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Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

Ohio State took game one earlier tonight in a game that might be characterized as the "Emma Maltais Show." I know this is a team game, and the win tonight was certainly a team win, but it is next to impossible to ignore Emma's four-goal game in the 5-2 win. Ohio State opened the scoring on a Rebecca Freiburger power play goal and the first period came to a close with the Buckeyes leading 1-0. Early in the second period, Maltais lit the lamp to put the Buckeyes up 2-0. Later in the period, former Buckeye Dana Rasmussen scored for the Huskies to cut the lead in half. Emma Maltais answered for the Bucks to make the score 3-1 and that is how the second period ended. Maltais opened the scoring in the third period with her third goal, which put the Bucks up 4-1. The Huskies' Hallie Theodosopoulos answered to bring St. Cloud to within two goals at 4-2. Goal #4 for Emma Maltais was an empty netter at the end after the Huskies had pulled goaltender Janine Alder for an extra attacker. The Buckeyes outshot St. Cloud 38-18. Huskies goaltender Janine Alder was outstanding as usual, stopping 33 of the 37 shots she faced and did her best to keep her team in the game. Buckeye netminder Andrea Braendli was stingy as well, stopping 16 of the 18 shots she faced. Each team had two power plays. The Buckeyes scored on one of their power plays. The Huskies were 0-2 on the power play. The teams are back at it tomorrow at 2:07 pm CST.
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

You're welcome, Pgb! Need to finish the job today on this "business trip," as Coach Muzerall said.
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

Ohio State finished the job today with a 6-2 win over the St. Cloud State Huskies. The Buckeyes got a first-period goal from Tatum Skaggs and led 1-0 at the first intermission. The second period was the decisive period in this one as the Buckeyes came out and put four more goals on the board. Sara Saekkinen lit the lamp for the first time this season to give the Buckeyes a 2-0 lead. Tatum Skaggs scored her second goal of the game to put Ohio State up 3-0. Brooke Bink scored her first goal as a Buckeye to make it 4-0 in favor of Ohio State. Eve Savander scored her first-ever goal as a Buckeye to make the score 5-0. That was how the second period ended. The Huskies got a goal from Abby Thiessen to cut the Buckeye lead to 5-1. Ohio State answered to make the score 6-1 on Sara Saekkinen's second goal of the game. St. Cloud lit the lamp on a goal from Brooke Kudirka and that is how it ended, 6-2 Bucks. Ohio State outshot St. Cloud 35-23. St. Cloud goaltender Emma Polusny saved 29 of the 35 shots she faced. Buckeye backstop Andrea Braendli stopped 21 of the 23 shots she faced to get the win. The Buckeyes will return home to welcome in #1-ranked and defending National Champion Wisconsin next weekend. The Huskies will look to rebound as they head to Rochester, NY, to take on RIT.
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

Are your top 3 scoring F's on the same line? I'm trying to get a feel for OSU's depth @ F.
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

Well shoot, Timothy...tough to read the doggone box score .pdf files on my phone. Give me a few minutes and I'll see what I can do. Thankfully, we are only four games in.
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

Timothy A said:
Are your top 3 scoring F's on the same line? I'm trying to get a feel for OSU's depth @ F.
Click to expand...

One might point out that Wisconsin's current top three scorers all play on the same line, too.

Just sayin'...
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

Timothy A said:
I'm trying to figure out if OSU is top heavy too. :)
Click to expand...
The early going suggests that all four ranked teams in the WCHA are top heavy, in terms of relying on their first line to score. Wisconsin and Minnesota have kids on the other lines who have produced in the past, but for now, how the top lines match up will go a long way to deciding these games.
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

ARM said:
The early going suggests that all four ranked teams in the WCHA are top heavy, in terms of relying on their first line to score. Wisconsin and Minnesota have kids on the other lines who have produced in the past, but for now, how the top lines match up will go a long way to deciding these games.
Click to expand...

So far, Ohio State has eleven different goal scorers; Minn and Wisconsin each have nine. But Minn has seven different scorers with more than one goal, Wisconsin with five, OSU with four.

And it is really, really early to draw much significance from such stats.
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

I agree with Robert on this subject. I think it's a little early to draw conclusions based on stats from the first four games. I like crunching numbers as much as the next fan, but I think four games is too small of a sample size. :)
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

Timothy A said:
No argument here. I'm trying to figure out if OSU is top heavy too. :)
Click to expand...

