Power plays, patience, poise and prosperity were enough for the Ohio State men’s hockey team to defeat Alaska 6-0 on Friday in Value City Arena.
The Buckeyes took advantage of a 5-minute major for contact to the head by Scott Enders early in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association game to score three goals on the ensuing power play, the first two by senior Danny Dries, to run their unbeaten streak to three games.
Chris Crane added the third and sixth goals plus an assist; Darik Angeli and Alex Szczechura also scored; defenseman Devon Krogh contributed three assists and Cal Heeter made 27 saves for the shutout.
The Buckeyes (4-3-1, 3-2-1-1) took their time on the extended man-up advantage that begin at 5:22 of the first period because they could score unlimited goals without the Nanooks leaving the penalty box.
It took 1:46 to get on the board when Dries put in a rebound of a Szczechura shot with Tanner Fritz also collecting a helper.
OSU needed another 1:46 to get the second score and Dries again was in front for the rebound as Curtis Gedig and Sean Duddy assisted.
“We switched up the (power play) units with a few injuries,” Dries said. “A few new guys stepped in and stepped up well. We just kept it simple. All the goals were all around the net. We just have to get greasy like that and the offense will keep coming. The goalies at this level are so good you’re not going to score on the first shot.”
Just 41 seconds later it was Crane on the putback with Ben Gallacher and Krogh getting points as well.
“We had good net front presence, got pucks down toward the net,” coach Mark Osiecki said. “They didn’t get frustrated. It took them nearly two minutes to score the first goal and just stuck with it.”
Any hopes of an Alaska (3-3-2, 0-2-2-0) comeback were stomped when Angeli netted a 5-on-3 goal at 2:40 of the second before the final two goals in the third by Szczechura (10:26) and Crane 15:06 came at even strength.
“Our mentality is to come out with the first punch – we’ve talked about it all year,” Crane said. “We came out 3-0 and it told Alaska, ‘We’re here to play tonight.’ ”
The Buckeyes finished 4 for 7 on the power play and were successful on all eight penalty kills.
“We didn’t play fancy. We did a lot of good team things,” Osiecki said.
As good a game as it was, Osiecki gave his team a stern warning Saturday morning following the previous night’s 2-2 with Alaska (OSU won the shootout 2-1 to earn a second point).
“This morning we had a very honest talk with our team and instead of treating them as young group (12 freshmen) we went at it pretty good and pretty honest,” he said. “We showed them some video and didn’t really sugarcoat it much but did ask where things are at and how can we help out and holding each other accountable.
“The biggest thing is getting toward the consistency factor and the response – that’s the only thing we wrote on the board today ‘response’ – and they had it.”
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