Ohio State struggled to stay out of the penalty box at the beginning of the season, maybe a by-product of having a dozen freshmen, but the ability of late to avoid penalties has been a major reason why they are unbeaten in seven games.
They showcased their newfound discipline Saturday to defeat Northern Michigan 4-1 before an appreciative season-high crowd of 2,667 in Value City Arena to move into a three-way tie for first in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.
Danny Dries, Curtis Gedig, Nick Oddo and Alex Lippincott each had a goal and as assist as the Buckeyes (8-3-1, 5-2-1-1 CCHA) ran their winning streak to five games while allowing just two goals during the span.
The turning point came early in the third after Northern, outshot 31-8 and outscored 2-0 through two periods, pulled to within one on a rebound by Dylan Walchuk at 3:12.
Just 24 seconds later OSU senior forward Cory Schneider goaded Kyle Follmer into a roughing after the whistle penalty.
The Buckeyes’ power play needed just 40 seconds to make it 3-1 when Gedig, a sophomore defenseman, scored his first career goal in his 46th game with a blast from the left blueline.
However, he had to wait for an official’s review before being credited with the score.
“I don’t know why,” he said.
Dries did: “They thought I was in the crease. I would’ve felt a little bad if that one didn’t count.”
Northern (4-5-3, 1-4-3-2) coach Walt Kyle rightfully was frustrated with his team.
“We got the goal, all of a sudden it’s 2-1 with absolutely not deserving to be there, but I liked where we were and we started to play a little bit,” he said. “Then we had one of our guys take a really dumb, lack of discipline play. The ref was telling him, ‘Get out, get out.’ He lost his composure and took a two-minute penalty and they were able to convert on it.”
His team had just three power plays in the two-game series (they also lost 4-1 on Friday) and the Buckeyes have not allowed a man-down goal in 19 tries in the past five games.
OSU coach Mark Osiecki said the Buckeyes’ discipline was “outstanding.”
“We’ve done some things in practice where we want the guys to be moving their feet and having their sticks down and I think that has been a big factor – being disciplined, being smart, play hard and still stay out of the box,” he said. “Hats off to our players. They’ve done a good job with that.”
That wasn’t always the case.
“Early in the year we were in the box a little too much,” Dries said. “As a team we’ve really cut it down. Coach talks about it all the time, especially to me. I was getting in a little trouble at the beginning of the year but we’ve done good, especially the last two weekends.”
The Buckeyes, who outshot the Wildcats 33-7 over the last two periods Friday, were at it again in the rematch but managed only Dries’ eighth of the season at 10:54 of the first on a wrist shot and the freshman Oddo’s second at 9:08 of the middle stanza to complete an odd-man rush.
“They were really aggressive and kept us in our end,” Kyle said. “They were outshooting us 31-8. They were owning the game. They had a 2-0 lead it could have been 6-0, okay?”
After Northern cut the deficit the Buckeyes quickly responded thanks to the power play.
“It was probably a good thing Northern scored and made it close and see what we’re made of and be put in that position and see how they handled it,” Osiecki said.
Gedig got the goal moments after going to the bench to retrieve a new stick after his original twig broke. He got one with a goal in it but was nervous until the replay verdict was announced.
“I was really excited and then just sitting on the bench, ‘It can’t be, it can’t be real right now.’ ” he said. “I was stressing out, I guess.”
No need to as the unranked Buckeyes easily dismissed the No. 14 Wildcats from that point on and may earn a few votes in next week’s polls before heading to Michigan for games Nov. 18 and 19.
“They are a good hockey team. I don’t know if people understand how good they are,” Kyle said. “Mark’s done a great job here.”
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