Ohio State men’s hockey celebrates a goal during their 4-3 win over Connecticut in overtime. Credit: Gabe Haferman | Assistant Photo Editor
Michigan State senior netminder Drew DeRidder stood on his head all night, ensuring that it’d be the Spartans, not the Buckeyes, who would start league play 1-0.
The Ohio State men’s hockey team (3-2-0, 0-1-0 Big Ten) dropped their Big Ten opener to Michigan State (4-2-1, 1-0-0 Big Ten) Friday. The Spartans came away with the win, despite being outshot 42-17.
Ohio State head coach Steve Rohlik thought his team played well enough to get the win in the first game of the series, but the Buckeyes were unable to overcome DeRidder’s heroics.
“I’ll tell you I think we had enough golden chances to score more than one goal tonight,” Rohlik said. “Credit again to their goaltender, that’s why I think he’s at about a .955 save percentage. Certainly he’s very good, but that means you’ve got to have more traffic and be hungrier around the net.”
DeRidder, who was recently named the Big Ten’s Second Star of the Week for his performance against UMass-Lowell, entered the series sixth nationally in save percentage and saved 41-of-42 shots the Buckeyes sent his way.
Graduate defenseman Will Riedell also thought he and his teammates played well in a losing effort, saying they should have attained more than just the lone goal.
“We didn’t play a bad game, but like coach said, we just got to get to the net,” Riedell said. “We had a lot of chances to score more than one goal tonight.”
A cross-checking penalty committed by Ohio State freshman forward Cam Thiesing after 5:36 in the first period gave Michigan State the first-man advantage of the evening. Prior to Thiesing’s penalty, the Buckeyes had mostly controlled play, preventing the Spartans from tallying a shot.
Just nine seconds into the power play, Michigan State found the opening goal, a one-timer from the left by junior forward Josh Nodler following a feed from junior forward Erik Middendorf.
Middendorf gathered the puck behind Buckeyes freshman goaltender Jakub Dobeš before finding Nodler, who promptly gave the Spartans an early 1-0 advantage.
The Buckeyes tied the game up with a power-play goal of their own with 5:40 remaining in the opening period. Senior forward Jake Wise fired a shot past DeRidder for the first goal of his Ohio State career.
Wise, who expressed his excitement in regard to making his Big Ten debut against the Spartans with the media Wednesday, wasted little time before announcing his arrival to the conference.
Freshman forward Georgii Merkulov and junior forward Mark Cheremeta each tallied their second assist of the season on Wise’s goal.
Riedell got his first taste of Big Ten action Friday, and said he came away pleased with the experience.
“It was good, I enjoyed it,” Riedell said. “It’s a fast-paced game. It’s what I was looking for.”
The score remained 1-1 for the remainder of the first period, with the Buckeyes holding a 12-4 advantage in the shot department after 20 minutes.
Michigan State nearly regained the lead with 15:39 remaining in the second period, as Nodler once again beat Dobeš, but was denied by the post.
Exactly 11 minutes later, Middendorf and Nodler combined again, providing the Spartans with a 2-1 advantage. It was Middendorf doing the scoring this time around, as he took a pass from Nodler at center ice before driving in all alone on Dobeš and beating him glove side.
The goal was Middendorf’s second of the season and gave him six points for the year. Senior defenseman Christian Krygier also tallied a helper on the play, the second of the year for the 2018 New York Islanders draft pick.
Middendorf’s goal came out of nowhere and was a real gut-punch to an Ohio State team that had been playing great defensively up to that point.
After the game, Rohlik seemed pleased with how the Buckeyes defended, applauding his team’s willingness to work together without the puck.
“Any time you can walk away and limit a team to less than 20 shots, I think you’re obviously playing some pretty good defensive hockey,” Rohlik said. “Again, that’s five guys connected and guys coming back and buying in. I think we did that tonight.”
Despite out-shooting Michigan State 31-11, and 19-7 in the second period, Ohio State entered the third and final period down by a goal.
The Buckeyes had two power play opportunities in the third period, but were unable to convert. Rohlik preached the importance of cashing in when playing 5-on-4 postgame.
“At the end of the day, it comes down to special teams most of the time, and we had our chances, especially a couple of power plays in the third,” Rohlik said. “We just got to get more pucks to the net.”
With 3:38 remaining, Wise had a glorious opportunity to tie the score at two, but his shot from in close narrowly missed wide.
The Buckeyes emptied the net for the final minute and mustered three shots with an extra attacker on the ice, but were unable to find the equalizer.
Ohio State had 25 more shots than Michigan State Friday night, but that number is irrelevant in the eyes of Rohlik, who emphasized that it’s goals, not shots, that win hockey games.
“Credit Michigan State,” Rohlik said. “Their goaltender played great, they played good defense and at the end of the day, it’s not about shots, it’s about who scores more goals, and Michigan State had more than us tonight.”
Ohio State will look to even the series Saturday, as the two teams will meet again at 2 p.m. inside the Schottenstein Center.
