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AirForceBuck
No mercy
The Badgers plan on wearing special unis with a chest patch, commemorating the game. After the game they will sell them off - any news on if OSU plans to do the same?
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
Dispatch
2/11/06
2/11/06
COLLEGE HOCKEY
Ohio State eager to play on Lambeau’s frozen tundra
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Scott Priestle
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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GREEN BAY, Wis. — Cold mornings and hockey are a way of life in northwest British Columbia. Rod Pelley could not combine the two as often as he would have liked while growing up in the tiny town of Kitimat, but he did so often enough to form a few lasting memories.
He recalled a pristine winter day at age 15, when his friend’s father invited Pelley’s team to skate on a lake near the family’s cabin. They made it an all day event.
"You could see like 3 feet down, that’s how clear the ice was," Pelley said. "I lugged my hockey net out there — I had a real hockey net with real hockey mesh on it — and we played a real game. It was awesome. I remember shooting the puck and having to chase it for half a kilometer."
The ice will not be as clear or as open today when Pelley and his Ohio State teammates face Wisconsin in the Frozen Tundra Hockey Classic, but it should be a unique opportunity to recall fond memories and create new ones.
The teams will play on a temporary rink set up on Lambeau Field, home of the NFL’s Green Bay Packers. It will be the third major outdoor game in recent years — Michigan and Michigan State played in Spartan Stadium in October 2001, and the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens played in Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium in November 2003. It also will be the first hockey game ever played in Lambeau Field.
"I think in 20 years we’re going to look back and think, wow, we got to play on Lambeau Field," Ohio State captain Nate Guenin said. "Just the history of it — you think of all the football players who played on this field. To be able to skate on it, it’s an honor."
There will be more at stake than memories, particularly for the Buckeyes. A win over the Badgers, who are ranked fourth or fifth in the major polls, will help significantly in the power rankings. The Buckeyes are on the bubble for the 16-team NCAA Tournament.
"We can’t get overcome by the atmosphere," Pelley said. "We have to be in a state where we can perform."
To aid in that process, players and coaches from both teams took a tour of the stadium yesterday and practiced on the rink. Guenin said it was a chance "to get the oohs and aahs out of the way," and he did not anticipate a problem today.
"At game time, as an athlete, your competitive drive sets in," he said. "And when it comes down to it, the puck doesn’t care if you’re in Lambeau Field or the Schottenstein Center or the Kohl Center."
Even though the mental focus might remain the same as in a normal game, the conditions change.
The temperature was in the upper 20s yesterday with a few snowflakes, and the forecast for today is similar. Players on both teams wore cold-weather gear under their uniforms, which for many is an adjustment. "It feels kind of bulky," Pelley said. Muscles also tighten quicker in the cold weather, making it imperative that players stretch if they are on the bench for an extended period.
Ohio State winger Dan Knapp said the ice was "a little rough" by the time both teams finished practice. And Wisconsin forward Adam Burish said the unique backdrop made it difficult at times to spot the puck in the air.
But even those inconveniences were not enough to dampen the mood. A few minutes after Ohio State’s practice ended, coach John Markell had to shoo the final players off the ice. They did not want to leave.
"It’s like being back on the pond. It’s awesome," Knapp said. "I live on a lake back home (in Rochester, Mich.) and every winter when I go back for Christmas break, I go out there with my cousins and we play on the lake. It’s just so much fun playing outside."
[email protected]
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TheStoicPaisano
But I didn't, so it doesn't
Oh, they're doin Jump Around.
[Rachel Phelps] I hate this fuckin' song. [/Rachel Phelps]
[Rachel Phelps] I hate this fuckin' song. [/Rachel Phelps]
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OSUBasketballJunkie
Never Forget 31-0
Dispatch
2/12/06
2/12/06
WISCONSIN 4 | OHIO STATE 2
Buckeyes cold outside
Lambeau Field’s tundra proves unfriendly, unlucky
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Scott Priestle
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
<!--PHOTOS--><TABLE class=phototableright align=right border=0><!-- begin large ad code --><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE align=center><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle></IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>
</IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>MIKE ROEMER | ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Wisconsin’s Ross Carlson, front right, and Ohio State’s Sam Campbell vie for the puck behind the Buckeyes’ goal in the first period at Lambeau Field. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
GREEN BAY, Wis. — At least the beer was cold.
The Frozen Tundra Hockey Classic served as a perfect excuse for football-style tailgating in mid-February, and thousands partook. Some of the players wore eye-black, and a crowd of 40,890 in Lambeau Field did the wave.
