Ohio State Buckeyes 2020-2021 ... Unfinished Business

[pgb-ohio]

Hey Buckeyes, Congratulations on the Sweep. We're proud of you!

From the Highlight Reel:

1st Goal: Liz hit her spot with ruthless precision.

2nd Goal: Tatum's hard working wheeling & dealing led to Jenn's nifty tip.

3rd Goal: GWGs are becoming a habit for Paetyn. Nice habit to have!

 

[osualum86]

I'd like to take a moment to commend Brooke Bink for her primary assist.

After Bink was hooked, it would have been easy to think "OK, drew the call. On to the Power Play." Instead, Brooke kept battling & had the presence of mind to give the puck an extra nudge into Paetyn's wheelhouse. Thus converting a good scoring chance into a great one. Of course Levis nailed the upper left hand corner to complete the play.

At the time, the Buckeyes were just building on their lead. But in the end, 'twas the GWG. Without Brooke's fine 2nd effort, who knows how the game plays out?

Totally agree with you on this! And I actually mentioned this on facebook. It was an absolutely amazing effort by Brooke to get the puck over to Paetyn while being hooked and ultimately hauled down. I really love Brooke's game. She brings the energy every shift. I noticed that when she first got to Ohio State and told Mrs 86 she reminded me of Charly Dahlquist. Charly always brought the energy every shift.

Regarding today's game, I am so proud of this team. Don't look now, but this team is starting to play their best hockey of the season, and at the right time! In today's contest, the Gophers came out firing, which was expected after last night's loss, and scored two quick goals in the first few minutes of the game. The Minnesota goals were scored by Abigail Boreen and Grace Zumwinkle. The first period ended with the Gophers leading 2-0. The second period belonged to the Buckeyes as they came out and scored three goals to take a 3-2 lead. Ohio State's goals were scored by Liz Schepers, Jennifer Gardiner, and Paetyn Levis. Levis' goal turned out to be the game-winner. Paetyn scored the game-winner last night as well. Minnesota outshot Ohio State 25-23 in this one with Gopher goaltender Lauren Bench stopping 20 of the 23 shots she faced. Buckeye backstop Andrea Braendli stopped 23 of the 25 shots she faced to get the win. Ohio State will return home next weekend to face St. Cloud in the last regular season series. Minnesota will head up to Bemidji for a pair of games with the Beavers.

 

[Offsides Guy]

Totally agree with you on this! And I actually mentioned this on facebook. It was an absolutely amazing effort by Brooke to get the puck over to Paetyn while being hooked and ultimately hauled down. I really love Brooke's game. She brings the energy every shift. I noticed that when she first got to Ohio State and told Mrs 86 she reminded me of Charly Dahlquist. Charly always brought the energy every shift.

Regarding today's game, I am so proud of this team. Don't look now, but this team is starting to play their best hockey of the season, and at the right time! In today's contest, the Gophers came out firing, which was expected after last night's loss, and scored two quick goals in the first few minutes of the game. The Minnesota goals were scored by Abigail Boreen and Grace Zumwinkle. The first period ended with the Gophers leading 2-0. The second period belonged to the Buckeyes as they came out and scored three goals to take a 3-2 lead. Ohio State's goals were scored by Liz Schepers, Jennifer Gardiner, and Paetyn Levis. Levis' goal turned out to be the game-winner. Paetyn scored the game-winner last night as well. Minnesota outshot Ohio State 25-23 in this one with Gopher goaltender Lauren Bench stopping 20 of the 23 shots she faced. Buckeye backstop Andrea Braendli stopped 23 of the 25 shots she faced to get the win. Ohio State will return home next weekend to face St. Cloud in the last regular season series. Minnesota will head up to Bemidji for a pair of games with the Beavers.

Levis’s two GW’s could end up being the difference between qualifying and not qualifying for Nationals should the Buckeyes not win the Jamboree (or, as some call it, the WCHA tournament).

