Buckeyes are Deadly Nuts

The Breakdown: Western Michigan

2012-02-13T07:01:00.001-05:00

L 2-3 (OT), W 4-3

Saturday recaps: OSU, David Drew, Andrew Holleran

(The Dispatch mentioned both games, but the recaps were about as informative as the boxscore and they spelled Cory Schneider's name wrong.)

Highlights for Friday and Saturday

Pre-recap note: I'm sorry that almost no one has hair. And that all the Broncos are stick people. And that someone might be holding their stick in the wrong hand. Also, shut up art majors.

A deal's a deal...

2012-02-12T01:39:00.001-05:00

Monday’s recap will be brought to you by the letter “W” andillustrated in epic fashion. Right now, though, I have to pay up to the hockeygods. After Friday’s game I was desperate enough to make almost any kind ofsacrifice in return for a Buckeye win, so I promised the biggest promise Icould think of.

Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant

2012-02-10T05:35:00.000-05:00

Good morning Buckeye (Hockey) Nation! I ought to be at the store right now getting bread, milk, and eggs likeeveryone else does whenever meteorologists utter the word “advisory”, but Ihave decided to risk the terrifying prospect of not being able to make Frenchtoast tomorrow in order to lift your sagging spirits and restoreyour faith in the possibilty of a good finish to the season. Read on for a few reasons to stay positive about these last four games.

The Lowdown: Western Michigan and #2 Minnesota

2012-02-09T05:17:00.002-05:00

My computer is healed! I have a keyboard again and no longerhave to manually enter html!!! First world problems, I know. And clearly I havethe mental fortitude of a two year old in dire need of a nap if typing “pointything b r slash opposite pointy thing” twenty times a post nearly brought me totears. Honestly though, it’s amazing how much better this goes when I can domost of my writing at night with an aural IV of something inappropriate andeardrum shattering.

On to the previews! The guys visit the Lawson Lunatics thisweekend while the ladies host Minnesotafor their final home games of the season. If you don’t have anything to do onFriday night, you might want to check out the opening game of that series. Twowords: karaoke night. (Plus, you know, one of your last chances to see two of the bestscorers in Buckeye hockey history.)

The Linkage: Don't diss Sean Collins' arena

2012-02-08T19:45:00.000-05:00

I did my best to remember all the links Blogger erased, but if you know of something I missed shoot me an e-mail or leave a link in the comments. Read on for the best and worst theme songs for Ryan Kesler, Tyson Strachan's first NHL points of the season, and a tour of Cal Heeter's mask. Also Laura McIntosh is number one, Peter Boyd returns in style, and I say something nice about Keith Sergott.

Technical difficulties, please stand by

2012-02-08T16:08:00.001-05:00

I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea that my internet silence today has anything to do with the MSU series (though that conclusion might reasonably be drawn from my last emo-blogger-needs-a-Prozac post). I had three posts saved as drafts, including today's Linkage, and for some reason no matter which one I go to edit now they all have the same text. I'm trying to fix it. If nothing works I'll just go ahead and post the "Why the Rest of This Season Can Still Be Awesome" one three times

Vampires, vacuums, leeches, this post...

2012-02-07T04:02:00.001-05:00

I'm so sorry. I've rewritten this recap over and over so many times this weekend and every version of it has sucked. It seems really hypocritical to talk about the shortcomings of the team when I can't even manage to write a stupid blog post. Not posting anything seems just as bad, if not worse, though. These are the least awful parts of the rewrites. I don't know if they make sense copy/pasted together, all I know is I've got to post something so I can switch gears and think about Western Michigan. I don't blame you if you don't read it, even my mom thinks it sucks.

Buckeye Men: L 3-6, L 2-3

You're on your own for recaps by actual sportswriters. All of them have pissed me off this week and in lieu of sporking their kidneys I choose not to link their recaps. Stop blaming the goalies. They're getting zero help. The USCHO recap for Friday actually says something like, "Heeter replaced Hjelle but was unable to right the ship." Wtf is he supposed to do exactly? You want he should score the goals too? Lobbing pucks at Yanakeff from his crease would have been just about as effective as most of the Buckeyes' other shots. But hey, let's keep throwing the goalies under the bus while excusing the poor play of everyone else on account of their age.

It seemed that anywhere there was a battle fought in this series, the Spartans won it. Going to the net, blocking shots, chasing down dump-ins, digging in along the wall, it isn't fun stuff, but it's... it's like the bass line in a great rock song. If you're not paying attention it's really easy to overlook, but it only takes about thirty seconds of somebody hacking it to pieces on Rock Band to realize how essential it is to the overall composition of the song...er, game. (That made total sense in my head, although now that I've typed it out it kinda sounds like I've been drinking. I don't know whether the fact that I'm perfectly sober makes it better or worse.) To be fair, the guys took a blow with the report coming out after Friday's game that Danny Dries has been suspended indefinitely by the coaching staff and might not be returning this season. It's a pretty big loss and that, plus the drain of this stupid winless streak, probably didn't help anyone's mental game this week.

Does anyone have any objections to just forgetting this series and moving on? I'd just as soon do that because I think all the pieces are still there for OSU to finish strong, even without Dries. Over the course of the season just about every Buckeye has played a great stretch of three to five games. (Off the top of my head and without looking anything up I'd say for example: early season Matt Johnson, Ryan Dzingel and Alex Lippincott in November, Nick Oddo around the holiday break, Chris Crane anytime before now, etc.) If everyone can play these last few games the way they played their best games of the season, then I've no doubt the Buckeyes will finish out the season well and be a team that no one wants to see in the postseason. It'll take a lot of work, a lot of ugly, unsexy, really hard work. But I believe they can do it.

Next up: A trip to Western Michigan, which might be a great thing. The Buckeyes' biggest wins this season have come on the road.

Random Notes

I had the very great pleasure of attending Friday's game with Chris. She had tons of cool stories to share about the way Buckeye hockey was back when she was a student. It's hard to picture college hockey without visors!

You know what would be awesome? If the Buckeyes could not do that thing where they carry the puck across their own crease and into heavy traffic because that shit's gonna give me a heart attack. It happened in both games of this series.

I don't know who lit the fuse on Max McCormick, but wow! He's got five goals and three assists in his last five games.

Tanner Fritz brought the bears down on Saturday, scoring from his knees. That was pretty freaking sweet.

There was absolutely no flow to Saturday's game at all. 117% of it was played by the special teams. (Statistics may be guesstimated)

Some of the best action of the weekend was provided by the intermission shootout between the Jr. Blue Jackets and a team whose name I didn't catch. Great saves by both goalies and a couple sweet goals (not to mention celebrations) by #2 for the Jackets.

Coach Osiecki went with eleven forwards and seven defensemen in Saturday's lineup, so while Ryan Dzingel was serving his ten minutes for a misconduct the Buckeyes were trying to stage a comeback with Nick Oddo and Alex Carlson as the team's only two regular centers. That's not a recipe for success.

Favorite arena fans by a mile this series were the ones on Saturday night in the tinfoil Viking hats. Nobody else even comes close.

I had a half hour to kill after Saturday's game so I thought I'd stick around and watch everybody skate, but apparently watching wasn't allowed so I waited out my time on the concourse, envying Chris Chelios' ability to look so good when he's 104 years old. Seriously not fair. (Chelios not looking decrepit I mean, not having to vacate the stands, although that seems a little silly too.)

Other CCHA Results

Alaska vs. Western Michigan: 1-2, 4-1
Bowling Green vs. Notre Dame: 1-2, 3-2
Ferris State vs. Northern Michigan: 5-5 (NMU wins shootout 1-0), 3-1
Miami vs. Michigan: 1-4, 0-3

Non-conference result:

USNTDP vs. Lake Superior: 3-4

Be-effing-fuddled

2012-02-04T05:51:00.000-05:00

Hi. This is not a recap. That's for Monday. This is one of those ranty posts I used to write much more frequently back when there were, like, three of my friends reading this blog and I didn't give a rat's ass who else might see it. If you choose to read on be warned that I'm not really sure where this is gonna go.

