OSU hockey vs. #7 Minnesota

[PuckBucks22]

The perennial powerhouse Minnesota Golden Gophers come to the Schott this weekend- Oct 20 and 21. First time the Gophers have ever come to C-Bus to play the Bucks.

Tickets are cheap $6 for students and $11 for adults ($4 on Sat w/ an IU ticket)

Come support the Puck Bucks!!!!

 

[jimotis4heisman]

$4 dollar alum assoc tickets friday
$4 dollar tickets with your fball ticket sat


if youre a hockey fan worth the trip
erik johnson, kyle okoposo are both big time nhl players.

i dont know much, but id be shocked if its much of a game. worth going to see some of these kids though.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Buckeyes aspire to reach level of Gophers program

Friday, October 20, 2006

Scott Priestle
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




The Ohio State and Minnesota men?s hockey teams play in different leagues, in more ways than one.
The Gophers, who are making a rare trip to Columbus this weekend for two games, are one of the premier teams in the high-powered Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Of the 25 players on their roster, 24 are from Minnesota and 14 were drafted by NHL clubs ? including freshman defenseman Erik Johnson, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2006 draft.
Johnson grew up just outside Minneapolis as a fan of the program. He sat in Mariucci Arena and wore a Minnesota jersey long before he played his first collegiate game, so he was not a tough sell.
"He?s where he belongs," Gophers coach Don Lucia said.
Hockey does not have the same hold in these parts, so recruiting his own neighborhood is not an option for OSU coach John Markell.
"I was out watching some young kids play, some Pee-Wees or Squirts. They?re pretty good," he said with a smile.
All kidding aside, Markell said, "I can see a day when a top first-round pick is coming from Columbus, Ohio. I don?t care if they?re first-rounders, as long as they grow up wanting to play for Ohio State as badly as players grow up wanting to play for Minnesota or Wisconsin or Michigan."
Markell hopes the two games against Minnesota this weekend bring that dream a little closer to reality by generating more buzz than a typical early season nonconference series.
To this point, attendance at Value City Arena has been spotty. The Buckeyes drew only 4,702 fans for two games last weekend against Central Collegiate Hockey Association rival Lake Superior State. They drew fewer than 5,000 fans for 11 of 18 home games last season but topped 10,000 for each game against Notre Dame. The year before they drew more than 27,000 for two games against Michigan.
Folks around the program hope the Big Ten connection with Minnesota will pique the interest of a fan base weaned on football and basketball.
"We have to see how we?ll be supported," Markell said.
It will be the Gophers? first trip to Columbus for a regularseason game; their only previous trip was for the 2005 Frozen Four. In exchange for these games, Ohio State will play two games at Minnesota next season. Markell hopes to schedule a similar home-and-home series with Wisconsin beginning the following season.
The players understandably are not concerned with such things. They see a Minnesota team ranked No. 7 nationally and featuring four first-round NHL draft picks, and they see a chance to "put ourselves back on the map," in the words of senior center Mathieu Beaudoin.
It will be a challenge. The Buckeyes will be without their leading scorer the past two seasons. Junior winger Tom Fritsche is sidelined indefinitely because of an abdominal disorder, and OSU might be without junior winger Tommy Goebel, a similarly skilled player who scored two goals last weekend. He suffered what Markell would only call "an upper-body injury" and is considered day to day.
Beaudoin believes the Buckeyes have the depth to overcome those losses and the toughness to take down Johnson and his teammates.
"We?re all 20 years old here," he said. "They?re the same age, the same size. They?re wearing two skates. They have one stick. They might be a little better, but we?re just going to have to work a little bit harder and we?ll be fine."
[email protected]

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Link

Men's hockey: Gophers 7, Ohio State 2

Minnesota dominated every phase of the game and got goals from seven home-state players in cruising to an easy victory against Ohio State.

Dean Spiros, Star Tribune Last update: October 20, 2006 ? 10:45 PM

COLUMBUS, OHIO - The Ohio State Buckeyes know a little about reaping the benefits of homegrown talent. Their perennially powerful and largely locally produced football team will put its wares on display at home today as the nation's No. 1 team.

