Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

Peters played well and should have started the second game. She made many good saves and the tying goal was not soft in my view. Dahlquist scored a beauty. If anything I would be questioning the winning goal.

Definitely not my place to question a coach like Brad Frost, but in hindsight (I know, 20/20), Peters came on in relief Saturday and only allowed one goal on nine shots, so maybe Coach Frost should have gone back to her Saturday. Then again, the way the Bucks are playing right now, it may not have mattered which goaltender was in net Saturday. I found out recently, and forgive me if I have already mentioned this, the girls had a players-only meeting after the 5-1 loss to Penn State. Since then, they are 5-0 and have outscored their opponents 20-5.

 

[BigFan]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

You know how I feel about Coach Nadine, Ne7minder. I am thrilled that she is here. She was the perfect hire for the program at this time. I have been critical of our athletic department's treatment of our hockey programs in the past, and they still need to shore up our facilities, but they clearly hit a home run with the hire of Nadine Muzerall! I couldn't be happier with the state of our program right now, and I still feel like Coach Nadine is ahead of schedule with this process. I definitely agree with your last sentence. She better get a big raise after this season is over, and the assistants, too!

Totally agree, wonder what she could have done with previous Ohio State teams that were poorly coached under Potter and Hranahan but had some talent. She has brought accountability and a winning culture to Ohio, something that was sadly lacking. A winning culture will make it much easier to recruit top talent.

 

[Eeyore]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

Peters played well and should have started the second game. She made many good saves and the tying goal was not soft in my view. Dahlquist scored a beauty. If anything I would be questioning the winning goal.

They were both soft, and starting Gulstene on Saturday didn't surprise me in the slightest. Goaltending may not have been Minnesota's biggest problem on the weekend, but it was definitely a problem. That said, the choice of goalie for the second game made absolutely no difference in the outcome; the whole team played a terrible game, while the Buckeyes played very well.

 

[ARM]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

From a Buckeye point of view, watching Charly split the defense was very cool. A feat of skill and determination that one rarely sees anymore.

Unfortunately, Gopher fans have seen our D get split fairly regularly of late (assuming we have two of them back, which has been a larger issue).

 

[TonyTheTiger20]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

For you Pairwise lovers, I posted a couple articles about the Pairwise and Bracketology over in the Fun With Numbers thread:

http://board.uscho.com/showthread.p...l-excitement&p=6592236&viewfull=1#post6592236

 

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

Ohio State drops game one this weekend vs Minnesota-Duluth by a final score of 4-1. I was not able to see the game, so I cannot comment on how it was played, but this has to be the kind of inconsistency that drives a coach nuts (sweep perennial power Minnesota, then get drilled by 5th place UMD). In listening to recent interviews with Coach Nadine, she is looking for consistency and improvement each game out. It does not appear that she got that today. Anyway, not to excuse this one, but it just further proves how tough it is to win on the road in the WCHA ... unless you're Wisconsin, who just keeps rolling along and piling up wins regardless of whether they are home or away. Looking at the box score, one could conclude that the story of the game was UMD goaltender Jessica Convery, who stopped 38 of the 39 Ohio State shots she faced today. Buckeye netminder Kassidy Sauve saved 24 of the 28 shots she faced. The lone Buckeye goal was scored by Tatum Skaggs. The Bulldog goals were scored by Naomi Rogge, Sydney Brodt, Jalyn Elmes, and Katerina Mrazova. The Buckeyes need to come out more focused tomorrow and at least get three points on this trip. They can't really afford not to with Wisconsin coming to Columbus next weekend. The teams are back at it tomorrow at 4:07 pm EST.

 

[Blackbeard]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

Looking at the box score, one could conclude that the story of the game was UMD goaltender Jessica Convery, who stopped 38 of the 39 Ohio State shots she faced today.

Convery had a great game with several great saves and one or two that were brilliant.

I'm really glad that you have such a good team this year...just improves the flavour and expands the kitchen.

 

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

Convery had a great game with several great saves and one or two that were brilliant.

I'm really glad that you have such a good team this year...just improves the flavour and expands the kitchen.