 

[pgb-ohio]

I'm presuming that the following is a general press release. Cutting & pasting from ohiostatebuckeyes.com:

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The WCHA Women’s League series between St. Cloud State University and The Ohio State University scheduled for Feb. 19-20 in Columbus, Ohio, has been canceled.

St. Cloud State has paused all team activities for seven days due to COVID-19 protocols, which will prevent the series from being played this weekend.


Obviously this news is a major disappointment. But such are the times we live in.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

I'm presuming that the following is a general press release. Cutting & pasting from ohiostatebuckeyes.com:

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The WCHA Women’s League series between St. Cloud State University and The Ohio State University scheduled for Feb. 19-20 in Columbus, Ohio, has been canceled.

St. Cloud State has paused all team activities for seven days due to COVID-19 protocols, which will prevent the series from being played this weekend.


Obviously this news is a major disappointment. But such are the times we live in.

Well that's just friggin great! And we have such a momentum roll going too!

 

[Pens4]

I don't think anyone is surprised by this. Just sorry the Seniors will not have their weekend.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

What if the following weekend St.Cloud is good to go but Bemidji cancels, would they send St.Cloud back to Columbus?

 

[pgb-ohio]

I don't think anyone is surprised by this. Just sorry the Seniors will not have their weekend.

Absolutely. That was literally my first thought.

No class should lose their Senior Day festivities. But it's especially heartbreaking to me that this very deserving group of Seniors should miss out.

 

[pgb-ohio]

What if the following weekend St.Cloud is good to go but Bemidji cancels, would they send St.Cloud back to Columbus?

Appropriate question, but personally I doubt it.

In that scenario, the more likely outcome would be that both the Huskies & Beavers would just call it a year. Both teams have zero chance of qualifying for the "Top 4 Only" WCHA Playoffs. Yes, 6th & 7th Place would still be in doubt. But I doubt they'd book an expensive last minute flight to Columbus -- for a full travel party -- to resolve that.

For better or worse, we're an Olympic Sport, not a Revenue Sport. If a playoff berth or a conference title were at stake, the financial sacrifice might make sense. But neither of those things appear to be in the cards.

Also, we can't forget the elephant in the room -- the pandemic itself.

All that said, of course the long layoff stinks from a Buckeye perspective. As Timothy A reminds us each year, having a bye the weekend before the Final Face-Off is a mixed blessing. Unless something unexpected happens, our team is now looking at TWO bye weekends before the conference tournament. It would be interesting to hear Timothy A's take on that! Paging Timothy A; Paging Timothy A...

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

But I doubt they'd book an expensive last minute flight to Columbus -- for a full travel party -- to resolve that.

I would counter that the funds were already allocated but not used for this weekends cancelled series so in my mind that shouldn't be an issue. But my question was a hypothetical scenario so I won't go into all the nuances and what ifs.

 

[robertearle]

What if the following weekend St.Cloud is good to go but Bemidji cancels, would they send St.Cloud back to Columbus?

Isn't the MUCH more likely scenario that St Cloud is still having COVID problems, leaving Bemidji idled?

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

Isn't the MUCH more likely scenario that St Cloud is still having COVID problems, leaving Bemidji idled?

Yes, but it was only a hypothetical question on if there is a situation that could allow Ohio State to make up the series since we're idle the last weekend of the season.
Since it's hypothetical one could also ask if St.Cloud would also be unavailable for Bemidji as well why not throw Ohio State and Bemidji together?

 

[robertearle]

Since it's hypothetical one could also ask if St.Cloud would also be unavailable for Bemidji as well why not throw Ohio State and Bemidji together?

That's exactly my point.

As it is, there are already three teams scheduled to be idle the final weekend - OSU, Minnesota, and Mankato. If St Cloud- Bemidji were to be cancelled, the only series being played would be Wisconsin-Duluth. That is, if Ohio State is looking for somebody to play, there would be three teams 'available'.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

That's exactly my point.