Friday night the Gophers men's hockey got to do the showing off.
Seven Gophers scored goals in a 7-2 rout of Ohio State before an announced crowd of 4,707 at Value City Arena. All seven are Minnesotans; all seven have been drafted by NHL teams.
"They're special players," Ohio State coach John Markell said. "Minnesota develops great players, and those great players want to play for Minnesota."
The Gophers (3-1-0) dominated in every phase of the game and got contributions from nearly everyone. The brightest star of the game was freshman defenseman Erik Johnson, who contributed his first goal for the Gophers and was strong at both ends of the ice.
"I think this was my best game as a Gopher," Johnson said. "It's taken me some time to get going, which is the way it has always been with me."
Gophers coach Don Lucia had praise for his prize recruit as well as for the rest of the Gophers.
"Erik was more comfortable out there, more relaxed," Lucia said. "He came in under high expectations, and sometimes it's easier to go on the road. You just go play."
Said Markell of Johnson: "He is the best player at his age in the world. Who says so? The best league in the world, which took him No. 1 in its draft. That's a pretty special accolade."
The Gophers broke open a 2-1 game with four consecutive goals in the second period. Markell called a timeout after Ryan Stoa gave the Gophers a 5-1 lead at 8:22, but it didn't slow the Gophers. The Buckeyes were two men down when Kyle Okposo scored his third goal of the season at 11:30.
The Gophers outshot Ohio State 23-3 in the period.
"They are a team that will expose you on every mistake you make," Markell said. "They move up the ice as five men, and they don't slow down when they have the puck."
The Gophers' freshman class continues to roll. Jay Barriball, Mike Carman and Ryan Flynn joined Johnson and Okposo in chipping in a goal.
"They're doing more than their fair share," Lucia said. "They're playing a lot more physical. Even when they aren't scoring they are taking the body. That's an important part of having a good team."
Four of the Gophers' goals came on the power play, with all four coming from just off the crease.
"The coaches have been stressing the need for us to go hard to the net," Carman said. "I think we finally did it tonight."
Gophers senior Kellen Briggs made his first start of the season in goal after serving a three-game suspension for an unspecified violation of team rules. He stopped 19 of 21 shots, making a couple of big saves when the game was still close.
"Everyone did the job tonight," Lucia said.
?The Gophers have received a verbal commitment from Nico Sacchetti, a junior at Virginia (Minn.) High School, for the 2008-09 season.
Dean Spiros ? [email protected]

 

[BuckeyeStu]

Ugly Loss. I'm not hockey expert, but it was obovious to me that we were totally outmatched.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

HOCKEY: MINNESOTA 6 OHIO STATE 3
Talented Gophers use power play to cap sweep

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Scott Priestle
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH




The Ohio State men?s hockey team played with admirable effort and as much skill as it could muster last night, in the face of overwhelming talent. The Buckeyes could have used gifted wingers Tommy Goebel and Tom Fritsche, who watched in street clothes 12 rows above the ice.
They could have used Rick Nash and Nikolai Zherdev, too.
Minnesota, with a roster loaded with NHL prospects, cruised to a 6-3 win and a decisive weekend sweep.
Mike Howe killed the last bit of drama with an empty-net goal with 40 seconds left. Assuming there was any drama left to kill. The Buckeyes had to play catch-up from the opening minutes, and there was a feeling that they would not catch up.
"That?s the best Minnesota team I?ve ever seen or coached against," said OSU coach John Markell, who coached against the Gophers during the 2002-03 season, when they won a national championship.
"You see down at ice level, they?re making little plays you don?t see many times. Maybe elite players, but not a whole team."
The Buckeyes picked up the pace in the second period, when junior forward Zach Pelletier leveled Minnesota defenseman Derek Peltier with a hit that shook the 3,603 in attendance and knocked Peltier from the game.
"I need more guys like that," Markell said. "Not the hitting, but seeing a guy playing with character. It looked like he was having fun out there."
There might have been more smiles on the home bench if there had been fewer penalties. Ohio State took 21 penalties in the two games, and Minnesota went 8 of 16 on power plays, a big reason the Gophers outscored the Buckeyes 13-5 in the two games.
Minnesota scored a power-play goal midway through the first period and another 31 seconds into the second to open a 3-0 lead. Ohio State never got within two goals of the lead again.
"I think the bottom line is, we?ve got to stay out of the penalty box," OSU center Matt McIlvane said.
Tyler Hirsch, Minnesota?s only senior forward, had a goal and three assists. Mike Vanelli, Minnesota?s only senior defenseman, had four assists. The kids, a handful of whom soon will be playing in the other arena in town, followed the seniors? lead.
"We all made a point not to let up after the night before," Vanelli said. "We knew they were going to come back. Any time you play a veteran team, you know they?re going to play harder (the second night). We knew we had to match their intensity."
The Buckeyes knew they could not match the Gophers? skill. It might have been a fairer fight if they had Goebel (who missed the weekend series because of an undisclosed injury) and Fritsche (who is recovering from an intestinal disorder). But the scales still would have tipped in favor of Minnesota, which has four first-round NHL draft picks and three second-round picks on its roster.
Markell said he sensed his players adjusting to Minnesota?s speed during the two games, then added, "Now we have to practice at that speed Monday."
[email protected]

 

[Brutus1]

I went to the Friday night game , if you want to call it that. I don't know what the final #'s were but it seemed like Minny had a big advantage in pp opportunities.

The Buckeyes hung with them early, but they were no match in talent.

The script Ohio on ice was pretty cool.

 

[BuckeyeFan_InTx]

I bet it was a good one!