Men’s Hockey: Buckeyes Fall to No. 6/7 Michigan State, 4-1 – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
COLUMBUS, Ohio In front of a season-high 9,195 fans, the Ohio State men’s hockey team lost to No. 6/7-ranked and defending national champion Michigan State, 4-1, Friday in Value City Arena. The teams will close out the two-game series at 7:35 p.m. Saturday in VCA.
The Spartans opened the scoring with a goal 2:06 into the game, when Bryan Lerg scored on the power play from in front of the net. Michigan State went ahead 2-0 at 10:46 on a Tim Crowder goal, as he got to the rebound of a Matt Schepke shot. Buckeye senior Tommy Goebel then notched his team-best 12th goal of the year at 15:44. MSU goalie Jeff Lerg made the first save of a Jason DeSantis shot, but Goebel got to the rebound and was able to get it under J. Lerg. Freshman Kyle Reed had the second assist on the goal. The Buckeyes were outshot in the period, 18-10. Michigan State had the only power-play chances in the period, converting 1-of-3 opportunities.
In the second, Michigan State’s Nick Sucharski scored the only goal at 4:09, following a turnover deep in the Buckeye zone. Ohio State put nine shots on net in the period and MSU had seven shots. The Spartans were 0-for-2 with the man advantage and Ohio State was 0-for-1.
The score remained 3-1 until Justin Abdelkader scored into an empty net at 19:35 of the third period. J. Lerg came up big to maintain’ the Spartans’ two-goal lead, stopping Buckeye freshman Patrick Schafer on a breakaway with less than eight minutes remaining. Ohio State outshot Michigan State in the period, 9-6. Neither team converted its power-play chances in the period, with the Spartans 0-for-2 and Ohio State 0-for-1.
For the game, Buckeye goalie Joseph Palmer made 27 saves in 58:34 between the pipes. J. Lerg also had 27 stops, while playing all 60 minutes.
The Buckeyes stopped the Spartans on 6-of-7 power-play chances. Ohio State was 0-for-2 with the man advantage.
In front of a season-high 9,195 fans, the Ohio State men’s hockey team lost to No. 6/7-ranked and defending national champion Michigan State, 4-1, Friday in Value City Arena. The teams will close out the two-game series at 7:35 p.m. Saturday in VCA. Goebel has a team-best 20 points this season, the fourth time in his career he has hit the 20-point mark. He has 99 collegiate points (45-54-99).
Palmer was making his first start since Dec. 15 at Alaska. He missed the Buckeyes’ games in late December and early January while at the IIHF World Junior Championship.
The game was televised live on the Big Ten Network, marking the Buckeyes’ first and only scheduled telecast on the network this season.
DeSantis has a point in four of the last five games, with assists in three of the last four.
Postgame Quotes
John Markell, Ohio State head coach
On Michigan State
“We played against a good, hard hockey team tonight. They were consistent and patient and have guys who have been there before. They rely a lot on their upperclassmen but their younger guys did a good job too.”
On Ohio State’s performance
“We played well in spurts but we need to see more consistency from line to line.”
On the game-changing play
“The third goal was the killer. That made it 3-1. For 10 minutes we went into a lull, and were unable to fight through it. We need to learn how to fight through those lulls and compete for the entire 60 minutes.”
Tommy Goebel, Ohio State senior forward
On the game
“We gave too much away in the d-zone tonight. It’s been our story all year. We get down in a game and we can’t seem to get back up. I feel like Michigan State really dominated us in our d-zone.”
Joseph Palmer, Ohio State sophomore goalie
On the game
“It starts at the beginning of the game. We have to go out and dictate how we want the game to go at home. Obviously, we want to play our style but we came out a bit flat.”
Rick Comley, Michigan State head coach
On the game
“It was a pretty good road game. I thought Jeff Lerg’s save when the score was 3-1 helped seal the win. Tonight we kept possession and kept plugging away to get goals.”
On Ohio State
“It’s tough to win with freshmen in this day and age. It’s just about getting pucks in the goal and getting big saves. Ohio State creates big chances and they aren’t far away and we aren’t there yet either. We have a chance to be a good team and we aren’t far away.”
On game two
“We have respect for everyone we play and that’s why tomorrow we know it’s going to be a hard game.”
Nick Sucharski, Michigan junior forward
On Michigan State
“I’m playing with a great group of guys right now and when you play with guys like that you’ll find yourself getting easy goals when you are in the right place.”
Tim Crowder, Michigan State junior forward
On the game
“It was a great game. We came out hard and they matched us. The game was a good test for us and we have to take the positives out of the third period and come back tomorrow with the same intensity.”
Jeff Lerg, Michigan State junior goalie
On Michigan State
“We did a good job keeping the puck in their end and cycling it so it stayed out of our end.”
Hockey Game Box Score (Final)
Ohio State Men’s Hockey 2007-08
#6 Michigan State vs Ohio State (Jan 18, 2008 at Columbus, Ohio)
Michigan State (15-5-4, 11-2-2 CCHA) vs. Ohio State (7-16-2, 3-11-1 CCHA)
Date: Jan 18, 2008 Location: Columbus, Ohio Arena: Value City Arena
Attendance:9195 Start time:7:06 pm End time:9:18 pm Total time:2:12
Goals by Period 1 2 3 Tot
———————————-
Michigan State…… 2 1 1 – 4
Ohio State………. 1 0 0 – 1
1st period – 1, MSU, Bryan Lerg/11 (Tim Crowder/11, Matt
Schepke/14) 2:06 (pp). 2, MSU, Tim Crowder/9 (Matt Schepke/15, Jeff
Dunne/3) 10:46. 3, OSU, Tommy Goebel/12 (Jason DeSantis/9, Kyle
Reed/4) 15:44. Penalties – Corey Toy, OSU (interference) 1:15; Johann
Kroll, OSU (interference) 13:43; Jason DeSantis, OSU (tripping) 17:08.
2nd period – 4, MSU, Nick Sucharski/7 (Chris Mueller/11) 4:09.
Penalties – Peter Boyd, OSU (cth high-sticking atw) 5:10; Daniel
Vukovic, MSU (tripping) 8:02; Jason DeSantis, OSU (slashing) 13:15.
3rd period – 5, MSU, Justin Abdelkader/9 (Brandon Gentile/8) 19:35
(empty net). Penalties – Johann Kroll, OSU (holding) :40; Nick
Sucharski, MSU (hooking) 10:27; John Dingle, OSU (tripping) 13:58.
Shots on goal – MSU 18-7-6 31; OSU 10-9-9 28.
Power plays – MSU 1 of 7; OSU 0 of 2.
Penalties – MSU 2 (4 min); OSU 7 (14 min).
Goalies – MSU, Jeff Lerg 14-5-4 (60:00 minutes, 28 shots-27 saves);
OSU, Joseph Palmer 5-13-2 (58:34, 30-27) , EMPTY NET (01:26, 0-0).
Penalty shots – None.
A-9195 T-2:12
Three stars: 1. Tim Crowder 2. Jeff Lerg 3. Tommy Goebel
Referee:Keith Sergott AR:Blake Matatall; Tony Molina
Win-Jeff Lerg (14-5-4). Loss-Joseph Palmer (5-13-2).
OSU timeout at 18:33 of third period
