Ohio State vs St. Cloud State 1/15 - 1/16

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Ohio State vs St. Cloud State 1/15 - 1/16

Over the course of the series, there were four times that the score was tied. Each time, the Huskies were the team that scored to break the tie. You can say that one team is outplaying the other, but often what we see is the team that is behind presses harder to try to tie the game, while the team with the lead knows it can win if no more goals are scored.

Insightful comment as always. But taking another look at the series with this precise point in mind, I'd now argue that there was one significant difference between the two games.

Friday: St. Cloud was ahead by a goal for almost 2.5 periods. The Buckeyes were indeed chasing that lead "all night long." As such, you could dismiss the 25-20 shot advantage as a byproduct of the Buckeye chase, and the Huskies playing with the lead.

Saturday: In contrast, the game was tied for almost two full periods. St. Cloud's GWG came with 14 seconds remaining in the second. At that point, OSU already led in shots 27-14. I'm comfortable claiming that the Buckeyes skaters outplayed their Huskies counterparts for those two periods, but that goalie Katie Fitzgerald was the difference-maker.

In the third period it was back to the chase. 3rd Period shots, 10-3 Buckeyes. That did pad the final shot margin, which was 37-17. I'm fine with saying the final total is misleading. But I'm going to stand my ground on 27-14 being an accurate reflection of how Saturday's game was played.

 

[osualum86]

Re: Ohio State vs St. Cloud State 1/15 - 1/16

Looks like a scoring drought, a prolonged one! On the positive, sounds like you outplayed the opponents during the 2 games. Seems like that has been a recurring theme for the Buckeyes this year. Finish strong, do well in the playoffs, build towards next year. That's all you can really do. Sounds like Bemidji and St-Cloud all over again.

Seven goals in six games since coming back from the holiday break ... I would definitely characterize that as a scoring drought! If the girls are going to have success this weekend in Mankato, they will need to find the back of the net more than once a game.