I don't know whether anyone will believe me, but I would like to say this has very little to do with the outcome of Friday's game. Maybe you'll believe me, maybe you won't but that's not really my problem. My issue is this: I don't think Brady Hjelle should've started that game. Cal Heeter has been "The Guy" for the Buckeyes since last season. He's more than earned the position and I've seen/heard no combination of Heeter playing so poorly and/or Hjelle playing so well that would add up to a transfer of the "The Guy" title. Ohio State entered this series with six games left on the schedule. Six precious opportunities to claim points in the wildly tight CCHA standings. In this scenario, where every point is huge, wouldn't you expect to look down the ice at the opening faceoff and see "The Guy" in net?

Starting Hjelle now makes no sense. It's not like Heeter bombed last weekend and needed to sit this one out. (I believe the Lakers' radio broadcasters when they say he played well last Saturday and, to reiterate a bit of the last recap, a goalie who fights through a tough outing and only coughs up one goal is a goalie I'd take any day of the week and twice on Sunday.) It makes no sense to rest him either, not with so few games left and the standings looking the way they do. Also, as Coach Osiecki is so fond of reminding everyone, the Buckeyes are a young team. They don't have a lot of veteran leadership and they were already missing one of their few seniors on Friday with Danny Dries ~~apparently still sidelined by an injury~~ suspended. So why voluntarily take away another veteran player, especially one that has been pretty damn consistent all things (including an occasionally atrocious lack of defensive support) considered?

To recap, we have a relatively inexperienced team missing one of its key players and already struggling to pick up points in an unbelievably close conference race, with very limited chances remaining to gain further points. Tell me how it makes the first bit of sense to start the backup goalie in this situation. Please, tell me, because I do not get it. (Honestly, it seems to kinda suck for Hjelle too. He's got almost no margin for error and only about five games under his belt this season.)

(Ordinarily I don't mind letting you guys give me grief for being such a fan of Heeter's and a couple of you seem to take great pleasure in harassing me, but this might not be a good post to razz me about. Not for a few days anyway.)

The Lowdown: Michigan State and #9 Minnesota-Duluth

2012-02-02T05:34:00.003-05:00

#10 Buckeye Men

Game Times and Info

Friday at 7:00 p.m. - The Ohio State dance team is scheduled to perform.
Saturday at 7:00 p.m. - It's Kids Club Night, Student Appreciation Night, the Alumni Association game, and there's a postgame skate provided you bring your own skates (there's no rental at the Schott). It's also the second annual Teddy Toss. If you're not familiar with the whole tossing process, you might find this post from last year helpful. (To answer the most commonly asked question, if- hockey gods forbid- the Buckeyes fail to score then everyone throws their bear when the game ends.)

The official preview has links for audio, video, and live stats for both games. And don't forget this is Unofficial Wear Your Lucky Shirt/Hat/Socks/Whatever to the Arena Weekend.

Michigan State hasn't been nearly as good lately as they were earlier in the year, but they're not undangerous. Which kinda describes the Buckeyes lately too. It's one of the reasons this has the feel of a really close series. Another is that the Spartans have played an awful lot of close games this season. Almost half their games have been one goal affairs. They're just 4-8-0 in those games, but it says something that they've been competitive so often.

Lee Reimer (8-18--26), Greg Wolfe (9-12--21), and Brett Perlini (7-14--21) lead the Spartans in overall scoring. Torey Krug (6-10--16) leads them in conference scoring. Drew Palmisano and Will Yanakeff have shared the net. Yanakeff has slightly better stats (2.35 GAA and .925 sv% to Palmisano's 2.77/.914) and a few more starts in the second half of the season.

MSU's record might have looked a tad bit different if the team hadn't been struck by the injury ~~bug~~ plague this year. (They've lost three players to season ending injuries and their top goal scorer, Mike Merrifield [11 goals], has only played in about three-quarters of their games.) The lastest Spartan casualty looks to be Kevin Walrod, who didn't play last Saturday and is questionable for this weekend with a "nagging leg injury."

Random Facts

It is impossible to hear Daultan Leveille's name without thinking of "Road House."

You should go vote for Sean Duddy in the Lowe's Senior CLASS poll thingy right now.

Someone at the CCHA cannot count. This is more like seven questions with Cory Schneider

Paula Weston has posted some of the the most positive-sounding paragraphs written about the Buckeyes in 2012. (Who'd have guessed that? Not me anyway.)

Someone somewhere this weekend is going to scream "This is/is not Sparta!"

CCHA Standings and Weekend Schedule

Ferris State - 37 points, Miami - 36, Ohio State - 36, Western Michigan - 36, Lake Superior - 35, Notre Dame 33, Michigan - 32, Michigan State - 29, Northern Michigan - 28, Alaska - 24, Bowling Green - 16

Bowling Green vs. Notre Dame
Ferris State vs. Northern Michigan
Miami vs. Michigan (Saturday's game airs live on CBS College Sports at 7:30 p.m.)
Alaska vs. Western Michigan

Non-conference game:

US Under-18 Team vs. Lake Superior (FRI)

Buckeye Women

Game Times and Info

Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time

There are links for video and audio in UMD's series preview.

With six games remaining in the season, the Buckeyes find themselves in the midst of a tight race for third through probably sixth place in the conference. The ladies are currently tied with Duluth in fourth place, four points behind third place North Dakota and nine points ahead of sixth place Bemidji. Ohio State has one of (if not the) toughest road out, playing their final four games against Minnesota and Wisconsin which makes this weekend's series at Duluth even more important.

The Bulldogs visited Columbus last November where the two teams split the series. OSU took the first game behind a four goal effort by Natalie Spooner. UMD won the second game 6-2, with Pernilla Winberg turning in the game's best stats (2g, 1a).

The Bulldogs are come into this series having swept St. Cloud last weekend by scores of 5-0 and 2-1. Audrey Cournoyer (3g,1a) and Haley Irwin (1g, 3a) each had four point games on Friday. Senior goalie Lana Steck got her first start of the season on Saturday and turned aside 21 of the 22 shots she faced to earn the win.

Irwin (10-28--38) and Cournoyer (17-20--37) average well over a point per game and together with Jenna McParland (16g) make up a formidable top line for Duluth. Jennifer Hares has carried most of the load in net, going 13-11-1 with a goals against average of 2.38 and a save percentage of .916.

WCHA Standings and Weekend Schedule

Wisconsin - 57 points, Minnesota - 51, North Dakota - 39, Minnesota-Duluth - 35, Ohio State - 35, Bemidji State - 26, St. Cloud - 12, Minnesota State - 9

Minnesota vs. St. Cloud
Bemidji State vs. North Dakota
Minnesota State vs. Wisconsin

The Linkage: No time for fancy titles, it's a heat wave!

2012-01-31T12:46:00.002-05:00

Read the linkage, don't read the linkage, whatever. It's a gorgeous day and I'm going outside.

Current Buckeyes

Cal Heeter is on Dave Starman's list of what he considers to be the ten best goalies in college hockey. Dave Starman is on my list of what I consider to be non-sporkable people.

Other Ohio Hockey News

The NHL All-Star Game is coming to Columbus in 2013! I'm sure you've already heard about this and about the Hilton and all the millions of dollars in revenue for the Arena District, but it's exciting enough to be worth mentioning forty eleven more times. Melissa Hoppert's take on the story includes several quotes from RJ Umberger and keeps me from having to link to The Dispatch, which is doubly awesome.

The Breakdown: Lake Superior and #5 North Dakota

2012-01-30T12:46:00.001-05:00

A big win for the ladies and you can't spell "sucks hairy ogre omelets, then old ugly trolls" without "shootout." (Yes, I know that doesn't make any sense.)

