Men’s Hockey: Ohio State Hosts Lake Superior State in Value City Arena – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Ohio State
vs. Lake Superior State
Friday, Oct. 17 – 7:05 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 18 – 8:05 p.m.
Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio
The Series
2007-08 Series – Tied 1-1-0
Ohio State 4, at LSSU 3 (Jan. 25, 2008)
at LSSU 6, Ohio State 5 0T (Jan. 26, 2008)
Series History – Lake Superior State leads 68-52-9
In Columbus – Tied 27-27-5
In Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – LSSU leads 41-25-4
Neutral Site – No meetings
CCHA Regular Season – Lake Superior State leads 58-47-9
Postseason – Lake Superior State leads 9-5-0
Overtime – Ohio State leads 10-8-5
Last 10 – Ohio State leads 7-3-0
BUCKEYES BULLETS
Ohio State won the first shootout in CCHA history last Friday in the season opener. After Miami and the Buckeyes remained scoreless after 65 minutes, the Buckeyes prevailed, winning the shootout 3-1 and earning the extra point in the league standings.
John Albert opened the year with back-to-back two-point games and has a team-best four points on the year. He led the squad with 17 assists a year ago.
Five Buckeye freshmen saw action last weekend, as did sophomore transfer Hunter Bishop. Ohio State has a roster dominated by underclassmen, with 22 freshmen and sophomores and just two juniors and three seniors.
Ohio State will lead the league in CCHA games played following this weekend. The Buckeyes will have four conference games under their belts, while five squads will not open conference action until the following week. Ohio State begins non-conference play at Denver next week.GAMENIGHT
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State hosts Lake Superior State for two games this weekend. The teams will meet at 7:05 p.m. Friday and at 8:05 p.m. Saturday in Value City Arena in Columbus.
FOLLOW THE BUCKEYES AND LAKERS
Live statistics from The games this weekend can be accessed from the men’s hockey schedule page at OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
A live video stream of the game will be available on Buckeye Vision. Click on the Buckeye Vision link on the OhioStateBuckeyes.com home page for details on how to order annual or monthly subscriptions to the service.
THE FUN STUFF
At the game Friday, schedule key tags will be given to the first 2,000 fans courtesy of Gatorade. It also is Retro Night, rolling the clock back to 2007.
Saturday is a Salute to Hockey Moms Night. Free schedule magnets will be given to the first 4,000 fans courtesy of Donatos and there will be a meet the Buckeyes postgame autograph session with John Albert, Peter Boyd, Chris Reed and Kyle Reed.
LAST TIME OUT
The Buckeyes opened regular season and Central Collegiate Hockey Association play with a home-and-home series with No. 8 Miami last weekend.
Ohio State won the first game 4-3 after a 3-1 shootout win, the first shootout in league history. The Buckeyes led, 2-0, at the end of the first period on a power-play goal by Peter Boyd and a shorthanded score from Patrick Schafer. Miami tied the game with two goals in the second. Ohio State regained the lead on Sergio Somma’s tally 29 seconds into the third period. The RedHawks again tied the game when Jarod Palmer scored a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 14:21. The teams skated through the rest of regulation and the 5-minute overtime tied, leading to the deciding shootout. Corey Elkins scored for Ohio State in the first round and Joseph Palmer made a save on Miami’s Pat Cannone. Buckeye Zac Dalpe and Miami’s Carter Camper both scored in the second round, but Boyd clinched the Ohio State win with a goal to open round three. The Buckeyes’ shootout win ended a six-game losing streak to the RedHawks.
Saturday in Oxford, the teams were scoreless through the first period. The RedHawks scored four times in the first 5:50 of the second period and took a 5-2 lead into the second intermission. John Albert and Kyle Reed scored for the Buckeyes in the middle frame. Ohio State cut the lead to 5-3 early in the third on Corey Elkins’ goal, but Miami scored two more times for the victory.
WITH THE BEST
The Buckeyes’ freshman class of 2009 was ranked seventh in the InsideCollegeHockey.com recruiting rankings released late last week. Zac Dalpe was rated third in the ranking of the Top 20 forwards, with Taylor Stefishen ranked 12th. Matt Bartkowski was ranked 11th in the Top 20 defensemen ranking.
