This week’s poll question is sponsored by: ClearSaleing

Contact Us if you have an idea for a poll question.

Popularity: 37% [?]

Johann Kroll and Matt McIlvane, former Ohio State men’s hockey players, have both signed amateur tryout contracts with American Hockey League teams. Kroll, a defenseman, signed with the Rochester Americans. McIlvane agreed to terms with the Binghamton Senators.

Kroll, who ended his career with 153 games played, had 27 points as a Buckeye, including 22 assists. He had four assists and five points in 35 games as a senior. He has played in one game for the Americans.

McIlvane saw action in 156 games as a Buckeye. He had five goals, 11 assists and 16 points as a senior in 2007-08 and ended his career with a 15-37-52 line. He has not seen action for the Senators yet this season.

Former Buckeye forward Tommy Goebel, who signed an ATO with the Springfield Falcons last week, is now under an ATO with Rochester. He has played in three games for the Americans, recording a goal and three assists for four points.

Kyle Hood, a forward/defenseman with the Buckeyes, has joined the Arizona Sundogs of the Central Hockey League.

Tom Fritsche is now a member of the AHL’s Lake Erie Monsters and has played in five games with the team, recording a goal. Jason DeSantis, who signed with the Philadelphia Phantoms in the AHL, has played in one game with the team.

Popularity: 42% [?]

Jason DeSantis, Tom Fritsche and Tommy Goebel, men’s hockey seniors, signed professional contracts last week following the conclusion of the Buckeyes’ season.

DeSantis, a defenseman, signed an amateur tryout contract (ATO) with the Philadelphia Phantoms, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers. He also agreed to an AHL contract for the 2008-09 season. DeSantis ended his Buckeye career with 60 points, including 16 goals and 44 assists, in 144 games as a Buckeye. He joins former Buckeye Nate Guenin (2002-05) on the Phantoms roster, while former Buckeye R.J. Umberger is a member of the Flyers.

Fritsche, a forward who was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the second round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, signed an ATO with the Lake Erie Monsters, the AHL affiliate of the Avalanche. Fritsche played in 137 games as a Buckeye and recorded 107 points, including 75 assists, with a 5-14-19 line in 2007-08. He was the 2005 INCH National Freshman of the Year, a 2005 CCHA All-Rookie Team choice and received the 2007 Terry Flanagan Memorial Award, given to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s comeback player of the year.

Goebel, a forward, signed an ATO with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL. Goebel was the team’s leading scorer in 2007-08, posting 21 goals and 36 assists. Goebel, who spent two years at Michigan State before transferring to Ohio State, completed his collegiate career with 54 goals, 61 assists and 115 points in 148 games.

Popularity: 41% [?]

This week’s poll question is sponsored by: ClearSaleing

Contact Us if you have an idea for a poll question.

Popularity: 40% [?]

Way back in mid-October, the OSU men’s hockey team got off to a promising start by posting back-to-back wins at the season opening Lefty McFadden College Hockey Tournament held at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. An opening round win over Mercyhurst, followed by a win over perennial power Wisconsin gave fans, and those associated with the hockey program, reason for optimism heading into the regular season schedule. Unfortunately, that promising start quickly fizzled out, as it was followed by an eleven game winless streak (ten losses and one tie.)
Coming down the stretch, however, the team seemed to find its legs, and more importantly, found the net a bit more often, in posting some good wins, and playing all their opponents tough. That improved play, once again, gave those around the program some basis for optimism heading into a best-of-three postseason matchup at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. The Buckeyes even had a revenge factor working in their favor as it was these same Northern Michigan Wildcats who knocked the Buckeyes out of postseason play at Value City Arena the previous year.
When the Buckeyes grabbed the opening game of the series on Friday night 4-3 behind seniors Tommy Goebel and Jason DeSantis who each had a goal and two assists, momentum certainly seemed to be on their side. The only dark cloud hovering over the Buckeyes after their opening night win was the memory of opening the playoff series last year with a win before falling the next two games to close out their season. Would history repeat itself? Sadly, it did.
The same weakness, which has plagued the Buckeyes throughout the season, an inability to finish scoring chances, led to 4-2 and 6-1 losses and yet another promising start came crashing down around the Buckeyes. Tommy Goebel and seven other seniors including Tom Fritsche, John Dingle, Kyle Hood, DeSantis, Johann Kroll, Phil Lauderdale, and Captain Matt McIlvane closed out their careers in disappointment.
The final numbers for the season, just twelve wins against twenty-five losses and four ties, are not pretty. And coming on the heels of two more losing seasons, 15-19-5 in 2005-2006 and 15-17-5 in 2006-2007 the obvious question is, “Where is the men’s hockey program headed from here?” Given the fact that the Buckeye icers play in the finest on-campus college facility in North America, and the fact that the program has had a high level of success in the not-too-distant past, frustration levels are quite high, and many people are asking “What changes, if any, are in the works to remedy the situation?”
If on-line reports are correct, head coach John Markell and his staff will return for another season after the coach met with AD Gene Smith recently. With one talented recruiting class now poised to become sophomores, and the second ranked recruiting class in the nation, with seven recruits coming on board next season, the athletic administration seems content to see if all this infusion of talent can change things around. How long Smith will remain content, remains to be seen, so we can only hope that the coming season is a sharp turn upward for the program, and happier times for all of us who want to see the program excel year in and year out.