Buckeye Men: L 0-1, SOL 4-4 (0-2)

Friday recaps: OSU, LSSU

Saturday recaps: OSU, LSSU, Andrew Holleran, Rob Roos, Brad Coccimiglio

I wasn't able to find anything from Friday, but here are Saturday's highlights:

I will only admit to being kind of crazy. Both games were close. My radio connection was a wee bit perverse this weekend and I missed about ten minutes of each game. Pretty freaking important minutes, unfortunately, the opening of Friday's game (the only goal) and the middle of Saturday's (half the goals) The other hundred and five minutes sounded like fairly high tempo, back and forth hockey. The Lakers' radio guys said the Buckeyes played hard in both games. Coach Osiecki said pretty much the same thing in the Roos article:

The Lowdown: Lake Superior and #6 North Dakota

2012-01-26T05:18:00.001-05:00

I don't know what Kindle's problem is that it won't let me edit the bottom of the page, but Minnesota plays Minny State, Duluth plays St. Cloud, and Bemidji's at Wisconsin.

#7 Buckeye Men

Game Times and Info

Friday and Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

There isn't any OSU media for this series (that I know of), but Lake Superior has links to live stats and a pay-per video stream, and there should be free audio available via 99.5 Yes FM.

Well, crap. I had this preview all typed out and sounding pretty good and then the stupid internet ate it. I'm gonna try to wing this. I don't want to have to dig my notes out of the trash can.

The Linkage: Up, up, and a fine

2012-01-24T16:06:00.000-05:00

There's not a whole lot of linkage this week, but what linkage there is has a lot to do with up's. Being back in the line-up, getting called up, lighting up the score sheet, moving up the scouting lists, an up-dated list of Knucklebucks t-shirt banners...

The Breakdown: Minnesota State

2012-01-24T14:09:00.004-05:00

Recapping the ladies' games just doesn't work when I can't listen to some form of radio broadcast. I don't want to quit talking about them, though. I’ll figure something out, but just for the record I hate that for now these recaps kinda suck.

Buckeye Women: W 3-1, W 4-2

Check out the recaps from OSU here, and the highlights from Friday’s game here.

The Breakdown: #14 Ferris State

2012-01-23T15:10:00.005-05:00

The ladies earned a big sweep of Minnesota State this weekend, which I will get to soon. For now, here are all the links I can find for the guys' series against Ferris State.

Buckeye Men: L 3-4, SOL 3-3 (0-2)

Friday recaps: OSU, Craig Merz, Jeff Svoboda, J. Justin Boggs

Saturday recaps: OSU, Craig Merz, Jeff Svoboda, J. Justin Boggs

Series recap: Andrew Holleran

Highlights: Friday and Saturday

On Friday Brady Hjelle got the start and pretty much no help from his teammates. Cal Heeter took over with the Buckeyes in a four goal hole and immediately faced a breakaway. It's always hard to gauge without actually seeing the game, but the beginning of this one sounded so apathetic that even after the almost-comeback I wasn't really looking forward to writing this post. What a difference a game makes.

Why are the burgers wearing pickle hats?

2012-01-20T09:54:00.001-05:00

(First stab at blogging on the Kindle, so bear with me if the format is wonky.)

Remember how I said that some things are too awesome to wait for the Linkage post? This is one of those things. Zac Dalpe and Riley Nash answer Checkers fans' questions, break stuff, and rock out to Katy Perry and Celine Dion. (But completely fail to explain why there are pickles on top of the burgers. Wtf, Carolinians? Pickles aren't accessories.)

The Lowdown: #14 Ferris State and Minnesota State

2012-01-19T12:41:00.000-05:00

#5 Buckeye Men

Game Times and Info

Friday at 7:00 p.m. - The official preview says something about gift cards and "Take Me Away to Paradise" which sounds cool. (Coupons for Calgon at the very least!)

Saturday at 7:00 p.m. - It's Military Appreciation Night. OSU will be collecting donations for Operation Buckeye so be sure to check out the list of needed items, and the Buckeyes will be auctioning off their jerseys on the concourse with the proceeds going to Defending the Blue Line. Also, the CCHA's "Hockey in the D" tour will be at the game, at least that's what it says on the CCHA's Facebook page.

The official preview has more info on all the promotions, as well as links for subscription video, free audio, and live stats for both games. 1460 AM will only be broadcasting Friday night's game this week.

Bemidji Breakdown (and your weekly linkage)

2012-01-17T12:44:00.002-05:00

I was a little hasty in declaring my computer problems resolved. They are on their way to being resolved, though. Progress! It won’t be much longer before I can stop carting my notes to the library. This wouldn’t be so bad if I had them contained in a notebook or something, but there are always some loose notes on Post-Its or receipts and I look like some kind of demented fortune teller laying them all out and trying to figure out what they say. (i.e. This one on the back of an envelope that seems to read “move determined whoring infant.” I have no idea what that's supposed to be.)

Anyway, here's the ladies recap (such as it is) and the weekly linkage which includes some more Frozen Diamond photos, good weekends for Dustin Carlson and Matt Bartkowski, and JB Bittner and Sean Collins talking concussions.

The Breakdown: #15 Weasels

2012-01-16T14:36:00.000-05:00

If everything goes well, I should have my computer issue fixed today. So, here are all the recaps and highlights and such from the guys' weekend. Hopefully I'll get to the ladies tonight and from here on out this blog will get back to it's regular schedule.

Buckeye Men: L 0-4, L 1-4

Friday recaps: OSU, Andrew Holleran, Craig Merz, Jeff Svoboda, J. Justin Boggs, Mark Znidar, and from Michigan writers AnnArbor.com

Sunday recaps: OSU, Andrew Holleran, Craig Merz, Jeff Svoboda, J. Justin Boggs, Adam Jardy, from non-partisan media Associated Press, Corey Masisak, and from Michigan writers Jason Paul, David Goricki

CCHA Productions has highlights on YouTube for Friday (these may be a little better quality) and Sunday. Rachel Lewis' photos are here.

I have this haiku that perfectly expresses the combined awfulness of seeing the Buckeyes swept for the first time this season and that sweep coming at the hands of the Wolverines. Unfortunately, I'm trying to swear less around here so I can't share it. Besides, I did not come all the way down to the library and wrest a computer away from a Facebook-using teenager so I could write some kind of emo "omg the season is in the toilet" ridiculousness. (The general media seem to have that covered, anyway.)

The Lowdown: #15 Weasels and #9 Beavers

2012-01-12T15:32:00.001-05:00

(Hooray for Tommy Goebel, Eurohockey.com's player of the month for December! Check out the interview here.)

#2 Buckeye Men

Game Times and Info

Friday at the Schott at 7:30 p.m. - Airing live on the Big Ten Network. The game notes on OSU's website said something about giving away cowbells so be sure to get there early if you want one. (If you're a student, you'll definitely want to drop by the Knucklebucks' pregame tailgate.)

Sunday at Progressive Field at 5:00 p.m. - Airing live on FS Ohio and FS Cincinnati, preceded by CCHA Live (whatever that is) at 4:30 p.m. There are all kinds of activities in Cleveland on Saturday and Sunday related to the Frozen Diamond Faceoff (watch the practices, meet the players, a pep rally, etc.) so be sure to check out the official preview for that info, as well as the live stats and online media options for the series. The Weather Channel is predicting mid 20's with a chance of snow for Cleveland this weekend.

Other previews and links: Andrew Holleran, Jeff Svoboda, Coach Osiecki interview with Cleveland's Baskin & Phelps

Disclaimer: I'm trying, but this preview keeps coming out all "Ha ha, November sweep! Suck it, weasels!"

The Linkage: Shane Sims beats Florida (and beats Florida up)

2012-01-11T16:14:00.001-05:00

This week's linkage has all the drama of a daytime soap. Rejection! Fury! Last second heroics! Vicious sporking! Plus Shane Sims dents Pat Nagle (twice!) and several future Buckeyes are in the scouting news.

Current Buckeyes

Click here to vote for Cal Heeter in the preliminary Hobey Baker Award voting (college hockey's Heisman Trophy). The results of the voting, along with the coaches' ballots, are used to determine the ten finalists. Heeter for Hobey! We need campaign buttons or stickers or something...

