When the Sun Devils took the ice against the Buckeyes on Thursday night in Columbus, they were met by a determined Ohio State team who was eager to wash the bad taste of last week’s two losses in Wisconsin out of their mouths.
In the first game of a two-night double header, Ohio State (7-17-1) cruised past Arizona State (6-16-3) in a score of 8-3. Along with breaking a scoring drought that saw only one goal in the last six games, the Buckeyes broke their six-game streak of being outshot by their opponents, winning the shooting battle 33-28.
The scoring onslaught started early for Ohio State, as the Buckeyes scored three goals in the opening period. The first came at 8:15 in the period, when sophomore defenseman CJ Regula fired the puck into the back of the net off feeds from senior forwards Collin Peters and Austin Pooley.
A few minutes later, at 10:44 in the period, freshman forward Travis Treloar scored his seventh goal of the season, giving the Buckeyes a 2-0 lead. Treloar slipped another shot past freshman goalie Cole Brady to put Ohio State firmly in the driver’s seat.
Treloar tallied the final goal of his hat trick in the third period.
Arizona State scored its first goal of the game off the stick of senior forward Johnny Walker a mere 36 seconds into the second period.
It looked as if the Sun Devils would begin to make up for lost time, however the Buckeyes quickly squashed any hope of that when sophomore forward Mark Cheremeta buried two goals in four minutes, pushing the Buckeye lead to 5-1.
Arizona State scored one more time in the second, but it didn’t prevent Ohio State from entering the final intermission up big, 5-2.
The final period was more of the same, with Ohio State adding several goals to an already massive lead.
Redshirt sophomore forward Kamel Sadlocha shot and scored a little over two minutes into the third.
Treloar added an assist to his game stats when he and freshman defenseman Evan McIntyre set up a goal for sophomore forward Jaedon Leslie, increasing the Buckeye lead to 8-2. Arizona State finished off the scoring with a goal from freshman forward Benji Eckerle at 6:15 in the period. The final score was 8-3 in favor of the home Buckeyes.
The win came at the perfect time for the Buckeyes, who had been in desperate need of some positive energy after having lost eight of their last ten games, six of which had been on their home ice.
The Buckeyes host Arizona State again tomorrow night at 5:30 p.m., in what will be Ohio State’s final test before the Big Ten Tournament next week.
Photos by Mackenzie Shanklin and Christian Harsa