No doubt about it, I think the first line will produce more points than the other two lines. But as of now the scoring has been relatively even on lines. 1st has 5, 2nd has 3 and the 3rd has 3 goals. It is the power play that has been stealing the show. It's better than any Badger power play I have seen this early.
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

osualum86 said:
I agree with Robert on this subject. I think it's a little early to draw conclusions based on stats from the first four games. I like crunching numbers as much as the next fan, but I think four games is too small of a sample size. :)
Click to expand...

It's never too early to draw conclusions. Obviously UW and OSU are going undefeated based on the current sample size.
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

Never too early for hot stove league chat. But the original question has another problem beyond small sample: Coaches are still tinkering with line combinations.

What constitutes a 1st Line goal? Suppose a player has a productive game on the 2nd Line, then gets promoted to the top unit. Does she bring her stats along with her to the 1st Line? Or does the 2nd Line keep those points, regardless of who's now on it? As everyone probably recalls, this scenario occurred during the St. Lawrence series.

Nothing to lose sleep over. But this makes it even tougher to find a definitive answer.
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

pgb-ohio said:
What constitutes a 1st Line goal?
Click to expand...
I won't speak for others, but here was my thinking. I've only seen one of the WCHA's ranked teams thus far. The Gophers' line with Heise isn't that far ahead on points of the line with Wente, but the eye test says that it is quite a bit more advanced at this point. For UMD and OSU, they have two types of lines: those that have a Gabbie Hughes or Emma Maltais, and those that don't. Maybe one of the Buckeye rookies, for example, will turn out to be an absolute phenom and change my thinking, but at this point, that's how it looks to me. Mark Johnson has had past teams where he knew who his top three forwards were, but he chose to not play them together much of the time. But when he had a big game or needed a goal, then surprise! Here comes Decker centering Knight and Duggan/Prévost, depending on the year.

You're right that these coaches will tinker, and I realize that October lines won't necessarily be the same come March, or even the next shift. But coming on the heels of a season where Wisconsin and Minnesota at least were balanced more than usual, this year looks like one where the league may return to a battle of the big hammers atop the line chart.
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

#1 Wisconsin took game one earlier tonight by a final score of 3-0 in a game that was closer than that final score would indicate. Ohio State had trouble getting much going as they were whistled for seven penalties to Wisconsin's three. After a scoreless first period, the Badgers opened the scoring in the second period on a power play goal from Abby Roque. Ohio State appeared to tie the game later in the second period with a goal but it was waved off due to an Ohio State player being in the crease. The score stayed 1-0 until Daryl Watts added an empty-netter with a little less than two minutes to go in the game to make it 2-0 Badgers. The Buckeyes were whistled for their seventh penalty with less than a minute to go and Wisconsin got another goal, this one from Mekenzie Steffen. The Badgers continue to roll. The positives for the Bucks are the penalty kill continues to be solid for the most part as they killed 5 of the 7 Wisconsin power plays. That is saying something as Wisconsin came into the game hitting a red-hot 50% of their power plays (7-14). Until today, the Buckeye penalty kill was perfect. Another positive for the Bucks was the continued stellar play of sophomore goaltender Andrea Braendli, who stopped 25 of the 27 shots she faced. Her counterpart, Kristen Campbell, stopped all 17 shots she faced. The two teams are back at it tomorrow at 3:07 pm.
 
Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

Final Score From Friday, October 11th
Wisconsin 3
Ohio State 0

Energetic Seniors, Power Play Fuel Badger Victory;
Daryl Provides Additional Wattage​
Three seasons of WCHA play. If it doesn't kill you off, you emerge stronger. A National Title. Gives you a certain amount of swagger. The Badger Seniors have those things, and did themselves proud Friday. As you'll see, three of them are recognized as the top 3 Stars. And while Presley Norby and Alexis Mauerman didn't make my final list, both played quite well & would have been worthy.

Now there is another way to look at Friday's game. 5 on 5, it was a scoreless tie. It took 2 Power Play Goals & 1 Empty-Netter to break through. The defenses were that stingy. But the man advantage situations opened the door just a crack, and it was the Badgers that took advantage.


