Women’s Hockey Concludes 2007 with Road Series at No. 3 Minnesota Duluth – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
Buckeyes face Bulldogs Saturday and Sunday before breaking for three weeks
COLUMBUS, Ohio The Ohio State women’s hockey team concludes 2007 with a road series at No. 3 Minnesota Duluth, Dec. 8-9. Games for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association series begin at 3:37 p.m. (CT) Saturday and 3:07 p.m. Sunday at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center in Duluth, Minn.
The Buckeyes (8-6-2, 5-5-2 WCHA) were off last weekend and their series against the Bulldogs is their only December matchup. Last time out, Ohio State split a home series against St. Cloud State. UMD (12-3-1, 11-3-0) is coming off a sweep at then-No. 4 Wisconsin.
BARTO NABS 200TH WIN
Ohio State defeated St. Cloud State by a score of 4-1 Nov. 24 at the OSU Ice Rink to give head coach Jackie Barto the 200th victory of her career. She is just the seventh active coach in NCAA Division I and the 11th coach all-time to reach the milestone. Barto now has a career record of 200-202-40 in her 13th year with a 130-149-30 mark in nine seasons at Ohio State. The first and only head coach in OSU women’s hockey history, Barto reached her 100th Ohio State win Jan. 28, 2006, vs. Minnesota at the OSU Ice Rink. Prior to Ohio State, she spent five years coaching at Providence College.
BONHOMME TOPS OSU DEFENSEMAN SCORING RECORD
With an assist Nov. 23 against St. Cloud State, senior Tessa Bonhomme recorded her 103rd career point and set the OSU record for defenseman scoring. She surpassed former defensive partner Amber Bowman (2004-07) for the mark and now ranks third all-time in career scoring. The assist also was the 70th of her career, tying her for third with Emily Hudak (2000-03).
OHIO STATE UPDATE
The Buckeyes are tied for fourth in the WCHA with St. Cloud State with 12 points on a 5-5-2 record. They are 8-6-2 overall. Leading the team offensively are seniors Erin Keys and Tessa Bonhomme with 20 points each. Keys has a team-high 10 goals while Bonhomme leads with 13 assists. Both have a Buckeye-best plus-14 rating.
Junior goaltender Liana Bonanno has played the majority of minutes in net with a 7-5-2 record in 15 starts. She has a .902 save percentage and 2.72 goals-against average. The OSU power play is operating at 12.7 percent (8-of-63) and the penalty kill is at 85.7 percent (78-of-91).
LAST TIME OUT
Ohio State split a conference series with St. Cloud State, Nov. 23-24 at the OSU Ice Rink. The Buckeyes won 4-1 Saturday after dropping a 4-1 decision to the Huskies Friday. Freshman goaltender Deidre Facklis made her first career start Saturday and also posted her first career win. She stopped 16 of 17 shots faced to improve to 1-1-0 this season. Her lone goal allowed was on the power play.
Leading the Buckeyes offensively Saturday was senior defenseman Lisa Chesson, who scored twice and added an assist for a season-high three points. Also recording multiple points in the second game were senior forward Erin Keys with two assists and sophomore defenseman Rachel Davis with a goal and assist.
NOTING THE ST. CLOUD STATE SERIES
* The St. Cloud State series is the tightest Ohio State has with an opponent with the Buckeyes leading the all-time series 19-16-3.
* The two-point performance by Rachel Davis was the first multiple-point game of her career and, with both points coming on the power play, she now leads the team with six power play points.
SERIES HISTORY
The Bulldogs lead the all-time series with the Buckeyes by a record of 30-3-4; however Ohio State took three of eight points in the season series in 2006-07. Last time in Duluth, Ohio State snapped a 10-game winless streak with a 3-0 shutout of the Bulldogs. It was the first time the Buckeyes blanked UMD since Dec. 2, 2000. The Buckeye also concluded the series last season with a 1-1 tie against Minnesota Duluth (Jan. 27, 2007).
Senior defenseman Tessa Bonhomme leads Ohio State is scoring against UMD with seven points on three goals and four assists.
A LOOK AT THE COMPETITION
Minnesota Duluth is ranked No. 3 in the nation at 12-3-1 and stands atop the WCHA standings with 22 points and an 11-3-0 record. All three of the Bulldog losses have been against Minnesota and UMD has won its last four games in a row. It is a young team with the Top 6 scorers in their freshman or sophomore seasons. Sophomore Saara Tuominen leads the team in points (23) and assists (15) and is tied for the Bulldog lead in goals (8). Sophomore Kim Martin has played the majority of time in the UMD net and is 9-3-1 with a 1.47 goals-against average and .953 save percentage.
RETURN VISIT?
The series against the Bulldogs will hopefully not be the last time the Buckeyes visit the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center this year. Minnesota Duluth and the DECC also will play host to the WCHA Playoff Championship, March 8-9, and the 2008 Frozen Four, March 20-22.