Thanks Blackbeard! It has been a great season here and with Nadine Muzerall guiding the ship, this is just the beginning. It was actually nice that the game was on tv today, although it would have been better if we would have scored a couple goals. I work for a company that is headquartered overseas so I get to work from home. I went out to the living room and turned the game on a couple times to check in. It looked to me like the effort was there, we just could not get pucks by Convery. We have a resilient bunch, so I am sure they will be ready to go tomorrow. Sounds like my assessment was not far off. Here is what Coach Nadine had to say after the game (taken from the recap on ohiostatebuckeyes.com) ... “For the last five games we haven’t had problems with consistency, but tonight we did. We have to give their goaltender credit. She played amazing out there and kept us from doing what we know we can do. Tomorrow we can hopefully capitalize on our opportunities.”

 

[Timothy A]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

Convery had a great game with several great saves and one or two that were brilliant.

I'm really glad that you have such a good team this year...just improves the flavour and expands the kitchen.

Convery has been through a lot, I talked to her Dad in Madison (he has posted on this site from time to time and we hooked up when Mercyhurst came to Madison a few years ago, a very nice guy), it's great to see her have an awesome game. It kind of changes your perspective a bit when you know the journey of a player. I almost felt bad sieving her in Madison.

 

[Leather helmet]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

I almost felt bad sieving her in Madison.

You sieved her with love and affection? Yes, I can see that.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

In listening to recent interviews with Coach Nadine, she is looking for consistency and improvement each game out. It does not appear that she got that today...The Buckeyes need to come out more focused tomorrow and at least get three points on this trip.

Ouch. Sounds like the Friday Penn State game. Hope the analogy holds for the Saturday game. Go Bucks!

You sieved her with love and affection? Yes, I can see that.

Perhaps respect and admiration. But affection? Not so much.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

For you Pairwise lovers, I posted a couple articles about the Pairwise and Bracketology over in the Fun With Numbers thread:

http://board.uscho.com/showthread.p...l-excitement&p=6592236&viewfull=1#post6592236

I've been lurking on that thread, on and off, for a long time. While I do feel guilty about being a free rider, I'm going to keep doing it. Just something that I enjoy. Sincere thanks to you, robertearle, Eeyore and all the other Pairwise people.

I still wish it were possible to have a "Headline News" version of the Pairwise rankings, as they evolve each year. But as I commented earlier, if the verdict is that simplifying = hopelessly misleading, I can accept that.

 

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

Well, I didn't expect the Bucks to get swept in Duluth, but that was exactly what happened this weekend. Coach Nadine's quote in the recap indicates that the effort was there again, and the Bucks outshot Duluth for the second game in a row, 34-25, but on the scoreboard where it counts, Ohio State was beaten again, this time by a final score of 2-1. With a series against the Badgers coming up next weekend, this is not a good time to go into a scoring slump. This was one of those disastrous weekends where you just erase the tape and move forward. Let's just get to the box score. As was the case with Friday's game, Tatum Skaggs scored the lone Buckeye goal in the second period. At the time, it gave the Bucks a 1-0 lead, but they would not finish the game the right way, letting in two UMD goals in the third period to allow the Bulldogs to come away from this weekend with two signature wins. Anna Klein scored both UMD goals. Jessica Convery stopped 33 of the 34 shots she faced. Kassidy Sauve saved 23 of the 25 shots she faced. It gets tougher for the Buckeyes next weekend as they will welcome #1 Wisconsin to the OSU Ice Rink. UMD will have a weekday game Wednesday vs St. Cloud, then will play the Minnesota Whitecaps Saturday in an exhibition game.

 

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

Pgb, gonna need you to talk me off the ledge again. Actually, after watching the post-game interview with Coach Nadine, she thought we played a great game today and deserved to win. It reminded me of something former men's coach John Markell said after a 3-2 loss to Cornell in the 2005 NCAA Tournament ... I don't remember the exact quote, but I think it was something along the lines of "Hockey can be a cruel game because you can do everything right and still lose." This was only the second time we have been swept in a WCHA series this season. The only other time was in Madison back in November against the #1 Badgers. Another downside to this weekend is Minnesota has now surpassed Ohio State and moved into second place in the WCHA standings. We still have two games in hand on the Gophers, but we obviously need to get the goal-scoring figured out. You don't win games in this league when you only score one goal, and this team has way too much offensive talent to not score goals.

