Men's Hockey
Buckeyes lose game, Maiani
By Jeff Svoboda

As far as omens go, this was a pretty bad one.

In Ohio State’s morning skate, sophomore forward Domenic Maiani lost his balance, slid into the boards and suffered an ankle injury that will likely knock him out for the season. For a team struggling to score goals, the news that its second-leading scorer wiped out and thus wiped himself out for the season could not have been much worse.

“It was a good way to start off the morning,” OSU coach John Markell said sarcastically.

The rest of the day also didn’t go Markell’s way either. The Buckeyes (13-11-4, 9-9-2 CCHA) were shut out for the fourth time in eight games as Notre Dame (9-14-3, 7-10-3) skated off with a 1-0 victory.

The game was nearly a mirror image of Friday night’s game that OSU captured 1-0. Mathieu Beaudoin scored in the second period Friday; Notre Dame’s Mike Walsh scored in the same frame Saturday. Buckeye senior Dave Caruso tied the school record for shutouts Friday; it was junior David Brown’s turn Saturday with his sixth career blanking.

“I got pretty good looks at most of the shots,” Brown said. “Defense played real well clearing the guys in front of me and communicating, which is key for us, which we’ve been working on.”

Much like Caruso the night before, Brown had to make some nifty saves in the shutout, which tied him with Morgan Cey in the Fighting Irish record books. He stopped breakaways by both Tom Fritsche and Beaudoin, who are tied for the Buckeye lead in goals with eight.

Fritsche cut in alone in the second period, faked left and tried to go right, but could not keep the puck on his stick and had it slide into Brown’s sprawled body. Skating away from the play, the sophomore slammed his stick on the ice in dismay.

“I thought I had it, I just mishandled the puck,” Fritsche said. “He made a good save though. That’s my move. I do that (all the time) in practice. Our goalies stop it because they know it’s coming, but he made a good save. I was just frustrated.”

Beaudoin gave Brown a try in the third period, fighting through obstruction from the Notre Dame defenseman the entire way, but his backhanded attempt was pushed aside.

“Those are the guys you want there,” Markell said. “(Fritsche) and (Beaudoin) are our go-to guys, and they found a hole in their defense and it didn't go in. Went in for us last night – didn’t go in tonight.”

On the whole, however, Brown didn’t have much trouble with most of OSU’s 24 shots. Notre Dame controlled the first two periods, garnering an 18-11 shot advantage spurred on by strong offensive-zone puck possession that bled time off the clock and kept the Buckeyes on the defensive. It was similar to the Irish’s play Friday, but with one major difference.

“I thought our game last night was very good and it was just a matter of trying to find a way to beat Caruso,” Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson said.

That way came with the Fighting Irish on a second-period power play. Erik Condra centered to Irish leading goal-scorer Josh Sciba in the slot and Caruso stopped his original shot with the left pad. Sitting on the left post, Walsh collected the rebound and slid it into the open net.

Caruso made 22 saves and was rock-solid again, but it was the one he couldn’t stop that was the difference.

“Dave Caruso is playing very, very well,” Markell said. “I think he’s the best goalie in the nation right now. He’s giving us tremendous effort – so are other guys – but he’s holding us in there.”

Still, Caruso fell to 11-10-4 despite entering with a 1.64 goals-against average, which is fourth in the nation. That average will go down but the winning percentage will too. Caruso has allowed 13 goals in his last 11 starts yet is 4-5-2 in those games.

OSU finished 0-for-4 on the power play, while Notre Dame was 1 of 2.

Notes:

--A season-high of 11,141 watched the Buckeyes get shut out for the fifth time this season. In each game of the series, only one goal was scored.

“I don’t know how exciting it was for the fans,” Jackson said. “This isn’t the new NHL for sure.”

--All five Buckeyes not dressed – Maiani, forward Corey Elkins, defensemen Zach Pelletier and Tyson Strachan, and goaltender Ian Keserich – were out because of injuries.

“I don’t have any spare bodies right now,” Markell said. “I have guys who are injured playing because they want to play and because they are capable of playing.”

Box Score

Return to O-Zone Column and and Features

Return to O-Zone Front Page