BUCKEYES AMONG THE BEST
Despite being off last weekend, the Buckeyes remain among the top of the league in several categories. Seniors Tessa Bonhomme and Erin Keys are tied for third in overall scoring with 20 points each. Keys is still one of only two players in the WCHA with double-digit goals, ranking second with 10. Bonhomme is tied for second with 13 assists and Keys is tied for eighth with 10.
Sophomore defenseman Rachel Davis is tied for seventh with six power play points and Bonhomme still leads all defensemen in scoring, seven points ahead of the next blueliner. She also is tied for the top spot in the nation in defenseman scoring with 1.25 points per game.
SHUT THEM DOWN
After starting the season a little shaky, the Ohio State penalty kill has held opponents scoreless in 56 of their last 61 power play opportunities (91.8 percent). Eight times this season the Buckeyes have had a perfect penalty kill performance and only three times have they allowed multiple PP goals in a game.
NEARING THE CENTURY MARK
Senior forward Erin Keys had three points in a split with St. Cloud State (Nov. 23-24) to increase her career total to 91 and moved her into seventh all-time in the OSU record books. The native of St. Paul, Minn., scored a goal Friday and added two assists Saturday, including one on the game-winner. With her three points, Keys increased her season total to 20 to tie for third in the league in overall scoring. Keys has registered a point in eight of the last nine games with 14 points (6g, 8a) in that span. She has six multi-point games this season.
THE BIG CHEESE
Senior defenseman Lisa Chesson led Ohio State to a 4-1 win Nov. 24 with a season-high three points vs. St. Cloud State. The assistant captain from Plainfield, Ill., assisted on the game-winning goal and scored twice in the third period to seal the win. It was the second multi-goal game for her in the last five contests. The three points upped Chesson to a tie for fourth overall in the WCHA in defenseman scoring with eight points (5g, 3a). She also moved into the Top 10 in the Ohio State career scoring category, tying for ninth with 71 points.
NO SWEAT
Freshman goaltender Deidre Facklis stepped up Nov. 24 in her first career start and stopped 16 of 17 shots faced to record her first career win as well in a 4-1 Ohio State victory against St. Cloud State. Facklis, a native of Wilmette, Ill., entered the game with a total of just over 32 minutes in two previous appearances, and turned away all but one shot faced for a .941 save percentage. Her lone goal allowed was on the power play and she improved to 1-1-0 this season.
KLASS ACT
After starting the season with just two points in the first seven games, junior forward Hayley Klassen has collected 11 points in the last nine games. She had an assist last time out against St. Cloud State. With 13 points on six goals and seven assists, Klassen ranks third on the team in scoring. She is four points shy of matching her career high set last season with 17 points.
OSU FOR USA
Ohio State was without head coach Jackie Barto and senior defenseman Lisa Chesson for the Minnesota State series, Nov. 9-10. The two were competing with Team USA in the Four Nations Cup, Nov. 7-11 in Leksand, Sweden. Barto led the U.S. Women’s Select Team to the championship game and a second-place finish in the event.
In June, Barto was named head coach of both the U.S. Select Team and the U.S. National Team, which she will lead in the 2008 World Women’s Championships in April. Chesson was named to the 2007 U.S. Women’s Select Team on Oct. 16. She and Team USA will face off against the national teams from Canada, Sweden and Finland. In August, Chesson became just the second Buckeye to be named to the U.S. Under-22 Team. She is the first student-athlete in Ohio State women’s hockey history to be named to the U.S. Women’s Select Team.
BONHOMME NABS SECOND WCHA DEFENSIVE P.O.W. AWARD
Senior defenseman Tessa Bonhomme nabbed consecutive WCHA Defensive Player of the Week awards Nov. 6 and 13, the fifth and sixth weekly conference awards of her career.
Bonhomme, a native of Sudbury, Ontario, led the Buckeyes with five points in the sweep of Bemidji State, Nov. 2-3. The team captain set up three goals in game one and followed with two assists in game two for the fifth and sixth multiple-point games of the season just 10 games into the schedule.
Bonhomme then made history with her three points (1g, 2a) in the Minnesota State series, Nov. 9-10. She increased her career point total to 101 to become just the fourth Buckeye in program history to reach the 100-point milestone. Bonhomme also is just the fourth defenseman in the WCHA to achieve the mark, joining former defensive partner Amber Bowman (102 points).
LEADING THE WAY
Senior defenseman Tessa Bonhomme was voted team captain for the 2007-08 season, announced at the team banquet in the spring. Along with three seniors, Bonhomme was one of four captains in 2006-07. Wearing the A’ for the Buckeyes this season is a trio of seniors in forwards Jody Heywood and Mallory Peckels and defenseman Lisa Chesson. It is the first OSU captain honor for all three.
UP NEXT
The Buckeyes begin the 2008 slate Jan. 4-5 with a WCHA home series against North Dakota. Games begin Friday at 7:07 p.m. and Saturday at 4:07 p.m. at the OSU Ice Rink.
