No. 10 Buckeyes Open WCHA Slate at Home vs. St. Cloud State – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/9/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
Oct. 9, 2013
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The tenth-ranked Ohio State women’s hockey team will play its first home series this weekend, Oct. 11-12, against WCHA foe St. Cloud State. Game times are set for 7:07 p.m. Friday and 4:07 p.m. Saturday at the OSU Ice Rink.
- Follow the Buckeyes on Facebook and Twitter
- Live Stats (Friday)
- Live Stats (Saturday)
- Live Video
Schedule:
Friday, Oct. 11, 2013 – 7:07 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 12, 2013 – 4:07 p.m.
Last Time Out: Mercyhurst
The Buckeyes opened the 2013-14 campaign with a 4-3 overtime win on the road against No. 7/9 Mercyhurst in Erie, Pa. Junior Taylor Kuehl scored the game-winning goal in overtime for the Buckeyes. Junior Kari Schmitt had a pair of goals and sophomore Kendall Curtis notched her first career goal in the win. Freshman Claudia Kepler recorded her first career point with an assist, while senior Ally Tarr had three assists and junior Sara Schmitt had two. Redshirt senior goaltender Chelsea Knapp stopped 35 shots in the victory. Ohio State has not lost a season opener since 2004 and the win marked the first for OSU against Mercyhurst.
In the Polls
The Buckeyes enter the national rankings for the first time this season, coming in at No. 10 in the USCHO.com DI Women’s Poll. Ohio State is just outside of the top 10 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Women’s Poll, receiving 13 votes, while No. 10 Mercyhurst received 14 votes. Last season the Buckeyes spent a total of 11 weeks ranked in at least one of the two national polls.
News and Notes
- The Buckeyes have not lost a season opener since 2004, going 7-0-2 in that span.
- Knapp has 39 career wins, second most all-time at OSU behind Erika Vanderveer (2004-07).
- Knapp has 2,132 career saves and is 20 saves shy of passing former Buckeye Liana Bonanno for third all-time at OSU.
- Tarr’s three-point game was the sixth of her career and the third time she has put up three assists in one contest.
- Kepler’s assist against Mercyhurst marked the third straight season that a rookie has posted a point in the season opener and the fifth in last six (McKinnon, ’12; Kuehl, ’11; Tuominen, ’09; Wild, ‘08).
- Senior Becky Allis played in her 100th career game Saturday. Tarr is only other Buckeye with more games played (107).
About St. Cloud State
The Huskies come in with a record of 0-1-1 after a non-conference home series with Quinnipiac. In their season opener they played out to a scoreless tie as junior goaltender Julie Friend made 39 saves. SCSU dropped game two against the Bobcats, 3-1. Sophomore Vanessa Spataro has the lone Huskies goal on the season. SCSU went 9-24-3 last season, 5-21-2 in WCHA contests and finished seventh overall in the league. Senior Molli Mott led the Huskies with 22 points during the 2012-13 season and junior defenseman Audrey Hanmer is the second-leading returning scorer as she put up 18 points a season ago. Huskies head coach Jeff Giesen enters his eighth season at the helm of the program.
Buckeyes vs. Huskies
Ohio State holds an edge in the all-time series with St. Cloud State with a record of 32-23-6, 15-10-3 in games played in Columbus. The Buckeyes went 3-0-1 against the Huskies last season, winning a pair of November games in St. Cloud, 3-2 and 4-2, and tying and winning at the OSU Ice Rink in January, 1-1 and 3-1. OSU won the shootout in the tie, 1-0. Tarr, Kuehl and junior Danielle Gagne each tallied two goals against St. Cloud State last season.
Familiar Faces
The Buckeyes return 18 letterwinners from last season and roughly 64 percent of their scoring. Senior Ally Tarr returns after leading the Buckeyes in scoring a season ago with 32 points. Tarr currently sits tenth on the OSU all-time goals scored list with 37 career scores and her 11 game-winning goals has her second all-time at OSU in that category. Junior Taylor Kuehl and sophomore Julia McKinnon will look to build off of breakout seasons last year offensively, while juniors Kari Schmitt and Sara Schmitt are back to lead an OSU defense that gave up 2.59 goals-per-game last season. Redshirt senior Chelsea Knapp is back for one last season after starting 36 of 37 games last season and posting career bests in wins (19), goals-allowed average (2.50) and save percentage (.911).
New Faces
Ohio State has five newcomers this season, all freshmen, including defensemen Breanne Grant and Alexa Ranahan, and forwards Hayley Studler, Katie Matheny and Claudia Kepler.
2013-14 KEY RETURNERS (2012-13 Stats)
Ally Tarr (Sr.. F): 35 gp; 13g-19a–32p; 4 ppg, 4 gwg
Taylor Kuehl (Jr., F): 37 gp;13g-13a–26p; 6 ppg, 1 gwg
Kari Schmitt (Jr., D): 37 gp; 5g-23a-28p; 2 ppg
Sara Schmitt (Jr., D): 37 gp; 2g-22a-24p; 1 ppg
Julia McKinnon (So., F): 37 gp; 12g-8a-20p; 6 ppg, 1 gwg
Danielle Gagne (Jr., F): 37 gp; 8g-10a-18p; 1 ppg, 2 gwg
Annie Svedin (Sr., D): 37 gp; 4g-12a-16p; 2 ppg, 3 gwg
Chelsea Knapp (R-Sr., G): 36 gp/gs, 19-14-3, .911 sv%, 2.50 gaa
Captains
Redshirt senior goaltender Chelsea Knapp has been named captain of the 2013-14 Buckeyes team. Redshirt junior Kara Gust and junior Kari Schmitt will serve as assistant captains.
New Look Staff
Two new assistant coaches and a new volunteer assistant join head coach Nate Handrahan’s staff for 2013-14. Assistant coach Carson Duggan comes to Ohio State after spending the last two seasons as head women’s hockey coach at Trinity College (CT). Keith Maurice spent the last ten years as an assistant coach at Norwich University before coming to the Buckeyes as an assistant. Mikhael Horowitz enters his first season as a volunteer assistant coach for the Buckeyes after spending a year as an assistant coach and personal development coach for the Vierumaki A Juniors, a team located at the Finnish National Sports Institute in Vierumaki, Finland.
Up Next
Ohio State travels to Grand Forks, N. D., for a league series with North Dakota Oct. 18-19. Game times are set for 8:07 p.m. ET both Friday and Saturday.