As it is, there are already three teams scheduled to be idle the final weekend - OSU, Minnesota, and Mankato. If St Cloud- Bemidji were to be cancelled, the only series being played would be Wisconsin-Duluth. That is, if Ohio State is looking for somebody to play, there would be three teams 'available'.

My personal point of view tells me if there is an alternate game available with a willing team Ohio State should jump on it as it would be more beneficial to them to play than go 3 weeks between games when the conference tournament starts in March!

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

Here's a snippet from the team's official page. Guess they're all too afraid to play us!

[The Buckeyes unfortunately won’t have the opportunity to debut their No. 2 ranking at home this weekend as was originally scheduled. Their opponent, St. Cloud State, has paused team activities for seven days. Ohio State did look for an alternative opponent based on bye weeks throughout the conference but didn’t have any takers.

“We tried,” said Muzerall. “We made some calls but couldn’t find someone to play. Hopefully, we come out like caged animals the next time we’re on the ice.”]

 

[pgb-ohio]

I would counter that the funds were already allocated but not used for this weekends cancelled series so in my mind that shouldn't be an issue. But my question was a hypothetical scenario so I won't go into all the nuances and what ifs.

If SCSU has it's own plane & it's available, sure. I was assuming they'd be flying commercial. If commercial, isn't a last minute trip with an inflexible schedule going to be more expensive?

I don't want to dwell on the details either. But to me that's almost self-evident. Then again, with the pandemic, who knows.

 

[pgb-ohio]

My personal point of view tells me if there is an alternate game available with a willing team Ohio State should jump on it as it would be more beneficial to them to play than go 3 weeks between games when the conference tournament starts in March!

From our point of view, of course that's correct. Having a home series over the course of those 3 weeks is much to be preferred. But you have to find a partner school who benefits from tacking two road games on to the end of their regular season.

The value to the opponent is iffier. The other schools are going to act in their own self-interest, as they should. Not an easy sell.

Now suppose an opportunity to play on the road arises. Should we take it? Maybe, but subject to the same cost/benefit analysis.

 

[Timothy A]

So your games for this weekend are cancelled and WI has a bye. I don't understand why they can't play eachother. Maybe both teams wanted to play at home so they could not agree on that? I know UW has got the shaft as to the home (6) and away (10) ratio whereas OSU is 8-8 home vs away, so I could see that being a sticking point. If I were WI, would I agree to play another away series? I think more is better for sure, but it would be a hard sell to the players to say OSU gets 10 home games and UW only gets 6. From a logical NCAA standpoint, worse case for UW is they get swept, would that put them at risk for not making the ncaas knowing they have 2 hard games left with UMD? What if they go 1-3 then, and lose their first wwcha tourney game? Does that knock them out of the ncaa's? I don't know, but if you believe in your team, you don't even consider the consequences of a loss.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

Timothy an additional OSU/Wisconsin series intrigues me. Coach Muzzy said phone calls were made but didn't specify what teams, I wonder if Wisconsin was called and refused?
If this weekend is out I would have to believe the same attempt to find an opponent for the following weekend would be made, would there be any takers then?
Then we're back to my hypothetical situation of if a series gets cancelled by covid then why couldn't the non covid team play Ohio State unless cost and logistics are the impediment?

 

[Offsides Guy]

Timothy an additional OSU/Wisconsin series intrigues me. Coach Muzzy said phone calls were made but didn't specify what teams, I wonder if Wisconsin was called and refused?
If this weekend is out I would have to believe the same attempt to find an opponent for the following weekend would be made, would there be any takers then?
Then we're back to my hypothetical situation of if a series gets cancelled by covid then why couldn't the non covid team play Ohio State unless cost and logistics are the impediment?

I don’t see an upside causing OSU and WI to play each other. For WI it can only put their current ranking at risk and whomever would travel for the game exponentially increases their chance of someone getting COVID.