Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

[ARM]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

In yesterday's box score from Minneapolis, I noticed that UMD Freshman Kylie Hanley scored a huge goal to help take down the Golden Goliaths. When the Bulldogs came to Columbus last Fall, Hanley & others didn't play a minute. They sat on the bench All. Weekend. Long. Obviously that's changed. Big factor for the Bulldogs? I certainly don't have the information needed to make that judgment. But I do have to wonder.

Hanley was on UMD's third line yesterday. If the UMD fourth line did play, I confess that I don't remember it.

[ChickHicks86]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

And there may be a little lesson here that goes far beyond one squad. A team with the entire bench fully engaged tends to be a happy team. But a team with half the bench sitting idly, while the other half is bent over in exhaustion, may be less content.

Naturally the challenges presented by each opponent heavily influence how players are deployed. And I'm certainly going to leave those deployment decisions to those at the top pay grades. But to expand my take a little further: The '"short bench" has often been a popular choice in Women's Hockey. Usually that choice is highly rational in terms of match-ups. But sometimes the strategy fails to take into account the impact on morale. Or at least take it fully into account.

Looking around the league, I have to wonder if this is a factor in UMD's resurgence. In yesterday's box score from Minneapolis, I noticed that UMD Freshman Kylie Hanley scored a huge goal to help take down the Golden Goliaths. When the Bulldogs came to Columbus last Fall, Hanley & others didn't play a minute. They sat on the bench All. Weekend. Long. Obviously that's changed. Big factor for the Bulldogs? I certainly don't have the information needed to make that judgment. But I do have to wonder.

So I ventured over to Ridder Arena today to see the Sunday Gopher-Bulldog game (and was rewarded with an excellent hockey game). To follow up on ARM's remarks, Hanley was again on the third line for UMD today, and the Bulldog 4th line did not see the ice between warmups and the postgame handshake. The Gophers' 4th line on the other hand played intermittently throughout the game, and was the line that first solved Rooney to knot up the game at 1 apiece.

The reason I bring this onto the OSU thread is that I think that playing 4 lines versus 3 lines showed up in the final stretch of the UM/UMD game today, when UMD's top players appeared to have lost just a step as the game wore on, eventually taking a late penalty and giving up an empty netter as Minnesota's top players were slightly fresher. I'm a strong believer in playing 4 lines, especially early in the game. If nothing else, it will allow your top lines to have a little extra juice in the third period. In my opinion, Muzerall has elected to shorten the OSU bench too early in some of the games, particularly agains elite competition. If one's 3rd and 4th lines are total liabilities and are incredibly likely to get pinned in their own zone every time they see the ice, I completely understand not playing them. However, I don't think that is the case with the Buckeyes, and as pgb points out, when the lower lines are engaged, they can give the team a spark. Indeed that was the case against St. Cloud this weekend, with the 3rd line getting on the board first on Friday, and then 2/3 of the 4th line set up Skaggs (who had just shifted in) for the first goal on Saturday. I'm not advocating for the 4th line to be sent out in the third period when the goalie is pulled, but I think getting them and the 3rd line quality ice time throughout the 1st two periods will go a long ways toward helping Ohio State handle the teams they are favored against, and be able to compete late in games against the top tier teams.

[Puckdrop14]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

I might be wrong but you could get smoked worse than you did if you played four lines against the top teams. Let’s see if she does it against Wisconsin in a few weeks time.

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

Hanley was on UMD's third line yesterday. If the UMD fourth line did play, I confess that I don't remember it.

Well, if the only change is that Kylie earned a higher place in the line-up, that does put things in a different light. Most importantly, congratulations to Ms. Hanley. But if the suggestion is that UMD is just using different players, not more, I'll have to defer to you. You have this weekend's games fresh in mind, based on eyewitness observations; I read a couple of brief write-ups on the net.

I still say that having players on the bench who never hit the ice is playing with fire in terms of morale. After a while, it must start feeling like a punishment to the excluded players. Granted, lots of sports have "practice dummies" -- players who have no expectation of playing in games, but enjoy the honor of suiting up. Nothing wrong with that at all, provided everyone's on the same page. But with the obvious exception of back-up goalies, a hockey player who suits up anticipates playing. Quite honestly I've always thought of that as one the strengths of our sport.

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

I might be wrong but you could get smoked worse than you did if you played four lines against the top teams. Let’s see if she does it against Wisconsin in a few weeks time.