Popularity: 42% [?]

I don’t know if you watched the Ohio State v Purdue game last night but I was so happy to see Jamar Butler carry the Buckeyes to a “must win” victory over the Boilermakers. With only 2 points in the first half, Butler came on to score 23 in the second and made some huge buckets in OT to help the Bucks stay in the Tournament race.

This team has had some serious ups and downs due to their youth. I love the way they play defense, but turnovers and strength inside are really hurting them. I wouldn’t say Koufos is overrated but he should be much more dominant especially against a Purdue team that is a little undersized. He had 15 points but mostly layups and dunks. Coach Matta stayed with Terwilliger for much of the second half even with 4 fouls, Matt exerted himself on defense and on the boards not to mention hitting a key jumper down the stretch.

The Bucks looked to Butler and frosh Turner for much of the scoring in the second half and overtime. Even as much as Turner makes some mistakes, he plays hard and was very good in one-on-one opportunities. Butler was just stroking it in the second half. Using screens he gave himself open looks and buried them when he had the chance. The biggest shots may have been his two free throws in OT that sealed the win. Nothing but net.

The guys are playing hard but again due to their youth, they are not capitalizing when they have the chance and make mistakes when they can’t afford them. I like they way they extend the D with their reach but need to hit the D boards harder. Their offense may rely too much on threes especially Lighty, who always gives great effort, but his stroke leaves something to be desired. Othello Hunter has really come on and once he gets the ball on the block, he goes to the hole strong.

They have their work cut out for them against MSU. The Spartans are a VERY physical and athletic team and are still vying for the Big 10 Championship. The Bucks need to play an almost flawless game and catch a couple breaks along the way. I honestly hope that the Bucks make the Tourney as an at large bid. It always makes March Madness that much more fun. But if they do, I don’t expect them to go too far.

If everyone stays, and they should, the Bucks could really be a contender with the recruits they have coming in. Put Mullins in the post and Koufos out facing the basket, pick up another pure shooter with Diebler, add a much improving Lauderdale with Hunter, and get a point guard to replace Butler, and this could be a very good team in 09.

GO BUCKS!

Popularity: 43% [?]

After a successful weekend foray into the land of the Golden Domers, February 22 and 23, in which the Buckeye icers played well in winning 3-1 on Friday and tying Notre Dame 2-2 on Saturday, the team returned home to play their in-state rivals, Miami University, Tuesday February 26th. The final home game at Value City Arena pitted the improving Buckeyes against the Redhawks who were ranked 5th nationally going into the contest. The crowd of 3,871 appeared to be equally split between Buckeye and Redhawk fans, and each side had plenty to cheer about, but in the end, Miami prevailed 2-1.

Just 59 seconds into the game, after OSU goalie Joseph Palmer stopped one point-blank shot from the Redhawks, and another shot hit the goalpost, Buckeye freshman John Albert took a pass from fellow freshman Peter Boyd down the right side, skated around a Miami defender, and beat Miami goalie Jeff Zatkoff top shelf for his fourth goal of the season.

The lead held up until 15:53 when Miami’s Justin Vaive’s wraparound attempt was stopped by Palmer, but the rebound found the net off the stick of Alexandre Lacombe.

There were no goals in the second period, which was an evenly-played stanza, and the two teams skated to their respective dressing rooms anticipating who would be the first to blink in the tightly-played contest.

Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, Miami’s Jarod Palmer capitalized on an OSU turnover behind the Buckeye net at 5:25 of the third period, and the Redhawks, behind the stellar goaltending of Zatkoff, shut down the OSU skaters for the remainder of the game. The 2-1 victory was Maimi’s fourth straight over the Buckeyes this season, and when the Redhawks prevailed on Saturday night in Oxford, Miami ended the regular season with a 5 game sweep of OSU. Despite beating the Buckeyes home and home, the Redhawks finished the regular season in second place behind the Michigan Wolverines.

Even though the Buckeyes finished the regular season a disappointing 7-18-3 in CCHA Conference play, good for 11th place in the conference standings, they head into the first-round of the playoffs playing their best hockey of the season. Whether this team can make some noise in the post season, and put together a playoff run, will go a long way toward determining if they can send off the senior class with something to remember of their final year at OSU. It could also go a long way toward giving the young Buckeyes some reason for optimism heading into next year.

Popularity: 44% [?]