Three Stars Of The Game: Decidedly Unofficial & Just For Fun​
Honorable Mention: Jincy Dunne, Ohio State
Oh, what might have been. In the first period, Jincy slammed the puck off a goalpost. In the third, she nailed the Badger keeper in the shoulder with a shot. OK, the keeper was pretty well positioned. But there was space, and she didn't move until after the puck hit her. With just a little puck, we could have been talking about a 2-1 Buckeye win, with Dunne as the runaway #1 Star. But on this night it wasn't meant to be.

Naturally Jincy was at the core of the outstanding defensive effort. Dunne had three blocked shots for the night. She earned her mention at both ends of the rink.


#4 Star: Daryl Watts, Wisconsin
As the Brady Bunch once told us in song, When It's Time To Change, You've Got To Re-Arrange. Watts made the change; the Badgers re-arranged. I'll re-arrange also. For one post only, I've added a 4th Star of the Game.

Daryl fits in nicely, and is clearly hungry to succeed. On the GWG, she essentially won a puck battle with a teammate! She knew what she wanted to do, and she was right -- firing a crisp, perfect pass to the goal scorer. No puck battle on the final goal of the game. But once again, an ideal pass to set up the goal scorer. In between, Watts buried a calm, confident empty-netter. All told, a 3 point night. With a point on every goal scored. Welcome to the WCHA, Daryl!

#3 Star: (tie)Kristen Campbell, Wisconsin and Andrea Braendli, Ohio State
Strong goaltending on Friday. By shutting out a fine Buckeye team, Kristen pretty much locked down a Star. Yes, she had lots of help. But Campbell did a lot more than hold serve. Calm, steady and well-positioned, she rarely gave the Buckeyes a second chance.

At the same time, Andrea deserves similar praise. The Badgers really had to work to get a shot by her. It might be asked: What score would be most indicative of the game, as it actually played out? My nomination would be 1-0 Badgers.

#2 Star: Mekenzie Steffen, Wisconsin
As good as the goalies were, the defenses were even better. A review of the shot charts shows most of the shots coming from the perimeter. Credit for that goes to the 'D,' with Steffen leading the way for the Badgers. Mekenzie's stats include a coupled of blocks. But even more to the point, her seasoned skill & relentless hustle were valuable assets for the Visitors.

On offense, Steffen completed the scoring with a fine ripper from the point. Like her Buckeye counterpart Jincy Dunne, Mekenzie earned her mention at both ends of the rink.

#1 Star: Abby Roque, Wisconsin
Abby was other-worldly in the face-off circle, winning 23 draws on 28 attempts. When you play on an intelligent team that possesses the puck well, that really sets the tone for the game. And in the waning moments, it was a Roque face-off win that initiated the final scoring play.

But the key play of the night was Abby's GWG. A big blast from up high gave the Badgers a lead they wouldn't relinquish. It forced the Buckeyes to play from behind for most of the game. Against UW, that's not a happy task.

2 scoring points earned; only missing out only on the empty-netter. And tons of leadership. On this night, Roque showed the Badgers the way to victory. It won't be the last time.


Up Next: Rematch With Wisconsin. Face-Off @ 3:07PM.
 
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Re: Ohio State Buckeyes 2019-2020: Muzzling All Detractors

The #1 Badgers completed the sweep today by a final score of 7-3. The difference in today's game was the power play. Wisconsin's power play was lethal today, hitting on all four of their power play chances. Ohio State had one power play and Wisconsin was able to kill it off. The Buckeyes did strike first today on a goal by Liz Schepers halfway through the first period. Wisconsin then got power play goals from Britta Curl and Maddie Rowe and the first period ended with the Badgers up 2-1. In the second period, Wisconsin picked up where they left off with a goal from Mekenzie Steffen to go up 3-1. To their credit, the Buckeyes fought back with a couple of even strength goals from Brooke Bink and Liz Schepers and the second period ended with a 3-3 score. The Badgers came out and took over in the third period with a power play goal from Mekenzie Steffen, a couple of even strength goals from Sophie Shirley and Abby Roque, and a final power play goal from Daryl Watts. SOG were a little lopsided in this one with Wisconsin winning that battle 43-21, although I don't have the numbers in front of me regarding how many of those shots on goal were on the four power plays. Andrea Braendli saved 36 of the 43 shots she faced. Badger backstop Kristen Campbell stopped 18 of the 21 shots she faced. Wisconsin will travel to New York next weekend for a pair of games against Long Island University. According to the schedule, one of those games will be played at Nassau Coliseum! Ohio State will head to Mankato to take on Minnesota State.
 
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