Tom Stivali posted his latest top-twenty Devils prospects list. Curtis Gedig is movin' on up to the East si- um, I mean up the rankings.

Speaking of moving up, Danny Dries is now blogging for the New York Times. Here's the latest edition. Knowing how badly he always cracks on his teammates, I'm sure they've given him plenty of crap this week for skating out to Sean Duddy's name last Saturday in Bowling Green.

Natalie Spooner was named WCHA offensive player of the week.

The Breakdown: St. Cloud

2012-01-11T13:17:00.001-05:00

Excuse me for just a second while I adjust my blogger hat of shame, which is tall and pointy and has a big flashing "L" on the front that stands for "Loser who can't add and completely missed the fact that Natalie Spooner did not merely tie Jeni Creary over the weekend, but passed her and now reigns supreme among Buckeye women's goal scorers." That's better. Now, about that recap...

The Breakdown: Bowling Green

2012-01-09T17:18:00.000-05:00

Apologies to the ladies, but I'm out of time for today so I'll have to save their recap for another day. Mucho congratulations, though, to Natalie Spooner for becoming the program's co-leader in all-time goals!

#2 Buckeye Men: 2-2 (SOL 1-2), 1-1 (SOL 1-2)

Recaps: OSU, BGSU, Matt Nye, Andrew Holleran

Sunday Photos: Rachel Lewis, Enoch Wu

The closest thing I can find to highlights is this video from about 2:15 on. Pretty sure this is Saturday. (I can't hear it here at the library so I can't guarantee the audio isn't offensive, although it doesn't look like there's any reason to think it would be):

May I have your attention please

2012-01-05T11:13:00.000-05:00

The CCHA has recognized that Nick Oddo wins at life and has therefore named him rookie of the month. Wooooooo!!!!! Cal Heeter and Danny Dries were honorably mentioned for goalie of the month and player of the month.

The Lowdown: Bowling Green and St. Cloud

2012-01-04T12:20:00.000-05:00

The guys practiced on the Frozen Diamond and their Facebook page has pictures! (I know it's their field and all, but the coaching staff isn't earning any brownie points from us Reds fans with those hats ;)

Both the men's and women's teams return to conference play this week with road series against struggling opponents.

#2 Buckeye Men

Game times and info

Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 5:00 p.m. at Bowling Green

BGSU is asking it's fans to "orange out the Buckeyes" on Saturday. I imagine the Knucklebucks' road trip will spoil that just a bit. (Safe travels, everyone!) Herb is back on the air this weekend and OSU has links for the online radio, live stats and subscription video. If you have trouble with their media player, try listening here. (Then bless Dan for sharing the link.)

The Linkage, some readjustment, and a resolution

2012-01-03T13:08:00.000-05:00

[Update: Hey, look! Nick Oddo is the CCHA rookie of the week!]

A few things are still on hold but I finished part of my blog makeover/update. As you can see over there in the sidebar, I have a Facebook page now. That way y'all can follow me more easily and I can continue to be mildly freaked out by the number of people reading this blog. You should also be able to leave a comment without having to sign your life away and the mobile layout doohickey is now turned on. (But I have no way to check if it worked so I'd appreciate if someone that asked me about it would shoot me an e-mail and let me know.)

I'm expecting to have to finish out the season from the library, so bear with me a little bit while I readjust the schedule. Advent is deader than heck. (For those who were curious the countdown was to John Albert's birthday on January 19th, a convenient twenty-five days after Christmas.) The Lowdowns will be on Wednesday or Thursday afternoons, Breakdowns on Monday afternoons, and Linkage somewhere in between. With the first half of the Michigan series being on BTN and a MacGyvered budget, I'll see at least half of the remaining of the homestands. I don't know how the other games are gonna go with my mariachi radio, but I'll figure something out. I am not missing out on the rest of this season because of some stupid technological ebola!

One day it's going to say "mental breakdown" here

2012-01-03T12:02:00.003-05:00

New year, same crap. I'm blogging from the library again. It's a long story that you don't want to hear and I don't want to tell so let's just talk about hockey.

After beating Robert Morris 4-2 on Friday (recap and links here) the men have moved up to #2 in the national polls and are still solidly on top of the PairWise rankings. There aren't any highlights from the game, but you can check out Rachel Lewis' photos here. (She also shot Saturday's game between the Buckeye ladies and Princeton, which you can check out here. Like her on Facebook at Triple Deke Photography so you don't have to wait for me to post the link every week.)

Milestone Watch: With two assists against RMU, Danny Dries' is now 47-47--94 for his college career.

Welcome back, my friends...

2011-12-31T06:48:00.000-05:00

Sorry, had this stuck in my head all day yesterday. Princeton played the lady Buckeyes to a tie yesterday afternoon, with Ohio State winning the shootout. They play again today at noon. I'll recap that series on Monday, but for now let's talk about the men kicking off their second half with a 4-2 win over Robert Morris!

Recaps: OSU, RMU, Sam Kasan, Jason Mackey, Michael Sanserino, Gary Heeman

Highlights: None that I can find. Again. *sigh* I'll keep looking, but I might have to break out some more Paint-lights.

I was really hoping for some better coverage from the Pittsburgh media. You probably won't need to read any further than Ohio State's recap this week, but I threw the others up there just to be thorough. Never mind all that. Michael Sanserino and Gary Heeman (especially Heeman) have it covered.

Advent #6

2011-12-31T06:46:00.000-05:00

No reason to let the boys have all the advent fun. Here's Boston College's Kelli Stack making it look easy against Buckeye nemesis Noora Raty and the Gophers:

The links have run amok!

2011-12-30T05:10:00.000-05:00

OSU's previews weren't posted when I wrote mine up so here are the links for the men and women. Looks like the ladies will be a little shorthanded this weekend. Laura McIntosh (Canada), Annie Svedin (Sweden), and Minttu Tuominen (Finland) are representing their countries at what used to be the MLP Cup. Also note that following the ladies' game on Saturday there will be a postgame skate with the Buckeyes (and it says skate rental is free).

Sometimes linkage pops up in my inbox and insists on being too awesome to wait for Tuesday. Sometimes I'm having a crappy day and even borderline interesting linkage looks awesome. Thursday was a little bit of both. I spent the evening watching NHL Network, alternately trying hex Mark Visentin's shutout for Team Canada and shouting "Curse you, you seedy vagrant-looking traitor! I hope you get a fungus on your stupid saluting hand!" at the Pens/Flyers score on the ticker. Each time the ticker rolled through the top stories on NHL.com, though, this one made me smile. (Except who the eff is "Brian" Dzingel?) And the smiles didn't stop there. Look at the rest of this awesomeness...

Advent #5

2011-12-30T05:00:00.000-05:00

I've seen plenty of skills competitions with speedy skaters and creative scorers, but this one with the Wisconsin Badgers is the first time I've ever seen a goalie try his luck against the radar gun. Lolz around 1:40. A goalie participant should be mandatory for all hardest shot contests.

The Lowdown: Robert Morris and Princeton

2011-12-29T05:05:00.000-05:00

Hey look, praise for the Buckeyes at USCHO. Is that the first sign of the apocalypse?

Here we go, College Hockey: Part Two! The guys put together a great first half and are in a strong position from which to finish out the season. They open the second half with a one night stand (for lack of a better phrase) against Robert Morris in the Something or Other Hockey Showcase. The ladies host Princeton for a couple of matinee games so if you're looking for something to do on Friday or Saturday afternoon get thee to OSU Ice Rink.

Thee? WTF? Did I suddenly become a Quaker?

Anyway, read on for the lowdown on this weekend's opponents.

Advent #4

2011-12-29T05:00:00.001-05:00

With the preview and all, it seemed appropriate to feature this Robert Morris video today. It's a pretty good one as far as intros go. I love that the whole thing was shot at ice level:
Read more »

Advent #3

2011-12-28T05:00:00.000-05:00

We return to the CCHA with some highlights from a Notre Dame vs. Western Michigan game. Something's screwy with the date. CCHA Productions says it's from the 1996-97 season, but according to HockeyDB it's 1995-96. Anyway, here are a few things to look for in the video...

