After another tie Saturday night, members of the Ohio State men’s hockey team were far from tongue-tied.
Following the 3-3 final against Connecticut, the Buckeyes — who outshot the Huskies by a 49-17 margin — were clear about their thoughts. In particular, they were sick and tired of absorbing yet another tie, their fourth of the year as part of a 6-1-4 start.
“We’re obviously disappointed coming away with another tie,” said sophomore Mason Jobst, who had a goal and an assist for the Buckeyes. “We have to bear down and find a way to win in these games.”
The Buckeyes are just one of a quartet of teams in the country with a single loss — fellow Big Ten school Penn State and ECAC teams Harvard and Dartmouth are the others — but the four ties have taken a small amount of luster off of the start.
Ohio State tied Air Force in the second game of the year in the title game of the Icebreaker Tournament and followed that with a draw at in-state rival Miami. The third tie was one week ago, a 4-4 draw at Robert Morris that came after OSU’s first loss of the year to the Colonials.
The No. 14 Buckeyes opened this week’s two-game set at home vs. UConn with a 7-4 victory on Friday, but a third sweep on the year proved to be too big a hill to climb, thanks largely to Huskies goaltender Rob Nichols and his 46 saves.
“I thought it was our week of practice that we’ve had all year,” OSU forward Matthew Weis said. “I think all the guys came to work, pushed each other. To come out 1-0-1, it’s definitely a sour taste in your mouth. We need to cash in.”
The good and the bad of the Buckeyes was on display in the effort. The team’s biggest concern, a penalty kill that entered the day ranked third from the bottom in the nation (73.9 percent), reared its ugly head as UConn, no strangers to ties with a 3-3-5 mark — took a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Tage Thompson scored just 2:30 into the game with the Huskies on the man advantage, as Buckeyes goaltender Christian Frey awkwardly spilled a rebound to Brian Morgan to pass to Thompson for an easy finish. The Huskies’ power play struck again at 9:45 as Thompson drilled a one-timer from the top of the right circle over Frey’s blocker.
Just as Ohio State’s weakness made itself known, the strength — an offense that led the nation with 4.7 goals per game entering the contest — led to its recovery.
Jobst drew one back for the Buckeyes at 12:11 of the first when he jammed in his own rebound when left in front, then just after a five-minute power play for OSU expired, captain Nick Schilkey took a pass from Weis and fired past Nichols at 4:36 of the second.
David Gust gave OSU the lead just 1:11 into the third on the power play, taking a pass from Jobst at the left post and scoring, but UConn’s Morgan tallied on a wrap-around with 9:40 to go to set the final score.
Nichols was the one responsible with keeping it that way, and he didn’t disappoint. Making a number of saves that Jobst described as “miracles,” he slid across the crease from right to left to make a glove save on Gust during the second, but saved his best stop for overtime when he dove across an open net from left to right to get a piece of Luke Stork’s shot.
The result was a tie for each squad, though UConn did win the shootout staged afterward as part of an exhibition.
“Honestly, that was as amazing a goalie performance as I’ve seen in a long time,” OSU coach Steve Rohlik said. “There were a lot of quality chances there, but that’s why you play the game. They hung in there and their goalie gave them a chance, and that’s the way it ended there.”
Big Ten roundup
No. 4 Boston University 4, at No. 18 Michigan 2
The Terriers battled back from a loss in the series opener to take a split in Yost Ice Arena. Jordan Greenway beat Jack LaFontaine for the winner with 7:23 to play and Patrick Harper added an insurance goal with 4:57 to go. Greenway and Charlie McAvoy each had a goal and two helpers for BU, while Brendan Warren and Dexter Dancs scored for the Wolverines.
No. 12 Penn State 3, Alaska-Anchorage 1
Nate Sucese had two goals and an assist as Penn State continued its hot start with a home win against the Seawolves. Sucese assisted on Brandon Biro’s first-period power-play goal then scored in each the second and third periods. Olivier Mantha was forced into making 53 saves for UAA, which got a goal from Tad Kozun.
Michigan State 4, Ferris State 3
The Spartans rallied for a win on the road in a reprisal of an old CCHA rivalry. Ferris State led 3-1 after one period of play before Mason Appleton got one back for the Spartans in the second. In the third, Joe Cox tied the score with 10:58 to play and Appleton’s second goal of the night won it just 1:21 later.