Of course a regimen of strictly equal playing time -- or even a move in that direction -- has substantial risks. Particularly against strong opposition. But keep in mind that ChickHicks86 didn't say that a 4th Line should reflexively get 25% of the playing time. I'm not either. The opponent matters; the situation matters.

The Buckeyes didn't get smoked in the home series against the Badgers. They enjoyed some success, and grabbed one of the wins. For that reason, it wouldn't surprise me if Coach went with a shorter bench again.

[dd17]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

I might be wrong but you could get smoked worse than you did if you played four lines against the top teams. Let’s see if she does it against Wisconsin in a few weeks time.

I attended the UMD game and watched the Minnesota games online.

In all 4 games only the first 2 lines played the first period with an odd shift by the third.

The result: OSU was down big time in each by the end of the first. Too many penalties? I call it players getting tired and taking dumb, lazy, penalties.

After that, minus special teams, it looked like they rolled. The 2nd and 3rd periods were fairly even in both shots, goals and scoring attempts.

I am not an advocate of all 4 lines playing even but in the case of OSU, except for the first line and Field from the second, there is not a big difference in skill between the second and forth line players. In fact, the second line has been abysmal defensively all year. Its great they get a goal a game but they give up 2. The third line, usually a defensive line on most teams, has also been very poor defensively and has supplied almost no offense. Same on defense. Dunne plays upwards of 40 minutes but in her case its warranted and I would have her on as much as I could. Third pairing does not see much ice.

The Wisconsin games will be interesting. Yes OSU kept it close last time but it was right after the winter break and the players were well rested so a short bench was not as difficult to do.

OSU is a deep team up front. Not as deep as Minnesota or Wisconsin but the gap in talent across the roster is not particularly huge.

[ChickHicks86]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

I attended the UMD game and watched the Minnesota games online.

In all 4 games only the first 2 lines played the first period with an odd shift by the third.

The result: OSU was down big time in each by the end of the first. Too many penalties? I call it players getting tired and taking dumb, lazy, penalties.

After that, minus special teams, it looked like they rolled. The 2nd and 3rd periods were fairly even in both shots, goals and scoring attempts.

I am not an advocate of all 4 lines playing even but in the case of OSU, except for the first line and Field from the second, there is not a big difference in skill between the second and forth line players. In fact, the second line has been abysmal defensively all year. Its great they get a goal a game but they give up 2. The third line, usually a defensive line on most teams, has also been very poor defensively and has supplied almost no offense. Same on defense. Dunne plays upwards of 40 minutes but in her case its warranted and I would have her on as much as I could. Third pairing does not see much ice.

The Wisconsin games will be interesting. Yes OSU kept it close last time but it was right after the winter break and the players were well rested so a short bench was not as difficult to do.

OSU is a deep team up front. Not as deep as Minnesota or Wisconsin but the gap in talent across the roster is not particularly huge.

A few follow-ups from me:

1) Having also watched the Duluth games, I agree that fatigue played a big role in those games, both in taking penalties early in the game and losing a step late in the third period. I admittedly did not watch as much of the Minnesota series in Columbus, but from the other Gopher games I've been to in person this year, a big part of their game is wearing opponents down with their depth. Trying to ride 2 lines against them for 60 minutes is playing with fire. As others have said here, I don't suggest rolling out 4 lines in sequence, but going 1-2-1-2 seems like a mistake for OSU, when, as dd17 pointed out, there doesn't seem to be a big talent gap between 2-4. What exactly the playing time splits should look like is beyond me (there's a reason they pay people to coach these teams all week and make game day decisions), but my opinion is that the OSU roster warrants strategic use of all 4 lines, especially through the 1st 2 periods of competitive games.

2) On the topic of both fatigue and defensive shortcomings this season, I think something that goes unnoticed in the box scores is the effect Sauve had on last year's team playing the puck. In terms of save percentage, Braendli and Sauve have nearly identical numbers this season. I'm not saying Braendli is as good as Sauve (or vice versa), but at least from a stopping shots standpoint, the two are comparable this season. Where OSU misses Sauve the most, in my opinion, is the time and effort she saved the team by coming out and playing the puck when the other team dumped it in. The Buckeyes could get away with primarily playing 3 D (Boyle, Dunne, Sadek) much of the time in part because Sauve was like a 6th skater on dump-ins. It's a small difference, but things like that add up to set apart a top 4 WCHA team from a Frozen Four team.