BUCKEYES VS. LAKERS
Lake Superior State leads the all-time series, 68-52-9. After an 0-19-3 stretch for the Buckeyes Nov. 13, 1992-Dec. 13, 1997, Ohio State is 19-5-2 in the last 26 meetings against Lake Superior State (with three losses in OT) and 7-3 in the last 10 matchups.
In Columbus, the series is tied 27-27-5. The teams last met in Columbus Oct. 13-14, 2006, as they opened the season. Ohio State won the first game, 1-0, before the Lakers posted a 7-6 overtime victory in game two to end a 14-game winless streak vs. Ohio State (0-12-2).
Lake State leads 41-25-4 in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and the teams never have met at a neutral site. In CCHA regular-season play, Lake Superior State leads 58-47-9.
Head coach John Markell is 19-16-2 vs. the Lakers at the helm of the Buckeyes.
FLASHBACK
Last year in Sault Ste. Marie Jan. 25-26, the Buckeyes came from behind in the opener to win, 4-3, on Peter Boyd’s goal with 8.9 seconds left in regulation before the Lakers won game two in overtime, 6-5.
SCORING VS. THE LAKERS
John Albert has a team-best four assists and points vs. Lake State. Kyle Reed has three points on a goal and two assists. Junior Mathieu Picard (six) and seniors Corey Elkins (five) and Zach Pelletier (three) are the only Buckeyes to play more than two games vs. the Lakers.
LAKER LOOK
Lake Superior State opened the year with a 0-1-1 mark in the Superior Cup after tying Minnesota-Duluth (2-2) and suffering a 3-2 home loss to Michigan Tech.
The Lakers were 10-20-7 in 2007-08 and finished 10th in the CCHA with a 7-15-6 mark. The squad returns 19-of-25 letterwinners from last season. Top returnees include forwards Zac MacVoy (8-19-27 in 2007-08), Rick Schofield (10-10-20) and Troy Schwab (6-18-24), defensemen Simon Sysberts (6-13-19) and Steven Kaunisto (6-10-16) and goaltenders Pat Inglis (4-10-4, 3.56 GAA, .888 svpct.) and Brian Mahoney-Wilson (6-10-3, 3.00 GAA, .899 svpct.).
Jim Roque, a 1987 graduate of Lake Superior State, is in his fourth year at the helm. He has a school and career ledger of 46-53-17.
BONUS TIME IN COLUMBUS
Buckeye sophomore defensemen Chris Reed, Lake State freshman Dan Barczuk and Laker junior Zac MacVoy all are products of the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets, who competed in the USHL and played their home games at Nationwide Arena in Columbus. The team, which spent two years in Columbus, ceased operations for the 2008-09 season. All three players were on the squad in 2006-07.
HE’S A WINNER
Sophomore captain Peter Boyd opened the scoring vs. Miami Friday with a power-play goal and secured the win with a goal in round three of the shootout to secure the win. Boyd led the squad with four gamewinning goals a year ago.
BACK IN THE SWING OF THINGS
Sophomore Hunter Bishop had two assists at Miami Saturday, marking his first points as a Buckeye. He ended the game a team-best +3. Bishop played four games at North Dakota in 2006-07 before returning to juniors for the remainder of that season and all of 2007-08.
WELCOME TO COLLEGE
Freshmen defensemen Matt Bartkowski and Mike Folkes and forwards Ian Boots, Zac Dalpe and Cory Schneider all played in their first collegiate game last Friday vs. the RedHawks. Boots played his first regulation game since his junior season ended with the Brockville Braves in 2007. He sat out last season at Ohio State to concentrate on academics.
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
Sophomores accounted for all but two points in the Buckeyes’ series vs. Miami, including all eight Friday night in the shootout win. Seniors Corey Elkins (goal) and Nick Biondo (assist) posted the Buckeyes’ other two points. The Ohio State roster includes 13 sophomores and three seniors this year.
