Maybe it was the blue flu – a hangover from losing twice to Michigan last week before more than 35,000 fans – but the January malaise continued for the Ohio State men’s hockey team Friday as its winless streak stretched to five with a 4-3 loss to Ferris State.
Not that the Bulldogs didn’t try to give the game away before 2,876 fans in Value City Arena. After taking a 4-0 lead 27 minutes into the game, the second-ranked Buckeyes got a goal from Tanner Fritz to trail by three after two periods.
Ferris State spent much of the third period killing penalties and it almost cost them. After Chris Crane made is 4-2 at 10:09, the Buckeyes go their third straight power play of the stanza and it was a doozy.
Eric Alexander was given a 5-minute major for contact to the head of Crane and OSU needed just seven seconds to pull to within 4-3 on a blast from Darik Angeli at 12:46.
“We were sleepwalking,” Ferris State coach Bob Daniels said. “We don’t have a lot of practice with four- and three-goal leads. That was very evident tonight. They scored right away… It’s almost like it brought a sense of urgency back to our game.”
The Buckeyes, however, could not muster anything close to a scoring chance after that, even with a two-man advantage for 1:51 with just over four minutes to play.
“Guys were trying to force things,” OSU captain Sean Duddy said. “We drew up a certain thing and guys weren’t doing a good job of executing.”
After squandering that opportunity without a shot on goal, the Buckeyes had another advantage for the final minute when goalie Cal Heeter was pulled for an extra attacker but the Bulldogs resolve and defense stiffened to frustrate the home team.
“It seemed like every bounce, every puck that could bounce, they would get it to go and clear it, it would go to one of our guys,” Daniels said. “I’m not downgrading what we did. Sometimes the puck bounces for you. Early on it certainly did.”
Jordie Johnston and Kyle Bonis paced the No. 13 Bulldogs to a 2-0 first-period lead and the fifth-ranked Buckeyes (14-7-3, 10-6-3-1) never recovered in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association game.
Fortunately for OSU, it remains first in the league by a point over Western Michigan.
A lethargic start marked the fourth time in five games that OSU has allowed the first two scores, a big reason they are on a 0-3-2 slide.
“It starts at the top,” Duddy said. “Me and (co-captain Cory Schneider) have to do a better job of getting guys going. We’ve got to figure it out. We’ll talk. We will figure it out.”
Ferris State ((15-8-2, 8-7-2-0) increased the lead to 3-0 with a beautiful tic-tac-toe power-play score from Alexander at 4:14 of the second period and Chad Billins made it 4-0 with a two-man advantage marker at the 7-minute mark before Fritz got the Buckeyes on the board at 13:20.
The Buckeyes killed all 10 Michigan power plays in the last series, including five on Sunday when they lost 4-1 in front of 25,864 in the Frozen Diamond Faceoff Classic outdoor game at Cleveland’s Progressive Field, but they couldn’t stay out of the box against the Bulldogs and paid dearly.
Johnston opened the scoring at 6:23 with a power-play marker off a rebound. The lead doubled nine minutes later when Bonis took a crisp outlet from Alexander just outside the attacking blueline then lifted a backhander past Brady Hjelle, who got a rare start for Heeter.
Ferris State was 3 for 6 on the power play while OSU was 1 for 8.
“Scoring on the power play is a relief,” Daniels said. “For us, and many teams in the league, goals don’t come easy so if we can cash in on the power play that goes a long way for us.”
OSU has lost four straight “home” games (Sunday’s was a designated as one for the Buckeyes) but will try to end the streak when the teams complete the series Saturday at 7:05 p.m. in Value City Arena.
“The disappointing thing was we were trying to be smart this after a tough weekend with the outdoor game and travel and Sunday and the whole deal wrapped up into it,” OSU coach Mark Osiecki said. “Unfortunately our guys didn’t respond to that very well.”
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