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.

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