The Ohio State players have fully embraced second-year coach Mark Osiecki’s “throw the first punch” mantra, although not literally (the Buckeyes had zero penalties in the first two periods), and used a strong start for a 5-2 win over Lake Superior State on Friday to push their winning streak to eight games and unbeaten mark to 10.
Despite having the Thanksgiving weekend off, the No. 7 Buckeyes shook off the rust and scored twice in the first period and outscored the No. 11 Lakers 3-2 in the third to move past Notre Dame into first in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association by two points.
Osiecki hates to look at the standings at this point of the season but conceded, “It’s a little bit of a reward for (the team’s) hard work.”
The Buckeyes (11-3-1, 8-2-1-1) have 26 points and make up their game in hand on the Fighting Irish on Saturday at 8:05 p.m. against the Lakers (10-5-2, 6-4-1-1) to complete the series in Value City Arena.
OSU would like nothing better than to sweep, just as the Lakers did in March at home to knock the Buckeyes out of the playoffs.
There is little resemblance between that OSU squad and the one that has 12 hungry freshmen now.
“We have a pretty young team,” senior forward Danny Dries said. “They come in their first year all excited. That’s coming over to the older guys, kind of energizing us.
“A lot of people talk about older guys helping the younger guys but I think it goes both ways.”
Dries scored twice in the third period, the last a 150-foot empty-netter, and sophomore defenseman Curtis Gedig had two assists.
Alex Lippincott and Chris Crane gave the Buckeyes the early lead before Dries stripped the puck from Lake Superior’s Kyle Jean, battled Kyle Haines past the goal line then flipped the puck off netminder Kevin Kapalka from a horrible angle for the 3-0 lead at 4:50 of the third.
“The third goal was huge,” Lakers coach Jim Roque said.
Said Dries, “We talk a lot about getting pucks on the net and good things happen so I fired. I think it went off the back of their leg. He was a little off the post so I thought I’d give it a shot.”
Dries leads the club with 10 goals and seems to be out of Osiecki’s doghouse permanently.
“We gave him the game puck,” the coach said. “Danny has responded to some tough coaching, some tough love. It’s made him a better person for it but he realizes his game has gotten better.
“It was a goal that helped us but certainly it helped our bench to see Danny what he did for that goal.”
The goal came after the Buckeyes first penalty of the game.
“The penalty kill was the difference maker for us,” Osiecki said. “The goal was the result of it but our penalty kill gave us a lift. It was an opportunity for our bench to get into the game.”
Kevin Czuczman scored for the Lakers to make it 3-1 but Alex Szczechura scored off a scramble to regain the three-goal lead. Buddy Robinson made it 4-2 at 15:06 but Dries iced the game with his long range goal.
“If it was a one-goal lead I probably wouldn’t have done it,” he said of the possibility of icing the puck.
It was the Buckeyes’ cleanest goal after seeing deflections and redirects go their way.
“That’s how they’ve been scoring - a lot of rebounds, a lot of tips, a lot of play around the net,” Roque said. “They’re scoring goals the hard way. I like their team. They play a really good team game and they’ve got an outstanding goalie.
“I told Mark after the game I really like what he’s done with this team, with this group.”
Comments