 

[Puckdrop14]

Pgb, gonna need you to talk me off the ledge again. Actually, after watching the post-game interview with Coach Nadine, she thought we played a great game today and deserved to win. It reminded me of something former men's coach John Markell said after a 3-2 loss to Cornell in the 2005 NCAA Tournament ... I don't remember the exact quote, but I think it was something along the lines of "Hockey can be a cruel game because you can do everything right and still lose." This was only the second time we have been swept in a WCHA series this season. The only other time was in Madison back in November against the #1 Badgers. Another downside to this weekend is Minnesota has now surpassed Ohio State and moved into second place in the WCHA standings. We still have two games in hand on the Gophers, but we obviously need to get the goal-scoring figured out. You don't win games in this league when you only score one goal, and this team has way too much offensive talent to not score goals.

The Bulldogs had much better chances and they capitalized on Buckeye mistakes. Many shots were taken from the outside and were not dangerous. It looked like the Buckeyes were just holding for most of the game. The Bulldogs were deserving of the win in my view. I was hoping to see more from the Buckeyes this weekend after last weekend’s big sweep but they looked flat. A win against the Badgers will get them back on track.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

Pgb, gonna need you to talk me off the ledge again.

OK, how about this. As evidenced by the thread title, one goal at the start of the season was to get home ice for the playoffs. That's going to happen. Consider:

The Maximum Number of Standings Points That Can Be Earned:
UMD= 39
Bemidji State=42
Minnesota=50
Ohio State=55

Next, Ohio State's Current Point is 37, With 6 Games Remaining. Therefore:

To Clinch 4th Place, The Buckeyes Need 3 Points (1 Win) In The Next 6 Games.
To Clinch 3rd Place, The Buckeyes Need 6 Points (2 Wins). Or, Simply Beating Bemidji Once Does The Trick.

Unless we lose out, we're going to finish in 3rd Place or better. I will allow that if we finish the regular season with an 8 game losing streak, I'll join you on the ledge and we can jump together.

Finishing 2nd Is Still Very Doable:
To Clinch 2nd Place, The Buckeyes Need 14 of the 18 Points Available.

That sounds more daunting. But there is a more comforting way of looking at this. Both OSU & MN have a series remaining against the Badgers. So the winning formula would be to match the Gophers' results against the Badgers, then win 9 of the 12 available points against Mankato & Bemidji.

Still on the ledge?

Last night OSU Men's Hockey completed a sweep against Michigan. If that doesn't put a smile on your face until next weekend, nothing will!

Go Bucks.

 

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

The Bulldogs had much better chances and they capitalized on Buckeye mistakes. Many shots were taken from the outside and were not dangerous. It looked like the Buckeyes were just holding for most of the game. The Bulldogs were deserving of the win in my view. I was hoping to see more from the Buckeyes this weekend after last weekend’s big sweep but they looked flat. A win against the Badgers will get them back on track.

Puckdrop14, you make an interesting point about the Buckeyes looking flat. As I indicated earlier, I did not see either game, but the way this season has gone, the Bucks do very well against teams that they are not supposed to beat. They love the underdog role and perform well when they are the underdogs. However, in a series like this one where they are expected to sweep, they seem to struggle. Thankfully for us, we somehow came out of this sweep still setting at 5th in the pairwise. Not sure how that even happens. As for next weekend, I would not put it past this team to get points. They will be the underdogs, the writers here at uscho.com will pick Wisconsin to sweep, and our team will play inspired hockey. Needless to say, I will be concerned about the series after this weekend vs Minnesota State and Bemidji because we will be the favorites vs those teams and we have struggled in those situations this season. I know I have said this before, so forgive me if I sound like a broken record, but sometimes I just do not think our team realizes that they are the hunted now and that teams are stepping their games up against us. For whatever reason, we struggle when we are the favorites. We need to get back to beating teams we are supposed to beat. Need to bring our A game every night moving forward if we want to accomplish our goals. I know our girls have some goals that exceed my thread title of just getting a home playoff series. I really believe they can accomplish whatever goals they have set for themselves, but they need to bring it against everyone, not just when they are playing top ten teams like Minnesota, Wisconsin, or RMU.

