Just when it looked like the Ohio State men’s hockey team might be ready to control a hockey game from the opening puck drop at the Value City Arena Friday night, the bottom fell out resulting in a 5-2 loss. Starting play with a hard skating, determined mindset against the Bowling Green Falcons, the Buckeyes had several early scoring chances, but couldn’t manage to put the puck behind Falcon’s netminder Nick Eno. The Bucks were able to press the action in the Falcon’s end until they were forced to kill off two penalties before the nine minute mark of the period. From that point on, they appeared to lose whatever fire they had and Bowling Green took control. The change in momentum resulted in a goal by Derek Whitmore at 13:01, which seemed to further damage the fragile psyche of the young Buckeyes. When the Buckeyes gave up yet another late goal with just 41 seconds remaining in the period, the game was all but over for Ohio State and the decent crowd of 5, 002 began to sense that they had seen this show before.

Despite a goal by OSU’s Nick Biondo at 15:19 of the second period, with assists to Tom Fritsche and Jason DeSantis, that brought the Buckeyes within one at 2-1, the Buckeyes’ level of play never inspired confidence that they could get back into this one. And when Jacob Cepis scored on a breakaway at 18:37, hope was all but lost. OSU head coach John Markell vented his frustration with his team’s lackluster effort by calling an unusually early time out near the halfway point of the period, but his words apparently fell on deaf ears as there seemed to be no appreciable increase in the Buckeyes’ level of play after the time out.

Cepis’ second goal of the game for BG just 49 seconds into the third period, pretty much sealed the deal for the Falcons. When Whitmore found the empty net in the final seconds of the game for his second tally of the night, the third period goal at 16:34 by OSU defenseman Corey Toy, assisted by Tommy Goebel and Kyle Reed, was rendered too little, too late. With the loss, the Buckeyes abysmal home record dropped to 1-9 in league play for the season. Following the loss, coach Markell made his displeasure with his team’s effort clear, and the only question was whether or not his stinging comments would elicit a response from his team the following night.

Saturday’s rematch with the Falcons started much the same as the game had the previous evening with the Buckeyes playing fast-paced, spirited hockey from the opening faceoff. This night, however, the Buckeyes were able to put the puck into the net when Nick Biondo scored his second goal in as many nights at 4:33 of the first period, with assists to Todd Rudasill and Tom Fritsche. Even though the Buckeyes dominated play throughout the period, they skated off the ice with only a 1-1 tie as BG managed to score on one of their few really good scoring chances for the period on a goal by James Perkin at 9:37. But unlike the previous night, the goal did not slow the Buckeyes down, much to the delight of the boisterous crowd of 7,450.

Even after OSU goalie Joseph Palmer let a long range shot by Tomas Petruska elude him to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead at 3:19 of the second period, the Buckeyes showed the resilience and perseverance that has been sorely lacking for most of the season. They continued to press the action and their high level of play was rewarded when Tommy Goebel netted the equalizer at the 18:05 mark, with assists to John Albert and Todd Rudasill. For one of the few times this season, the Buckeyes left the ice after back to back solid periods of hockey, and the only remaining question was whether or not they could sustain the energy level for one more period.

The question was answered right from the start of the third period as the Buckeyes continued to skate hard and make plays. When Peter Boyd flipped a backhander into the BG net for the first of his two third period goals at 15:39, off of assists from Jason DeSantis and Sergio Somma, fans were witnessing a rare sight – the OSU hockey team playing three solid periods of hockey in the same game. Boyd’s second goal at 17:49, his seventh goal in this his freshman year, with an assist from Todd Rudasill, his third of the game, added an exclamation point to the evening’s festivities, and showed, in no uncertain terms, what these Buckeye hockey players are capable of when they put their minds to it. Now, with just a handful of games remaining in the season, can they keep it up for multiple games and make a late season push for a home ice birth in the league playoffs? Unfortunately, OSU will play all but one of its remaining games on the road, with the lone home game against NCAA #1 Miami Red Hawks on February 26th. Let’s hope that that game has some real meaning for the Buckeyes and they respond with an effort similar to the one they put forth Saturday night.

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