I too am looking forward to seeing what the Buckeye lineup looks like against Bemidji St. this weekend and Wisconsin down the road...

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

Ohio State dropped tonight's game vs Bemidji by a final score of 3-2. The game started out well for the Bucks as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period on goals from Maddy Field and Lauren Boyle. That would be all the goals Ohio State would score as Bemidji netminder Lauren Bench would stop 44 of the 46 shots she faced. Bemidji, meanwhile, would score twice in the second period to tie it on goals from Abby Halluska and Lydia Passolt, then get the game-winner in the third from Emily Bergland. Buckeye goaltender Lynsey Wallace stopped 25 of the 28 shots she faced. Coach Nadine Muzerall did not fault the effort, and rightly so. When you out-shoot the other team 46-28, the effort is there. Coach Muzerall did lament that we were not more creative around the net when we had chances, and indeed, the Bucks had a number of point-blank chances in front of the net that they somehow were not able to score on. Another problem that plagued the Bucks was puck management. What's done is done. I told everyone I was not going to look at the PairWise, but there is a Bible verse about a dog returning to its own vomit, so here goes ... well, the PairWise has not been updated yet because it still shows the Buckeyes at 17-11, but this one is sure to leave a mark. It is going to come down to Ohio State having to win the WCHA Tournament to get the auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament and that will be a steep hill to climb. That is it for tonight. The two teams are back at it tomorrow at 3:07 pm. Tomorrow is Senior Day. Tomorrow we honor five outstanding Seniors ... Lauren Boyle, Charly Dahlquist, Maddy Field, Erin Langermeier, and Jacyn Reeves. The leadership and contributions to the program from these young ladies is greatly appreciated and they will be sorely missed. Tomorrow will be bittersweet, to be sure. Every year we have to say goodbye to another group of Seniors and it never gets any easier.

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

Final Score From Friday, February 8th
Bemidji State 3
Ohio State 2

Bemidji Does Its Thing; Grabs Friday Win

It's a Bemidji Thing. Grab the lead with opportunistic scoring; lock down the game. That was the formula Friday night. The Green & White just took a more circuitous route than usual, falling behind 2-0 before coming all the way back. Once Bemidji gained the 3-2 advantage, it was Beavers As Usual.

The Buckeyes did hit the ground with feet running. Literally. On the way to the ice surface, the team usually goes through the "High Five Line" with a confident stride. On Friday they literally ran through that area and on to the ice. The ploy seemed to pay off in the dynamic first period. But unfortunately the great start was overshadowed by what followed.

The loss was painful for the Buckeyes, both on the ice and in the standings. OSU had numerous quality chances to tie, but couldn't find the finishing touch. The most searing memory is a Madison Field shot that absolutely slammed into the left post. It speaks well of the manufacturer that the puck didn't shatter on impact. But alas, this isn't horseshoes. No points for a ringer.

Three Stars Of The Game: Decidedly Unofficial & Just For Fun

Bemidji State Honorable Mention: Lauren Bench
Strong goaltending has always been a key component of the Bemidji battle strategy. Clearly Lauren carries on that tradition. 44 saves -- some in bunches -- speaks for itself.


Ohio State Honorable Mention: Sara Saekkinen
No stats to back up this selection. I just felt Sara had some extra jump in her step all night long. Saekkinen showed a willingness to stick her nose into the mix and really battle. I wasn't keeping careful track, but it appeared she earned a little extra ice time at the end of the game. If so, it was well earned. Good for Sara.



#3 Star: Lauren Boyle, Ohio State
At the time, the second Buckeye goal seemed to give the Buckeyes a little breathing room and a comfortable lead. In hindsight, maybe that mindset was problematic. But there's no questioning Boyle's superb effort on the play. Initially Lauren forwarded the puck to Emma Maltais in the neutral zone. The pass was heavily contested; Maltais did just enough to get the puck back to the charging Boyle. From there, Lauren beat the entire Bemidji defense, eventually winning a one-on-one confrontation with the Beaver goalie. It was the highlight of the game for the Buckeyes.


