Ohio State scored five first-period goals en route to a 6-2 win over visiting Colgate on Sunday at Value City Arena. Ryan Kesler scored his first collegiate goal, and goalie Dave Caruso made his first start.
“Coming into league play, I had to know what he had back there,” said Ohio State coach John Markell about Caruso. “It was a non-conference game against a team we felt pretty confident we could win against. I think he played well and the team responded properly to him being in there.”
OSU (4-2-1) got on the board with a power-play goal by Daymen Bencharski seven minutes into the game. Chris Olsgard redirected an Eric Skaug shot at 9:49 for the Buckeyes’ second goal, then Kesler scored, as he took a Doug Andress pass through the neutral zone and beat Colgate goalie Steve Silverthorn.
JB Bittner and Knapp later scored one minute apart to put OSU up by five. Bittner’s goal was shorthanded.
The Raiders (3-3-1) scored the only two goals of the second period, both coming late, from Scooter Smith and Dmitry Yashin.
The final goal of the game was scored just 28 seconds into the third period, from the Buckeyes’ Miguel Lafleche on the power play.
“I have to give our players credit because they played hungry and scored five goals in the first period,” said Markell. “I thought we backed off a little bit in the second period and we didn’t want them to jump back in the game. We played well and came out strong after the loss [to Cornell Friday]. We did a better job of finishing today.
“Their goalie had some big saves in the third period but overall we were able to control play. It was a good experience because we learned something about ourselves and was a good comeback win for us.”
Caruso made 24 stops for the win.
“I was pretty excited about it and words really can’t explain it,” Caruso said. “I was jittery at first but then I settled down and felt good. The defense did a good job and kept the puck outside. That was our plan, for me to see the puck and stop it. That’s all you can ask for.”
