudden that second and third one comes. Once we got that first goal, there was lots of life on that bench.”

Penn State got on the board first, as junior forward Connor MacEachern followed up his initial shot attempt, skated around freshman goaltender Jakub Dobe?, and slipped the puck into an empty net at 3:50 of the first period.

The goal was MacEachern’s sixth of the season and put him into a tie for the team lead in points with junior forward Kevin Wall. Senior defenseman Clayton Phillips, who was named Big Ten First Star of the Week following his performance against North Dakota Oct. 30, picked up his fourth assist of the year on the goal.

Falling behind is nothing new to this Ohio State team, having conceded the opening goal in five of their eight games this season.

Ohio State earned its first power play opportunity of the evening at the 8:29 mark of the first period but were unable to convert.

The power play unit stepped back onto the ice just seven seconds after the first penalty was killed off, when Penn State was called for too many men on the ice. Once again, the Buckeyes were unable to take advantage of the Nittany Lions’ mistakes.?

For the second straight contest, Penn State held a 1-0 advantage after the first period. Both teams accumulated 10 shots in the opening 20 minutes.

Senior defenseman Grant Gabriele gave Penn State’s power play unit its first opportunity of the night 2:47 into the second period. The Nittany Lions came close to extending their lead on the man advantage when senior forward Ben Copeland struck the crossbar just six seconds into the power play.?

The remainder of the second period was played at a lightning-fast pace, but neither side was able to find the back of the net.?

After 40 minutes, Penn State held a 21-16 advantage in the shot department, while both teams were 0-2 on the power play.?

At 4:30 in the third period, senior forward Jake Wise skated inside from the right and fired a shot that was saved by Penn State senior goaltender Oskar Autio. However, freshman defenseman Mason Lohrei collected the rebound and slotted the puck in the back of the net, leveling the score at one.

Lohrei’s goal was his second of the campaign and pushed his point total to six, tying junior forwards Tate Singleton and Mark Cheremeta, who tallied assist No. 4 of the year on the play, for the team lead.?

Forty-two seconds later, another Buckeyes defenseman lit the lamp for the second time. On this occasion, it was junior Dominc Vidoli. Just like that, the Buckeyes held a 2-1 lead.

A couple of freshman forwards combined to set up Vidoli. Georgii Merkulov and Cam Thiesing each recorded the fourth assists of their careers on the goal, giving them each an assist in both games against the Nittany Lions.

At this point, game two was eerily similar to the first game of the series, where Kamil Sadlocha scored two goals 3:32 apart to give Ohio State a 2-1 advantage late in the second period.

Singleton committed a cross-checking penalty with 9:43 to play, providing Penn State with a prime opportunity to tie things up. The Buckeyes successfully killed off the cross-check and dug in to see out the remaining 7:26.

That’s exactly what they did.?

With 6:50 remaining in the final period sophomore forward Joe Dunlap drove to the net and beat Autio for his first goal of the season and second as a Buckeye. Wise and Lohrei each grabbed their second assist of the game on Dunlap’s goal. Lohrei picked up his team-leading sixth, while Wise tallied No. 5.

Dunlap, who did not see the ice in the first game of the series, got the start for just the third time in eight contests. He said he understood the importance of taking advantage of the faith shown in him by the coaching staff.

“Just a great opportunity and I’m glad I capitalized on it,” Dunlap said. “It definitely gives me a lot of confidence. I’m excited to get back to practice on Monday, work through Thursday and just hope my name’s called on Friday.”

Vidoli and Dunlap have each been healthy scratches in a few games this season, something that says more about Ohio State’s depth than anything else in the eyes of their head coach.?

“We’ve got a lot of good players and I’ve said this from the beginning, it’s going to be someone different every night,” Rohlik said. “These guys get the job done Monday through Thursday so no matter who’s in that lineup, I know we can trust them.”

The contest ended 4-1 after Cheremeta added an empty net goal with 2:07 left in the final period. Cheremeta’s goal was his third of the season and put him in a tie with Lohrei for the team lead in points with seven.

Cheremeta tallied both a goal and an assist on the night, extending his points streak to four games.?

Dobe? continued his excellence in between the pipes, saving 29-of-30 shots the Nittany Lions sent his way. The Ostrava, Czech Republic, native is now 6-1 in his debut season.

Dobe?, who was named the Hockey Commissioners Association Men’s Rookie of the Month Wednesday, saved 62-of-65 shots he faced this weekend, raising his save percentage to .960, No. 1 nationally among goalies who’ve seen action in more than one contest.?

Penn State, who came into this weekend averaging 4.29 goals per game, were only able to light the lamp three times in 120 minutes against the Buckeyes. Rohlik praised his team’s cohesion without the puck after tonight’s win.

“Again, I go back to Penn State, they’re as dangerous as any team you’re going to play all year,” Rohlik said. “Anytime you can hold that team down like we did for two nights it’s a credit to these guys, it’s a credit to our five-man group on the ice and obviously our goaltender.”

The crowd inside Value City Arena was rowdy for the series finale, something that Dunlap certainly appreciated.?

“It’s a great atmosphere,” Dunlap said. “It’s a lot of fun playing and a lot of fun showing up. It’s very entertaining and it helps us win games.”

The 4-1 win wraps up a six-game homestand that saw Ohio State go 5-1. The Buckeyes will return to the ice next weekend for a two-game series against No. 5 Minnesota in Minneapolis

“It’s a good start,” Rohlik said. “It was a good home stand and now we’re going to get on the road this week and head up to Minnesota.”