Wolverines Maul Buckeyes

Ohio State-Michigan is considered one of the greatest rivalries in sports. The hockey edition of this rivalry continues to stay one-sided, however, as the third ranked Michigan Wolverines defeated the No.
16 Ohio State Buckeyes, 4-1, in front of 9,267 in Value City Arena.

Michigan has now won the first three games of the four game season series. The Wolverines have won nine of their last 10 and remain and have moved into a tie for second in the CCHA standings. Ohio State continues to struggle with only one point in the last three games.

The first two periods were simply dominated by Michigan. With a 4-0 lead through two periods, the Wolverines were able to coast through the final 20 minutes of the game.

“Give Michigan credit, they came to play,” Ohio State coach John Markell said. “They outskated us, they out competed us, they won the 50/50 battles, they won the goaltending duel, they won the specialty teams, and everything that you need to do to win a game of this magnitude.”

“I thought we were fortunate on the first two goals, we got a couple bounces,” Michigan coach Red Berenson said. “There were times we had our way and then there were times that they had their way and they missed a couple golden opportunities where the score could have been different.”

Michigan dominated early and did not let up in the first two periods. Michigan forward Louie Caporusso had a cross crease pass to feed teammate David Wohlberg who scored his 13th of the season just 1:15 into the first period. Chad Langlais scored his first of two goals 12 minutes into the first.

“I thought the first goal was key to get that and get a good start on the road,” Langlais said.

Michigan wore down Ohio State early in the second period and that momentum led to a second goal by Langlais 10:59 into the period on the power play with a slapper from the blue line to give Michigan a 3-0 lead. Tim Miller gave the Wolverines a 4-0 lead and Caporusso his third assist of the game with 5:20 left in the second. Ohio State started creating chances and were more physical later in the second but was unable to convert. Michigan went on to outshoot Ohio State 23-16 through two periods.

The Wolverines resulted in more of a dump-and-chase game in the third period. The two teams combined for only eight shots. Ohio State’s Corey Toy scored a goal with 29 seconds left in the game shorthanded to break up Michigan goaltender Bryan Hogan’s shutout bid.

Earlier in the period, Toy and Wolverines forward Travis Turnbull got into a scrum 5:29 into the period. Toy and Turnbull both got offsetting penalties, and Toy got an extra two minutes for cross checking.

“They was a little altercation between him and (goalie) Dusty (Carlson) and my job as a defenseman was to protect him and I did,” Toy said.

The Buckeyes went 0-7 on the power play during the game. Ohio State is zero out of their last 17 in power-play opportunities. They have not scored a power-play goal since Feb. 8 against Notre Dame.

“Well I think the penalty killing had to be good,” Berenson said. “We put ourselves in a tough spot too many times. We killed three penalties in the first period, six big minutes and we go away with it. If we didn’t, it was a different game.”

Ohio State played in front of their largest home crowd in two years. The opponent then was, Michigan.

“I feel that is just an excuse, just a crutch for guys to fall on,” Toy said of being nervous in front of a large crowd. “It is the number three team in the country in front of our fans with a packed house, maybe they could have been nervous but they have to fight through that.”

Carlson finished the night with 22 saves with 26 shots against. Hogan allowed just one goal and had 20 saves.

“I thought Hogan kept us in the game when he had to and made a couple key saves when he had to,” Berenson said. “And then he got a couple of bounces that every goalie needs to get.”