#2 Star: (tie)Abby Halluska, Bemidji State; and Emily Bergland, Bemidji State
Call these selections intentionally ironic. Each player contributed a great individual effort, yet must share a star. Abby stole a puck at her defensive blue line, then went the length of the ice to score a breakaway goal. Her shot was more placement than pace, smartly finding the lower right corner. At the time, the Buckeyes were up 2-0, and had just narrowly missed scoring a third. Halluska's goal was literally the turning point of the game.

The GWG was equally crucial. Wayne Gretzky takes the position that a shot on goal is always a good play. Emily's goal certainly supports that contention. Bergland intercepted a Buckeye breakout pass, curled to her left, and fired through traffic. There were two potential Buckeye shot blockers. Paige Beebe was in the process of setting up a screen. The fact the shot got cleanly through all of that appeared to surprise the Buckeye goalie. Note that Beebe also deserves credit for hurrying the ill-fated breakout pass. Though tough to accept from a Buckeye perspective, it was nice to see fine forechecking rewarded.


#1 Star: Tina Kampa, Bemidji State
Here's another selection based more on feel than stats. Short in stature but huge in heart, I just felt that Tina was Bemidji's sparkplug all game long. Kampa did have a massive assist on the game-tying goal. From the left wing boards she snapped a pass into the slot for Ellie Moser. Moser quickly re-directed the puck to Lydia Passolt, who was happy to finish the job. But even more than her assist, it was Tina's role in that lock down defense that earned her top honors.


Up Next: Rematch With Bemidji. All Together Now: Must Win!

[robertearle]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

All Together Now: Must Win!

Among the reasons Saturday is a "must win" for OSU: right now OSU is losing the Pairwise pair against Bemidji. And a loss today would pretty much lock that in for good. OSU still wins the 'Common Opponents' and RPI, but 0-3 in Head-to-head wipes that out. A loss today, and the only way to win back the Pairwise pair would be to play Bemidji in the first round of the WCHA and sweep them.

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

The Buckeyes finished Senior Weekend the right way with a 5-1 win earlier today. As others have said, today was definitely a must win game, and the Buckeyes treated it as such, allowing only a single tally late in the first period. The game was close going into the third period, then the Buckeyes put it away with three goals in the final frame to get the 5-1 win. Really would have been nice to get the W last night. This team's inconsistency has been their achilles heel this season, no question about it. But, it was nice to see them come out and win on Senior Day in a must-win situation.

Ohio State had a nice first period. Rebecca Freiburger wasted no time getting the Buckeyes on the board, scoring just :50 into the game to give Ohio State the early 1-0 lead. Charly Dahlquist scored Ohio State's second goal at the 6:13 mark of the first period to give the Bucks a 2-0 lead. Bemidji State would get a goal from Mak Langei with just :39 to go in the first period to cut that lead in half and the two teams went into the first intermission with the score 2-1. Neither team could find the back of the net in the second period, so the Buckeyes and Beavers went into the third period with that same 2-1 score.

The Buckeyes took over in the third period and didn't waste much time doing it. Charly Dahlquist scored her second goal of the day just :48 seconds in to give the Bucks a 3-1 lead. The Bucks' 4th goal would come on a penalty shot from Emma Maltais. Maltais was hauled down from behind on a breakaway and made the Beavers pay with a pretty shot that the goaltender didn't have much of a chance on. Sophie Jaques, a freshman defenseman who has really come on this season, would score Ohio State's final goal on a power play at the 16:39 mark to give the Buckeyes a 5-1 lead and that is how it ended today.

As was the case in yesterday's game, the Buckeyes outshot the Beavers 34-19. Ohio State's Amanda Zeglen was outstanding today, stopping 18 of the 19 shots she faced. Bemidji backstop Lauren Bench stopped 28 of the 33 shots she faced. She was relieved by Lexi Baker with 3:21 left in the game and Lexi saved the only shot she faced.

The Buckeyes have a bye week before ending the regular season in Madison against the Badgers. Bemidji will travel to St. Cloud next weekend to take on the Huskies.

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

Final Score From Saturday, February 9th
Ohio State 5
Bemidji State 1

Senior Day 2019: Spectacular & Satisfying

Saturday's game was pivotal for the Buckeyes. Winning meant solidifying the team's position for the WCHA Playoffs, and keeping hopes alive in the Pairwise rankings. Just as importantly, Ohio State really needed to get the season's first win against a likely playoff opponent. Losing and getting swept? Pretty much unthinkable.

