Men's Hockey
Buckeyes Fall Apart in Loss to Miami
By Jeff Svoboda

The frustration of a season of failed expectations came to a head as Ohio State watched its biggest in-state rival in the position many expected to be occupied by the Buckeyes.

Sophomore forward Ryan Jones had two goals and No. 2 Miami (21-5-4, 18-4-2 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) clinched the CCHA regular season title with a 6-3 victory against the Buckeyes Tuesday in Goggin Ice Arena in Oxford, Ohio.

Before the season, it was Ohio State, not Miami, that was widely expected to capture the CCHA crown, with Miami thought to be a middle of the pack team. Instead, Miami cruised to the regular-season crown while the Buckeyes sit in a tie for seventh place at 10-12-2 in the CCHA and 14-15-4 overall.

The role reversal was plainly evident Tuesday night. After an even first period, Miami scored four answered goals to pull away. The run was helped on by a total Ohio State second-period meltdown that culminated in senior goaltender Dave Caruso, the team’s rock all season long, taking three slashing penalties in a span of 24 seconds.

“He lost it for the first time I’ve ever seen him lose it, and it’s out of frustration built up,” OSU coach John Markell said. “He’s an emotional kid. He bleeds scarlet and gray. He just vented the wrong way.”

With Miami up 4-2, Caruso received his first minor penalty at the 18:25 mark to put the RedHawks on the power play. When play resumed, a Miami player took up residence in the crease, prompting Caruso to give him two slashes in front of referee Mark Wilkins to receive the final two penalties.

After an OSU timeout – during which Markell sent never-used sophomore Phil Lauderdale onto the ice momentarily before calling him back to the bench – Miami’s Mitch Ganzak converted a rebound 11 seconds into the resulting 5-on-3 to put the game out of reach.

Markell said he didn’t agree with the fact that the Miami players were allowed to stand so close to Caruso in the crease, which led to the penalties.

“That’s what was frustrating to him,” Markell said. “Obviously it was enough to make him snap.”

Miami outshot OSU 14-8 in the second and stopped three Buckeye power plays. Freshmen defenseman Kevin Roeder scored his first career goal 1:13 into the period – beating Caruso five-hole from the right circle – and Jones scored his first of the game on a centering pass from Nathan Davis.

As if the second period wasn’t bad enough, it was another miserable start for OSU as well. After giving up two goals to No. 10 Michigan State Thursday in the first 2:22 and a goal to No. 4 Wisconsin 23 seconds into Saturday’s Lambeau Field tilt, the Buckeyes let Miami light the lamp 16 seconds in. John Dingle’s turnover at the blue line ended up as Davis’s 16th goal of the season.

“We went over it, over it, over it and over it, we go over it in tape, but they have to play the game,” Markell said of the miscues that have led to the early goals. “That’s what’s disappointing. It’s only 16 seconds into the game. I can see if you’re tired and you’re fatigued or something, but 16 seconds into the game? It’s crazy.”

This time OSU answered shortly thereafter. Senior Rod Pelley deflected a slap shot from Jason DeSantis past RedHawk goaltender Charlie Effinger to tie the score 1:24 into the game.

Miami quickly got it back when Chris Michael walked out from behind Caruso and beat him between the legs at the 2:40 mark. After that, the game settled down until senior Dan Knapp made it 2-2 by collecting a deflected shot by Kyle Hood and sliding it by Effinger.

Jones added his second on a third-period power play and Kenny Bernard scored short-handed with 3:08 to play for Ohio State.

Knapp said the team’s mental state after its fourth straight loss and second-period blowup is not ideal.

“We’re mentally fragile,” he said. “You hate to think that you are, but right now we are. We have to face reality here and figure it out; otherwise we'll be watching a lot of hockey come springtime.”

On the Miami side, coach Enrico Blasi was relieved to put the final touches on the RedHawks’ first CCHA regular season title since 1992-93, a season that Blasi spent on the ice as a RedHawk center. Miami had a chance to win the regular-season title two years ago but finished one point behind Michigan after losing its final game to OSU.

“Obviously it’s something that we wanted to accomplish,” he said. “Now that it’s over, I think we can focus on other things now and maybe get some sleep at night too.”

Miami finished 2-for-9 on the power play and OSU was 0-for-5, but Knapp’s goal came the moment a penalty on RedHawk forward Nino Musitelli expired. On the game, the Buckeyes took 13 minor penalties and were clearly the more physical and nasty team, twice leaving Miami players needing medical attention with hits after the whistle.

“Sport builds character. It also reveals it, but it revealed the wrong kind of character tonight, and that's not acceptable at Ohio State,” Markell said.

All four of OSU’s consecutive losses have come against teams ranked in the top 10 of each major poll. The Buckeyes will try to end the losing skid with Friday and Saturday games against unranked Ferris State in Value City Arena.

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