0:16 - goal by the current head coach of the CHL's Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees

0:48 - girl fight

1:03 - tinted windshield

1:07 - scary haircut

1:38 - angry face by a future Columbus Chill goalie

1:50 - thievery

The Linkage: Noci in Italia

2011-12-27T05:15:00.000-05:00

It's been a nutty month but we're finally back to regular programming around here, which means that it's official linkage day! Read on for (among other things) some WJC notes, Zac Dalpe's call up, and Peter Boyd going all winner-winner-chicken-dinner on Stockton...

Advent #2

2011-12-27T05:00:00.000-05:00

In today's video Minnesota's Neal Broten and Blake Wheeler break Sioux hearts in an eerily similar manner:

Mini-linkage: One for Severyn

2011-12-26T05:05:00.000-05:00

I found a couple things in my inbox this morning that I couldn't wait (even one day) to share...

INCH's Mike Eidelbes and Joe Gladziszewski took time during the break to look at the players they believe are currently the top seven candidates for this season's Hobey Baker Award. The list includes five forwards, one defenseman, and an awesomely awesome goalie. Guess who that goalie is! Guess, guess, guess!!!! (If you didn't guess Cal Heeter you must be new here, hello and welcome.)

The unknown conclave of writers at College Hockey Weekly dubbed Coach Osiecki the best coach of the first half. Heeter was also honorably mentioned for best goalie.

Advent #1

2011-12-26T05:00:00.000-05:00

For the past two years I've done a hockey advent countdown thing here on the blog. Nothing fancy, just a video or a quote or a question of the day to help pass the time until Christmas. I had every intention of doing another one this year before my computer crash put a big, inconvenient dent in my plans. I figure since the advent is barely Christmas-related anyway, I might as well just count down twenty-five days to something else. I'm not telling why the date at the end of the countdown is sigificant. You'll have to be surprised. Or guess. Whatever.

Merry Christmas, see y'all next week

2011-12-21T05:00:00.000-05:00

Hockey at all levels is winding down to its Christmas break so this seems like as good a time as any to shut my computer off for a few days. The blog will be back to its normal schedule next week with a couple of extra posts about the World Juniors, plus hockey advent starts on Monday. Enjoy the holidays and...

~ Have a Hockey Christmas ~

The author is unknown, but for what it's worth I originally found this poem here.

Twas the night before Christmas and at the arena,

Nobody was working not even a cleaner.

The pucks and the sticks were stacked in a ring,

In hopes that Lord Stanley would come in the spring.

This is what happens when there's no highlight video

2011-12-20T17:01:00.000-05:00

One more link for the road: Here's the story about Ryan Dzingel that Avrash Kalra of CHN promised, "Dzingel All the Way"

I never was able to find any free-to-the-general-public highlights from Ohio State's overtime win at Miami, so I decided to make some. Not having seen any video of the game, my highlights were more like an interpretive dance than a documentary of what actually happened. (Only with less dancing and much more bad drawing in MS Paint.) After a wasting a solid three hours creating this "highlight" video I uploaded it to Blogger, which is obviously made up of Michigan fans because all the scarlet and gray in the video inexplicably turned into gold and blue. There's no way I'm posting that, so here's the photo journal version instead:

The (Last!) Linkage: Cher, Madonna, Tessa

2011-12-19T06:13:00.001-05:00

Two quick notes before we get to today's links. First off, I'm sorry about yesterday's video being gigantic and blurry. I think I've fixed that. Secondly, with all the players leaving/being kicked off of teams recently due to behavioral (Corey Trivino, Alex Hudson) or alleged academic issues (Charlie Coyle), it seemed like a good idea to take a minute to appreciate the Buckeyes' hard work in the classroom and the quality people they are off the ice. There are a lot of good kids out there playing college hockey and it sucks that the bad ones get so much attention.

I have a couple more things planned for tomorrow and Wednesday and then I'm out of here until after Christmas. Might as well begin by finishing up the links. Read on for more about a pretty productive weekend for former Buckeyes, mass adoration of Tessa Bonhomme, and the opening round schedule for the World Juniors.

The soundtrack of champions is... Starship?

2011-12-18T05:30:00.000-05:00

I really didn't intend to post anything this morning, but this is too good not to share. While I was working on my advent thing yesterday I found this highlight video for the 1990 NCAA champion Wisconsin Badgers. That's Coach Osiecki, #24 with the mullet and Hulk Hogan's moustache:

Aside from looking like he just left a monster truck rally, it's a pretty flattering video for Coach Osiecki. He's blocking shots even though the Badgers have a four goal lead, doesn't punch any Fighting Sioux, and refrains from waving his arms above his head cheesily.

The Linkage: Even Batman loves Heeter

2011-12-17T05:47:00.001-05:00

Do you really need more incentive to click "read more?" OK, fine. Matt McIlvane is the boss, the CHL is no place for weiners...

The Linkage: And more Buckeye carols

2011-12-16T06:15:00.000-05:00

Featured in today's links: Rod Pelley makes a hell of a first impression, Anaheim needs sporking, the Vancouver Sun makes me lol, Dave Steckel is above average, and Corey Toy punches some dude's lights out. Plus a marvelous must-read about Natalie Spooner, INCH's mid-season CCHA report, and more festive holiday tunes!

Eat your heart out, Irving Berlin

2011-12-15T05:00:00.000-05:00

(I'm taking a little break from the links while I attempt to sort out what's been going on in the soap opera-y world of the CHL. Linkage will resume tomorrow. In the meantime, here's some more of the ultra high quality content that makes me wonder why on earth y'all are reading this blog.)

Christmas is a mere ten days away, which means you're probably sick of Christmas music by now. Especially the same half dozen songs that they play ad nauseum in the stores. If I might make a suggestion, cope in the way my family always has. Sing made-up lyrics! For example, the next time you hear the wrist-slittingly repetitive strains of "The Twelve Days of Christmas", don't bother with all that weird poultry. Break out a few verses of "The First Half of the Season" instead. I tried to start with "Three hundred and seventy-four Cal Heeter saves" but that made the song run on just a wee bit too long...

The Linkage: John Albert links! Woo! (and Boo)

2011-12-14T05:00:00.000-05:00

Almost halfway through the link pile. The end is in sight. Or at least the hope of eventually finding an end. Read on for a veritable smorgasbord of goals from the AHL and ECHL Buckeyes. Also Hunter Bishop is a good guy, Sean Collins is money, and Rod Pelley links don't belong in this minor league-themed post but I'm linking the story anyway (cuz I'm the boss 'round here, yo)...

The Linkage: Oh great, now I want chicken.

2011-12-13T04:35:00.000-05:00

I'm finally making a dent in the insane number of links that are piled up in my inbox! This edition of linkage was intended to focus solely on the current Buckeye squad, but then this happened. New Jersey has freed Rod Pelley! Hopefully he'll get some decent ice time with Anaheim. (He can hardly be in a worse situation than he was with the Devils.) Pelley will reunite with former Buckeye Nate Guenin, who has stuck with the Ducks since being called up a couple weeks ago. It seemed like a good excuse to link this video. Bill Davidge never changes. Yes, scoring a goal is "a big key" to the game.

Now, back to the linkage for this year's team including a look at current and preseason polls, CHN talking about the Buckeyes now and in the future, a Q&A about Curtis Gedig, the latest blog post from Danny Dries, a bad Frozen Diamond Faceoff-related video, a good Frozen Diamond Faceoff-related video, and only one person in the sleigh is dressed for the weather...

The Breakdown: Miami leftovers and #2 Minnesota

2011-12-12T05:49:00.000-05:00

#4 Buckeye Men: L 3-5, W 3-2 (OT)

After a decidedly lackluster effort on Friday, the Buckeyes, backed by an excellent performance from Brady Hjelle, earned an overtime win in Oxford on Saturday. All the recap/highlight/photo links are in the posts I wrote over the weekend except for I still can't find any video highlights from Saturday. Luckily for us Rachel Lewis is both an awesome photographer and a timely uploader. Maybe you can flip through her pictures real fast and pretend it's a video.