MAN DOWN MAGIC
Patrick Schafer’s shorthanded goal Friday night was the first of his career and was the first for a Buckeye since Nov. 30, 2007 at Michigan.
No. 10
Sophomore Kyle Reed had his four-game scoring streak that carried over from last season stopped in the first game vs. the RedHawks last Friday. He rebounded with two points, on a goal and an assist, in game two vs. Miami. Reed was second for OSU with 10 goals and fifth with 19 points a season ago.
BACK IN THE MIX
Against Miami last Friday, sophomore defenseman Erick Belanger was playing in his first countable game since Nov. 8, 2007 vs. Nebraska-Omaha. He played in six regular-season games a year ago.
HERE’S JOHNNY
Sophomore John Albert had a team -best four points in the series with Miami, with a goal and three assists. He had two points in each contest vs. the RedHawks, including two helpers Friday night at home. Albert, who led the Buckeyes in assists as a freshman last year, now has five two-point games as a Buckeye.
MAKING THE SHOW
Three Ohio State men’s hockey players were on opening-day rosters of National Hockey League teams to begin the 2008-09 season. R.J. Umberger (2001-03), who was acquired by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the off season, is the first former Buckeye to play for the hometown Blue Jackets. Dave Steckel (2001-03) is with the Washington Capitals, while Ryan Kesler (2003) is in his fifth season with the Vancouver Canucks.
Umberger has played 228 games in the NHL, all with the Philadelphia Flyers, scoring 49 goals, 67 assists and 116 points. Last season with the Flyers, Umberger had a career-high 37 assists.
Steckel is beginning his fourth season with the Capitals and is coming off his most productive year. In 67 games, Steckel had five goals, seven assists and 12 points. He played in all seven of the Capitals post season games, scoring a goal and recording an assist.
Kesler, who turned pro prior to the 2003-04 season, posted 21 goals and 16 assists in 80 games last season with the Canucks. He has played in 239 NHL games, all with Vancouver, and has 39 goals, 44 assists and 83 points.
SEASON PROMOTIONS
The men’s hockey promotional calendar for 2008-09 includes annual favorites like Script Ohio on Ice (set for Nov. 7 vs. Michigan State and Feb. 20 vs. Michigan), postgame autograph sessions and Racing Day (Feb. 7 vs. Notre Dame).
New to the calendar include thunder stick giveaways Nov. 7 vs. Michigan State, Feb. 21 vs. Michigan and Feb. 7 vs. Notre Dame. Other giveaways include schedule key tags (Friday vs. Lake Superior State), magnets (Saturday vs. LSSU) and rally towels (Feb. 20 vs. Michigan).
Special events include a Salute to Hockey Moms Night Saturday vs. the Lakers, the Zoo at OSU Nov. 7 vs. Michigan State and Military Appreciation Night and a celebration of Ohio State’s 1998 Frozen Four team Nov. 8 vs. the Spartans. The Friday game vs. Michigan Feb. 20 is a white-out, with all fans encouraged to wear white. Feb. 27 vs. Miami is Fan Appreciation Night and Senior Night to celebrate the three members of the Buckeye senior class.
Postgame skates, with fans bringing their own skates, will be held Nov. 7 vs. the Spartans and Feb. 6 vs. Notre Dame.
FUNday games, which include one ticket, pizza, soda and OSU ice rink pass for only $14, will be held Dec. 12 vs. Bentley, Jan. 24 vs. Western Michigan. The Jan. 23 game vs. Western Michigan and game vs. Notre Dame Feb. 7 are Quarter Dog nights.
A LOOK AHEAD
The Buckeyes will face a non-conference opponent for the first time this season as they travel to Denver for the first of two back-to-back road series. Ohio State will take on the No. 4-ranked Pioneers at 9:37 p.m. ET Oct. 24 and at 9:07 ET Oct. 25 at Magness Arena in Denver, Colo.
The next weekend, the Buckeyes will travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., returning to CCHA play against No. 2 Michigan. The Buckeyes and Wolverines will meet at 7:35 p.m. ET Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at Yost Ice Arena.