But playing outdoors on a legendary football field did little to change Ohio State’s fortunes. This has been an injury-hindered month and a frustrating season, and the Buckeyes left here last night a little more banged up and a little more irritated than they arrived.
They lost 4-2 to Wisconsin, and in so doing lost an opportunity to move up in the power rankings. They also might have lost another player, as left winger Kenny Bernard took a knee-on-knee hit late in the game and had to be helped off the ice.
As it is, Ohio State has no healthy players in reserve, having lost five players to injuries in the past month, four of them likely seasonending injuries. And at 14-14-4, Ohio State has little margin for error over the final five games of the regular season.
"We have to prepare for our next game. I don’t think we can look further than that," coach John Markell said.
The Buckeyes were outshot 31-20. They killed off seven of eight Wisconsin power plays but could not convert on any of their seven power plays. They hit the post three times and had a goal disallowed.
The latter stuck in their craw. Defenseman Sean Collins knocked in a rebound in the first period, but the officials conferred and ruled that the net had come loose before the shot, so they wiped off the goal.
"They told me the official at the blue line called it off," Markell said. "For him to see that, and the ref standing right there at the net didn’t, I don’t know."
The Buckeyes were whistled for 14 penalties, two of them 10-minute misconducts for yapping at the officials. The injury and evident frustration stained what otherwise figures to be a pleasant memory.
The game-time temperature was 28 degrees with little wind and no snow. The crowd was the second-largest in NCAA history, behind the outdoor game between Michigan and Michigan State in October 2001.
"To come out and see the entire crowd, it was an amazing sight," Collins said.
In the four hours before the game the parking lot filled with red, with a few green-and-gold Packers buses sprinkled in. Most of the red was Wisconsin cardinal, not Ohio State scarlet, and the Wisconsin fight song blared from multiple car stereos.
Ohio State players and coaches might have preferred a more neutral site, but the OSU fans in the parking lot did not seem to mind being in the minority.
"It’s OK. We just didn’t want to miss this," said Dick Bailey, 55, of Hilliard, who made the trip with 15 family members from central and northwest Columbus. "It doesn’t happen every year."
Former Ohio State hockey player Don Rogers, who earned letters in 1973 and ’74, found a way around it. He and his son, Jeff, and friend Mel Dillon met a group of Wisconsin fans at a bar Friday night and joined their tailgate yesterday afternoon.
"It started as a rivalry," Don Rogers said, "but the most important thing is it’s hockey. It doesn’t matter who you’re rooting for. It’s hockey."
[email protected]
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LoKyBuckeye
I give up. This board is too hard to understand.
Wisky hockey fans are worse that the football fans... if that's possible.
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fourteenandoh
My swing feels like an unfolding lawn chair.
Loky,
just made it back yesterday... you weren't kidding. we weren't out of the car for thirty seconds before someone came up to us and said in that horrible accent of theirs Ohio? ohio sucks we're gonna kick your f***in ass just like we do in football every year. So I just laughed, unzipped my jacket and showed him my national championship sweatshirt and asked him how many of those he has. that shut him up real quick. overall, the wrong team won, but the trip was amazing and I am very glad I went.
just made it back yesterday... you weren't kidding. we weren't out of the car for thirty seconds before someone came up to us and said in that horrible accent of theirs Ohio? ohio sucks we're gonna kick your f***in ass just like we do in football every year. So I just laughed, unzipped my jacket and showed him my national championship sweatshirt and asked him how many of those he has. that shut him up real quick. overall, the wrong team won, but the trip was amazing and I am very glad I went.
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BretGoBlue
Wolverine Spy
It may be an NCAA rule to play on olympic ice...
I don't believe the NCAA has a mandate on the size of the ice. I know that most of the CCHA has smaller ice then olympic size. WCHA uses more of the olympic style ice.
I can't remember all of them, but in the CCHA it's Northern Michigan and UAF that I know of with olympic size ice.
I don't believe the NCAA has a mandate on the size of the ice. I know that most of the CCHA has smaller ice then olympic size. WCHA uses more of the olympic style ice.
I can't remember all of them, but in the CCHA it's Northern Michigan and UAF that I know of with olympic size ice.
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LoKyBuckeye
I give up. This board is too hard to understand.
every sports fan needs to get to Lambeau at least once.... I lived up there for 6 years and went to many Packer games and would have loved to be at that game. I went to a few Wisky hockey games down in Madison at the Kohl Center and have seen how they treat visiting fans... I've also been to Camp Randall and the atmosphere is the same just replace turf with ice.
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