Result? A Buckeye Breakthrough. The early goals got the win. OSU scored just 50 seconds into the game to take the lead; and just 48 seconds into the 3rd Period. The latter broke the Beaver Dam for good. There would be no Bemidji comeback in the rematch.

Three Stars Of The Game: Decidedly Unofficial & Just For Fun

Bemidji State Honorable Mention: Clair DeGeorge
Yesterday I recognized Bemidji's shortest player; today I give kudos to the tallest. Strong and hard-working, Clair is extremely effective on both the forecheck & backcheck. But it's not just a matter of strength. Forward DeGeorge is genuinely quick, and reads the play really well. Quite remarkably she was +1 in a game her team lost by four goals.

Ohio State Honorable Mention: The Fathead Fans
Someone got organized and had a number of Fathead images of the Seniors made. Multiple posters for each player. The large posters were both displayed and waved. One hardy fellow brandished two of the posters simultaneously. Do you have to have special training for that? Oh, probably not. You just need large helpings of loyalty and enthusiasm. Overall it was a fine tribute to the seniors, and a very cool effect.


#3 Star: Emma Maltais, Ohio State
Emma earned her penalty shot with an electrifying rush. Once she got behind the Bemidji 'D,' the defenders really had no good options. One chose to haul her down, and Maltais got the call.

The penalty shot itself had a more deliberate pace, but was equally spectacular. Ruthless and calculating, Emma calmly approached the net from the right side, then found the 5 hole with surgical precision. The 4th Buckeye goal was in the net, and the celebration was on!


#2 Star: Amanda Zeglen, Ohio State
It's urgently important not to fall behind Bemidji, and Amanda made sure that didn't happen. 18 saves isn't a huge workload. But when the outcome was still very much in doubt, Zeglen stonewalled a Beaver breakaway to preserve the Buckeye lead. Definitely one of the game's highlights.


#1 Star: (five way tie)The Class of 2019, Ohio State
Lauren Boyle, Charly Dahlquist, Madison Field, Erin Langermeier and Jacyn Reeves. Where to start? Each of these players has meant so much to the program. Well, for one thing, all five started the game and brought great energy to the rink.

Lauren & Charly got on the scoresheet today; Boyle with two assists & Dahlquist with two goals. Note to Charly: I was really rooting for you to get that third one, and you came so close to pulling it off. But a two goal Senior Day still has to be very satisfying.

For this edition of the 3 Stars, I'll leave it at that. I hope to have a little more to say about the Class of 2019 when the season's over. But for now, there are still a lot of important hockey games to be played.


Up Next: Bye Week. A Little While To Cherish The Senior Day Success, Then Intense Preparation For Wisconsin & The Post-Season.

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

The players did a nice job with the "Chuck-A-Puck" promotion last night at the Men's game. It was especially fun to see Tatum serve as the MC. Maybe she'll give Tessa a little competition someday.

[osualum86]

The players did a nice job with the "Chuck-A-Puck" promotion last night at the Men's game. It was especially fun to see Tatum serve as the MC. Maybe she'll give Tessa a little competition someday.

Definitely the highlight of the night for Mrs 86 and I! Otherwise it was a very uninspired weekend by the guys. The PairWise was not impressed either and dropped us all the way down to 7th. Ouch.

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2018-19

The Buckeyes earned a hard-fought second point earlier tonight in Madison with a tie and a shootout win over the Badgers. I didn't see the game on tv, but based on the box score, sounds like Buckeye netminder Andrea Braendli stood on her head tonight. The Badgers outshot the Buckeyes 53-24. Badger goaltender Kristen Campbell stopped 23 of the 24 shots she faced. Buckeye backstop Braendli stopped 52 of the 53 shots she faced ... that would be a .981 save percentage. Both goaltenders were obviously great tonight. Abby Roque opened the scoring for Wisconsin with a power play goal in the first period and that is where things stood for the remainder of the first period and the second period. Tatum Skaggs scored the equalizer for the Buckeyes on a redirect in the third period to tie the game at 1-1. 60 minutes wasn't enough, so the teams went into OT. Neither team could find the back of the net in the overtime period, so the game went to a shootout. Andrea Braendli stopped all three shots she faced and Buckeye Emma Maltais found the back of the net to give the Buckeyes a hard-fought two points. The two teams are back at it tomorrow at 4:07 pm EST.