The Ohio State men’s ice hockey team capped off its weekend series against No. 3 Notre Dame with a 2-2 tie. The Fighting Irish went on to win the shootout, 1-0, in five rounds.
The Saturday night draw came after a 6-3 OSU victory the night before.
The series moved the Buckeyes from sixth place to fifth in the 11-team Central Collegiate Hockey Association. The top five teams will receive a bye in the CCHA Tournament next month.
Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson’s starting lineup Saturday night featured five changes out of six positions from the night before. He replaced junior goalie Steven Summerhays, who was benched after two periods in the series opener, with senior Mike Johnson.
Despite the personnel change, OSU’s sophomore forward Darik Angeli tallied a shorthanded goal with 8:49 left in the opening period. Notre Dame would pull even with just 6.7 seconds left in the first period on a goal credited to freshman forward Thomas DiPauli. The goal, of which OSU coach Mark Osiecki questioned the legitimacy, came after a number of players from both sides fought for the puck near the crease.
“I’d love to see the replay that they had. The replay that we had, there’s no stick involved, and you see an arm move,” Osiecki said.
Both teams would tally once in the second period. Notre Dame gained its first and only lead on a power play goal from senior defenseman Sam Calabrese. OSU freshman defenseman Craig Dalrymple scored with 65 seconds left in the period to knot the score at two.
The Irish outshot the Buckeyes in the third, 14-3, but were unable to get past OSU senior goalie Brady Hjelle. In the period, Hjelle made 14 of his career-high 45 saves.
“That is by far the most traffic I have seen in front of the net so far this year,” Hjelle said. “I thought we did a great job and didn’t give up any easy shots.”
Osiecki said his men “had a hard time getting out of our zone,” and that it might have had to do with the absence of junior defenseman Curtis Gedig, who left Friday’s game with an injury.
After a scoreless overtime period, Notre Dame junior forward Anders Lee made a shootout goal to earn his team a second point after getting one for the tie.
On Friday, the pivotal play of the series opener came late in the first period when Irish forward Mike Voran illegally checked OSU sophomore forward Nick Oddo from behind. Voran received a game misconduct penalty for the hit and was disqualified for the remainder of the game.
“(He) was one of our penalty killers,” Jackson said.
His absence would loom large.
Oddo returned early in the second, scoring once and earning two assists in a span of less than three minutes on the ensuing power play to put the Buckeyes up, 3-1. Each team would score twice more in the period.
An empty net tally by OSU sophomore defenseman Justin DaSilva provided the only offense in the closing period.
OSU is scheduled to continue play with CCHA opponent Alaska Friday in Fairbanks, Ala., at 11:05 p.m. EST.