Rebound Game

2011-12-11T06:02:00.000-05:00

Ohio State 3, Miami 2 (OT)

Recaps: OSU, Vic Brotzman, Chris Rydburg

I haven't found any highlights yet, but once I do I'll throw them up here.

A million thank yous, Dan! That radio link worked fantastically!

Brady Hjelle started in net last night and played an excellent game, stopping thirty-seven shots in his first start since November 4th. The broadcasters were very complimentary of his efforts throughout the game. More importantly it sounded as though the Buckeyes played roughly 1,643,795,473 times better in front of him than they did in front of Heeter on Friday. Mo said the forechecking was much improved and Herb proclaimed the team had "energy galore!"

Well, that sucked.

2011-12-10T13:09:00.001-05:00

Miami 5, Ohio State 3

Recaps: OSU, Craig Merz, Jeff Svoboda, J. Justin Boggs

Photos: Rachel Lewis (There's one of the Red Men imitating the officials that you really don't want to miss.)

Highlights

My Miami alum friend was giving me grief about not having this post up this morning, teasingly asking if I was having trouble finding the words to describe last night's game. I had plenty of words, but it was a long trip home last night and I feel asleep before I could finish the post. Then, when I opened the file up again this morning and re-read what I'd written it seemed prudent to start over since a lot of those words were "Feel the wrath of my spork, Keith Sergott." There was plenty wrong with that game besides the atrocious officiating.

The Lowdown: Mr. Bean and the Minnesota Machine

2011-12-09T04:50:00.000-05:00

[Update: Sweet. OSU-Miami is one of INCH's featured games of the week. "Listen to podcast discussion about the 'remarkable Cal Heeter" is now #3 on my list of things to do this weekend. James Dowd also rightly points out that the guys could use a teensy bit more fan support.]

A couple days ago Grandma mentioned that the OSU hockey team was playing well. This can mean only one thing: The gninniw kaerts has drawn the attention of Channel 10. The Dispatch has had a few articles and game recaps recently too (although they tend to have trouble with the names of the opposing players). Rob Oller even did this great Q&A with Natalie Spooner last week. Hello, local media. Welcome to Buckeye hockey season. Finally.

#4 Buckeye Men

Games Times and Info

Friday in Columbus at 7:00 p.m. - According to the officially official preview, the first 2,000 people through the door tonight will get free "fan fans." No one is sure just what a fan fan is. I'm guessing it's one of those cardboard-glued-to-a-tongue-depressor deals that businesses hand out at parades and county fairs during the summer. If that's the case it's an odd thing to give away when it's 30 degrees outside. So odd that it's actually kind of awesome. Also, fans thirteen years of age and younger who are wearing their youth hockey association jerseys will be admitted for free and the OSU dance team will perform.

Saturday in Oxford at 7:00 p.m. - The game will air live on ONN.

Hooray!

2011-12-08T15:30:00.000-05:00

My sister has graciously allowed me to borrow her laptop for a while. It might not run quite as fast as the library computer, but I can blog in my pajamas and I don't have to deal with the loony library patrons asking me if I know whether cement is the same thing as concrete when they're sitting right there in front of the Google home page.* I'll start sorting through the links next week, get the Tracker up to date, and I've got a couple things planned for the Christmas break. Since I'm going to Friday's game I'll probably do the Saturday-Sunday recap thing with a Monday wrap up (like the NMU series). I'm too chatty after being at the game, and too disinclined to self-edit, to fit all my weekend ramblings into one post. I'm working on this week's previews. They'll be up tomorrow morning at the very latest.

* For the record, it isn't. Cement is an ingredient in concrete.

The Breakdown: #11 Lake Superior and Niagara

2011-12-05T11:26:00.001-05:00

Important note before recaps: Coach Osiecki is scheduled to be a guest on USCHO Live! tomorrow at 8:00 p.m.

Your (recently christened) #4 Buckeye Men: W 5-2, W 2-1

OSU's recaps have links for the video highlights and be sure to check out Rachel Lewis' photos from the weekend here and here.

Friday recaps: OSU, Andrew Holleran, Craig Merz, Jeff Svoboda, J. Justin Boggs

Saturday recaps: OSU, Andrew Holleran, Craig Merz, Jeff Svoboda, J. Justin Boggs

Here are a few of my observations, mostly from Friday's game which I was able to see live and in-person:

The first fourteen or fifteen minutes of the game were all Ohio State. The puck seemed glued to the Buckeyes' sticks. They were blowing by the Lake Superior skaters and shelling Kevin Kapalka, who was holding his own but seemed kind of worn out. (Although, I haven't seen much of him. Maybe this is how he always looks?) OSU's energy was fading a little with about five minutes to go in the first when Darik Angeli took off after a harmless looking dump-in, caught up to it, and cut to the net. Kapalka made the save, but the play seemed to wake the Buckeyes up and it wasn't long before OSU got on the board.

Hockey Day in Columbus: #11 Lake Superior and Niagara

2011-11-29T16:39:00.000-05:00

I know this is the wrong day for previews, but I don't want to trust the auto-post thing. Sorry for the rambling-ness and general weirdity of this post. I'll get this posting-from-the-library thing figured out soon.

#7 Buckeye Men

Game Times and Info

Friday at 7:00 p.m. - The band is doing Script Ohio on the ice during one of the intermissions (The promo calendar also says there will be a Holiday Brutus and a postgame skate, but the official preview makes no mention of that. Whether that means it's not happening or the preview writer just forgot I don't know.)

Saturday at 8:00 p.m. - Game time has been moved back to accomodate the basketball Buckeyes. Ordinarily that would suck, but since it's Hockey Day in Columbus it means there's probably time to take in the women's game and grab something delicious from Tommy's before heading over to the Schott. As far as promos go, OSU has vaguely mentioned a postgame autograph session.

The Breakdown: #8 Minnesota-Duluth (and my computer)

2011-11-29T13:59:00.001-05:00

Sorry everybody. My computer has gone to the great motherboard in the sky. Since it's sense of timing is oh-so-awful (after any chance of getting a Black Friday deal and smack in the middle of Christmas gift buying season) I don't know how long it will be until I resume my regular posting schedule. In the meantime I hope to post from the library at least once a week. Links are temporarily suspended (since I can't do them from the library), but I promise that we'll check in with every pro and future Buckeye as soon as I get up and running at home again (like a mid-season update thing). Since talking about the stupid computer makes me angry, let's take a look at last week's CCHA and WCHA action.

#7 Buckeye Men

The guys had Thanksgiving weekend off, but moved up in the standing to #7 in both the national and USCHO polls! More exclamation!!!!!

The Lowdown: #8 Minnesota-Duluth and one last look at The Sweep

2011-11-24T05:11:00.000-05:00

Buckeye Ladies

Following a successful trip to Syracuse, WCHA rookie of the week Taylor Kuehl and the rest of the ladies return to the friendly confines of the OSU Ice Rink to take on the #8 Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. Here are your game times and info:

Friday at 7:00 p.m. - Fans are encouraged to wear black incelebration (or whatever) of Black Friday

Saturday at 4:00 p.m.

The officially official preview has links for video and livestats. I don’t think there’s any student radio this weekend with it beingThanksgiving. Remember, you can spend all your hard earned dollars Black Friday shopping and still afford to attend because admission is completely free. (No coupons, rebates, or fine print needed!)

The Linkage: Ian Keserich is Wichita's worst nightmare

2011-11-22T05:30:00.000-05:00

Good morning! Isn't it a lovely, swept-Michigan-y day? This week's linkage features (among other things) Ryan Kesler and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad haircut, draft buzz for some future nuts, and the Carolina Hurricanes' demented game of Where's Dalpe?

