OSU then-sophomore forward Mason Jobst (26) and Michigan State then-senior center Thomas Ebbing (28) try and locate the puck after a faceoff in the third period of a game on March 3 at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio. OSU lost, 5-4. Credit: Kevin Stankiewicz | Lantern photographer
The No. 19 Ohio State men’s hockey team was defeated by the Canadian-based Ryerson Rams 7-4 in its only exhibition game.
The Buckeyes seemed to be in control as they took a 4-1 lead in the second period, but Ryerson came back with two goals in 26 seconds late in the period which cut the lead to 4-3 going into the third.
“It’s like a reset button,” head coach Steve Rohlik said. “You give up a goal and how do you respond, and we didn’t respond very well.”
The Rams continued battling in the third, and managed to tie the game at four with 3:33 to go with a slap shot off the stick of senior defenseman Alex Basso. Just 51 seconds later, junior forward Vince Figliomeni scored on another strong shot to give the Rams a 5-4 lead late in the game.
The Rams added a sixth goal less than a minute later, then iced the game with a final goal after Ohio State pulled its goalie late in the third.
“It was a learning experience for all of us,” Jobst said. “First game of the year, there’s a lot of things that we’re going have to work on this week in practice.”
The Buckeyes started the scoring early, as junior forward Mason Jobst found senior defenseman Janik Möser for a quick goal off a one-timer just over three minutes into the game.
Ohio State added to that lead 10 minutes later, as sophomore defenseman Gordi Myer was able to beat junior goalie Taylor Dupuis with a nice move to the net, extending the lead early on. But the Rams were able to get one back shortly after, as senior forward Aaron Armstrong got to the back door and gave redshirt junior goalie Sean Romeo no chance to stopping the shot.
Sophomore forward Tanner Laczynski netted one goal before the first period was over, giving the Buckeyes a 3-1 lead after twenty minutes.
Not so dominant power play
The Buckeyes did not capitalize on any of their attempts with a man up in this game, which included a 5-on-3 early in the third period. Ohio State was first in the NCAA last year with a 31.4 percent success rate on power plays, over three percent more than any other team in the nation.
New faces filling some big shoes
The Buckeyes lost some key players from last season, and are looking for new players to step up in order to be where they were a season ago. Romeo, who transferred from Maine and redshirted the 2016-17 season, stopped 26 of the 32 shots he faced, and freshman forward Austin Pooley picked up an assist on the Myer goal in the first period.
Strong first half, weak second half
Ohio State started off the game in dominant fashion, as it was able to jump out to a 4-1 lead, while outshooting Ryerson 22-10 halfway through the second. The Rams then scored six unanswered goals, and outshot Ohio State 23-7 from that point forward.
“We jumped off to a good start,” Rohlik said. “If you ever get out to a lead like that you have got to make it difficult on teams, we just didn’t do that in the second half of the game.”
The Buckeyes travel to Madison, Wisconsin next weekend to play two games against Big Ten opponent No. 12 Wisconsin to open the season.