 

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

OK, how about this. As evidenced by the thread title, one goal at the start of the season was to get home ice for the playoffs. That's going to happen. Consider:

The Maximum Number of Standings Points That Can Be Earned:
UMD= 39
Bemidji State=42
Minnesota=50
Ohio State=55

Next, Ohio State's Current Point is 37, With 6 Games Remaining. Therefore:

To Clinch 4th Place, The Buckeyes Need 3 Points (1 Win) In The Next 6 Games.
To Clinch 3rd Place, The Buckeyes Need 6 Points (2 Wins). Or, Simply Beating Bemidji Once Does The Trick.

Unless we lose out, we're going to finish in 3rd Place or better. I will allow that if we finish the regular season with an 8 game losing streak, I'll join you on the ledge and we can jump together.

Finishing 2nd Is Still Very Doable:
To Clinch 2nd Place, The Buckeyes Need 14 of the 18 Points Available.

That sounds more daunting. But there is a more comforting way of looking at this. Both OSU & MN have a series remaining against the Badgers. So the winning formula would be to match the Gophers' results against the Badgers, then win 9 of the 12 available points against Mankato & Bemidji.

Still on the ledge?

Last night OSU Men's Hockey completed a sweep against Michigan. If that doesn't put a smile on your face until next weekend, nothing will!

Go Bucks.

I am fine now. My problem is I need to listen to Mrs 86 and stay away from the keyboard after a big emotional loss, or in this case, a big emotional sweep. I absolutely love our kids and our coaching staff. They have brought me and other fans so much joy this season. Regardless of how things end up, it is likely going to be the best OSU Women's Hockey season ever.

I would like to see us get that second spot back because I would rather see Minnesota State in the first round of the playoffs than St. Cloud. I do agree that we are not going to fall to 4th. We are going to finish no lower than 3rd, and ultimately, provided we play up to our capabilities, I think we overtake Minnesota for 2nd place. Minnesota only has four league games left and two of them are at Wisconsin.

And lastly, yes, I was aware of the men's season sweep of Michigan! The girls made history vs Minnesota last weekend and I would have to look it up, but I believe the men did this past weekend because I am not sure the men have ever had a season sweep vs Michigan. That was a hot Michigan club, too, that had crept up to third in the standings right behind us, so those were good wins. I shouldn't be spending this much time talking about our men on the women's forum, but they are playing some very good hockey right now.

In case anyone wonders why I am so late with this and what the bleep am I doing posting at 4:00 in the morning, Mrs 86 and I took the opportunity with the girls on the road at Duluth to go up to Toronto and see former Buckeye Danielle Gagne playing for the Toronto Furies of the CWHL. The Furies swept Calgary, which was the first time all season that they had won two games in a row. We were told by a couple people associated with the team that we now had to come up to every home game! So, after getting a bite to eat after the game today (it was a 1:00 start), we headed home and just arrived here not that long ago. I got back on here expecting to be jumped on for my "talk me off the ledge" comment, and honestly, if that would have been the case, I would have said, yeah, I deserved that, but thanks to everyone for dealing with my episodes with the kid gloves! I love this team and I just get a little emotional and feel bad for them when I know they don't perform as well as they wanted to. Well, I gotta get off here. Gotta go catch up on facebook and twitter. Goodnight everyone!

 

[Lindsay]

Mrs 86 and I took the opportunity with the girls on the road at Duluth to go up to Toronto and see former Buckeye Danielle Gagne playing for the Toronto Furies of the CWHL. The Furies swept Calgary, which was the first time all season that they had won two games in a row. We were told by a couple people associated with the team that we now had to come up to every home game! So, after getting a bite to eat after the game today (it was a 1:00 start), we headed home and just arrived here not that long ago. I got back on here expecting to be jumped on for my "talk me off the ledge" comment, and honestly, if that would have been the case, I would have said, yeah, I deserved that, but thanks to everyone for dealing with my episodes with the kid gloves! I love this team and I just get a little emotional and feel bad for them when I know they don't perform as well as they wanted to. Well, I gotta get off here. Gotta go catch up on facebook and twitter. Goodnight everyone!

That is really cool that you traveled to watch a CWHL game. I’m curious, how was the atmosphere and hockey, as compared to NCAA hockey? I understand Canadiennes get great support, not sure how the others fare.

 

[Lindsay]

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2017-2018 ... Home Playoffs This Season?

Meant to add one other thing. I mostly lurk on this thread, but it is fantastic and has been for years. Keep it up, and no one jump off any ledges.