The Breakdown: #7 Michigan and Syracuse

2011-11-21T06:57:00.000-05:00

#14 Buckeye Men: W 2-1, W 6-5

Friday Recaps: OSU, Jeff Svoboda, and Paula Weston

Saturday Recaps: OSU and Bob Miller

Series: Andrew Holleran

Photos: Friday and Saturday

Highlights: Friday and Saturday

Originally the recap was going to just be this:

Because I'm super classy like that and delirious with victory to the point where that video is extremely funny. A sweep of Michigan! Suuhweeeeep. It just doesn't happen. Ever. It's a weekend that deserves a killer recap. Unfortunately it's also a weekend where the radio feed gave me fits and I only heard about a third of the series with any sort of clarity. So the recap is lame. Again. *sigh*

The Eggos are sweeter this morning

2011-11-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

There have been a lot of new visitors this week and in case any of you are coming back today, looking for a recap of either of last night's awesome Buckeye victories I thought I should drop in and mention that usually I recap all the weekend's games on Mondays. Until then, let's have more of this -->

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go enjoy the heck out of the Wolverines' loss. Tonight's game will, no doubt, be another tough one. Herb and Mo had one of their best broadcasts of the season last night. Catch them later today on 1460 AM or online via OSU a little before 7:30 p.m. The ladies start at 4:00 p.m. video and live stats via Syracuse. Go Bucks!

Honey Badger don't care

2011-11-18T17:50:00.000-05:00

Saw this post from Harrison Mooney this evening about honey badger-like hockey players. Check it out and come back. I'll wait.

If you're like me you read that and thought "Do the Buckeyes have a honey badger?" (Well first you thought "I wonder how many friends Randall has? Either a lot because he's funny or none becasue he's the kind of guy who re-narrates National Geographic videos." Then you wondered about the Buckeyes,)

So let's see. Tenacious... Badass... Kinda close to the ground... There's only one Buckeye that could be:

The Lowdown: #7 Michigan and Syracuse

2011-11-17T18:02:00.000-05:00

Pleasantly surprised to see the blog linked on Puck Daddy this morning, but more thrilled for the student section to be getting some recognition! "Where's my bike?" was great and so was Saturday's "Got Dzangles?"

#14 Buckeye Men

Officially official preview and Andrew Holleran

Game info: Friday and Saturday are both 7:30 p.m. starts.

Friday's game is being broadcast on Comcast in Michigan and neither game will be streaming online. Our only options are the live stats and Herb. (For all their talk about growing the Ohio State hockey "brand" there's no way for local fans to see the games against the school's biggest rival. At least they've got those snazzy helmets. *giant sarcastic eyeroll*

Zzzzzzz

2011-11-17T05:00:00.000-05:00

Hopefully as you read this I will be sleeping. I considered whether I feel worse for not posting on time or for slapping some half-assed preview together and the latter won. (Or lost...Whatever.) The past week kicked my butt and I could really use an extra couple hours of rest this morning. Cross my heart and hope the Flyers win, I will have the fully-assed Lowdown posted before 6 p.m.

In the meantime, check out the CCHA's intro video blooper reel. Al McLean seems to have the procedure down. Chris Crane, Paul Kirtland, and Curtis Gedig* not so much. Love the winking guy at 2:06...

* I think. It's late. If I'm wrong just leave a comment with the correct identification. Good night.

NHL Call Up Alert!!!

2011-11-15T19:13:00.001-05:00

Nate Guenin has been recalled by the AnaheimDucks. Here’s the official press release.

The Linkage: All hail the Arizona Buckeyes

2011-11-15T03:39:00.001-05:00

OK, new plan. I post that season-so-far post whenever it’sfinished. Geez. If it’s not wedding insanity, it’s tornadoes!

Today’s linkage features a look at how all our nuts (past, present, and future) fared in last week’s international tournaments, the CCHAscores that I forgot to include in Monday’s recap, and how Ryan Kesler is struggling(or not). I’m forced to mention the despicable St. Louis Cardinals, Chris Reed records his first professional point (and there's video!), we check upon the Buckeyes of OSU West (including Corey Toy who scored his firstprofessional goal!), and I learn the hard way not to read Danny Dries' blog while drinking horchata.

The Breakdown: #14/15 Northern Michigan

2011-11-14T05:30:00.000-05:00

Since I only had the men's team to follow this week, I wrote up the games as they went. All the links for highlights and recaps are in Friday and Saturday's posts.

It's funny (funny interesting, not funny lol) how everyone sees the games differently. Watching on Friday I thought Northern Michigan played pretty well defensively despite the shot total and just failed offensively. I talked to some other people who were at the game and thought the Wildcats stunk, and read Walt Kyle's postgame quotes and thought "Well, guess I must have been watching wrong." Then on Saturday the stats, Walt Kyle, and what I heard of the radio broadcast seemed to indicate Buckeye domination, but several people who attended the game said NMU played Ohio State tough. I give up on this series! The important thing is that the guys earned themselves six more points, which keeps them at the top of the CCHA heap for another week.

Next Up

Cue the evil villain music, the Buckeyes are going to Yost for a battle with The Team Up North. Games are Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

At some point during the weekend I said that today's post would be a season recap. I haven't forgotten about it. I just didn't have as much time yesterday as I thought I would and there are some things I want to look up for that post. It'll be a special evening edition of Deadly Nuts. Hopefully. I swear the house is like My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Bridezillas had a baby, and that baby is a deranged psychopath.

Deja vu all over again

2011-11-13T05:00:00.000-05:00

Recaps: OSU, Craig Merz, and J. Justin Boggs

I had this brilliant plan. I was going to recap the shit outof last night’s game and then use Monday’s post for a year-to-date recap.Genius! What could go possibly go wrong? Well, for one thing my sisters couldboth announce that they’re getting married and my mom could take to theinternet in search of checklists and how-to-guides. I managed to pry thekeyboard away from her for the duration of the game, but it was hard to giveHerb my full attention when she kept yelling in to ask what I thought mysisters would think about something or other. Gonna be a long eleven months. Anyway...

Read more »

Kaerts kaerts kaerts

2011-11-12T02:42:00.001-05:00

This couldn't wait until Monday so, surprise Saturday recap!

Highlights

Recaps: OSU, Pat Brennan, Craig Merz, Jeff Svoboda, and J. Justin Boggs

Honestly media people, shut up about the kaerts gninniw.

There wasn't much going on in the first period on either side. The Buckeyes were pretty physical, maybe tothe detriment of their puck possession. That kid had way too much room onthe Northern Michigan goal. (Btw, thanks a lot jinxy media people.) The guys had much better jump to start second. It only took a minuteor so for Alex Szczechura to collect puck from a behind-the-net scrum and slama wrap-around by Reid Ellingson.

Ohio State definitely picked up steam as the game progressed. They were in complete control of the second and third periods. The Wildcats seemed to do a decentjob of limiting quality chances though, especially since they spent so much time shorthanded, so the game didn't always feel as lop-sided as the shot total made it sound. (Plus I think the shot counter guy was a little trigger happy. I seriously doubt that OSU had 38 shots on goal and NMU's 13 seemed more like 8 or 9.)

The Lowdown: #14/15 Northern Michigan

2011-11-10T05:28:00.000-05:00

Buckeye Men

Officially official preview

Game times and info

Friday at Noon (I'd say 12:00 but I can never remember whether noon is a.m. or p.m.)

Saturday at 7:00 p.m. The promo calendar lists this as "4-H Exhibition Night." I'm not sure what that means, but if it's anything like the 4-H exhibits at the county fair then it could be hilarious.

Live stats, audio, and subscription video are available via OSU, and Herb can be heard locally on 1460 AM

I love how they're selling this matinee game as a special Veterans Day thing and totally ignoring that the noon start has far less to do with the holiday than the fact that the basketball team is playing East West Mountain Valley Tech on Friday night.

The Linkage: Spartan down (again)

2011-11-08T05:15:00.000-05:00

Sorry about yesterday's broken "read more" link. I'm pretty sure I've got it fixed now. Blogger's been a giant pain the neck lately.

It's a light day for linkage (which leaves you plenty of time to vote, responsible citizens that you all surely are) but there are some interesting stories, like RJ Umberger's take on Big Ten hockey, a big milestone for Daymen Rycroft, a tiny spark of hope for UAH, half a dozen Buckeyes in international tournaments, and Doyle Woody's bad news.

The Breakdown: #1 Wisconsin and Alabama-Huntsville

2011-11-07T23:39:00.000-05:00

Buckeye Ladies: L 1-3, L 0-2

Recaps

Friday: OSU and UW

Saturday: OSU and UW

Lisa Steffes got the start on Friday. She stoppedtwenty-nine shots in the game, fifteen in the first period alone! Her effortsno doubt helped inspire her teammates’ excellent second period response. The Buckeyes outshot the Badgers 14-8 in the middle frame and a trio of rookies connected totie the game, Kayla Sullivan scoring with assists from Taylor Kuehl andDanielle Gagne. Unfortunately Wisconsinspoiled the comeback story with a pair of late game goals. Sucky as that was, itsounded like an extremely exciting game for the nearly 500 fans in attendance.

Chelsea Knapp took the net on Saturday, allowing two goalson twenty-six shots. Unfortunately the ladies couldn’t muster any offensivesupport, not even with six power plays. Alex Rigsby stopped all thirty shotsthe Buckeyes threw at her.

Recap delayed until... let's say six-ish

2011-11-07T06:30:00.000-05:00

Funny how Daylight Savings Time gave me an extra hour to do things yesterday and I actually accomplished less than usual. Anyway, the breakdown isn't finished. I could post the half-assed work-in-progress version, but that wouldn't do justice to a fine weekend of Buckeye hockey. It'll be up this evening. (That sounds vaguely inappropriate and Pierre McGuire-like. Ew.)

The Lowdown: Alabama-Huntsville and #1 Wisconsin

2011-11-03T05:37:00.000-04:00

Two notes before we get into the previews.

1. Congratulations to WCHA defensive player of the week Lisa Steffes!

2.Yale has finally begun their season. They’re 1-0-1 (against twounranked teams)… and still receiving a first place vote in the national polls. WTF?!

I'm switching things up a little bit this week because I want to talk about the ladies first. This is a really big series for them and they'll have Columbus' hockey stage to themselves with both the OSU men and the Blue Jackets on the road this weekend.

Buckeye Women

Officially official preview

Hey you!

That’s right, you, local fan who usually skips the ladies’ half of these posts. We need to talk. The Buckeye women have a big series this weekend (sort of like their version of a Michigan game) and it certainly wouldn’t hurt them to have a little extra support from Columbus’ hockey fans.

The Linkage: You're a brave man, Bobby Lewis

2011-11-02T05:21:00.000-04:00

Today's festival of links includes (among other things) injury updates and retirements, a couple of Northeast Ohio high school teams taking their rivalry outside, video of those first-as-a-pro goals for John Albert and Shane Sims, and a newsman making a bold and wholly unsuccessful attempt at goaltending.

Current Buckeye News

Cal Heeter and Devon Krogh earned CCHA player of the week honors for the Alaska series.

~~Ohio State~~ ~~Michigan~~ Kitchener goalie John Gibson talks with Josh Brown of The Record about how influential Coach Exter has beenin his development, and this Mike Morreale article about former Badger and current Maple Leaf Jake Gardiner gives a shout out to Coach Osiecki.

I blame the germs.

2011-10-31T15:37:00.001-04:00

Oops. I forgot the "Next Up" sections in this morning's post. Better late than never, right?

The ladies are headed for a huuuuuuge series against #1 Wisconsin. Games are Friday and Saturday at the OSU Ice Rink, both start at 7:00 p.m. OSU's website is requesting that those in attendance "White Out Wisconsin."

The guys are at Alabama-Huntsville on Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. (Columbus time)

Also, links are going to be postponed until Wednesday since it seems that I've caught some sort of vile cold/flu/bubonic plague thing and intend to do nothing but sleep and drink juice for the next 24 hours. Have a Happy Halloween and, more importantly, a Happy Day After Halloween When All the Candy is On Clearance!

The Breakdown: Eee-O-Eleven (Buckeye Points!)

2011-10-31T06:51:00.000-04:00

Lorem ipsum blah blah blah...

Buckeye Men hosting Alaska: SOW 2-2 (2-1), W 6-0

Thursday recaps: OSU, Craig Merz, Jeff Svoboda, J. Justin Boggs, Danny Martin

Friday recaps: OSU, Craig Merz, J. Justin Boggs, Danny Martin

The Lantern has a headline about hockey and a picture, but the story is about men's soccer. (Good weekend for them too. Btw, I have no idea how to pronounce it, but Parnell Hegngi is a great name.)

Hey look, non-aggravating YouTube highlights!

Let's celebrate!

2011-10-29T06:30:00.000-04:00

Big five point series for the guys against Alaska and the ladies won their first road game at Minnesota State last night! Celebratory dance! Mine is sort of a cross between Phoebe's "running arms" on Friends and this weirdly balletic postman :

Joyously joyous recaps on Moday!!!

The Lowdown: Alaska and Minnesota State

2011-10-27T05:39:00.000-04:00

Special celebratory alert! John Albert and Shane Sims scored their first professional goals! I'll see if I can track down some video later. Check out the recaps for now.

Buckeye Men

Officially official preview

I would like to point out that, for once, the hideous weather cannot be blamed on me. Something like eleven out the last twelve hockey games I've attended have coincided with unusually temperatures and/or blizzards. (For example, the last time

Believe in the power of the Gump Worsley shirt

2011-10-26T05:30:00.000-04:00

The Linkage: Braaaaaains!

2011-10-25T05:32:00.000-04:00

Among other things in today's links: Daymen Rycroft impersonates a zombie, former and future Buckeyes are picked for Team USA rosters, the luck of Gump Worsley is unleashed, and something is rotten in the state of Alabama.

The Breakdown: Michigan State and #7 North Dakota

2011-10-24T06:43:00.001-04:00

(Sorry about the late post, having technical difficulties with Blogger this morning.)

Buckeye Men: L 0-3, W 5-2

Highlights: From MSU for Thursdayand Friday and from WLNS, blessings of the hockey gods be upon them, for Thursday (after the football news):

Thursday recaps: OSU, MSU, Jeff Svoboda,Lansing State Journal

Friday recaps: OSU, MSU, Paula Weston, Lansing State Journal

Series: Dillon Davis

And then there's the Columbus Dispatch which puts the "poor" in reporting:

The Lowdown: Michigan State and #7 North Dakota

2011-10-20T05:13:00.000-04:00

Two quick notes: Congrats to Laura McIntosh, WCHA offensive player of the week. Also, Facebook users have until 2 PM today to tell College Hockey Inc. that Cal Heeter's mask is better than Drew Palmisano's. I cannot believe so many people have voted for Palmisano's weirdly minty-colored mask, which is adorned by both the mascot and the ghostly image of his former (and not currently dead) teammate. A vote for Heeter is a vote for class. It will also keep me from sporking you in the kidney. Just sayin'. On to the previews...

The Linkage: The poll-makers are on crack

2011-10-18T04:33:00.000-04:00

This week's links include a video clip of Peter Boyd's first pro goal, which should be enough to get you to click "Read more." In case you need more convincing there's also awardage for a couple current Buckeyes, a Shane Sims sighting, another round on the recruiting carousel, and one of the worst kept "secrets" in hockey.

I cannot make it to the show, but I hope that you can go... something, something video

2011-10-17T17:10:00.002-04:00

Thing #1 - I have a Buy One, Get One Free coupon (from the exhibition) good for tickets to the next homestand, Thursday Oct. 27 and Friday Oct. 28 against Alaska. It doesn't look like I'm going to be able to use it and I certainly don't want it to go to waste. If somebody out there wants it send me an e-mail (address is in the sidebar) and I'll snail mail it out to you. Oh, fyi, the fine print states you have to buy the tickets at the Schott's box office.

Thing #2 - The CCHA'a YouTube channel posted these extended highlights of Friday's game a few minutes ago. The radio broadcasters did not effectively describe the badness of some of those goals.

The Breakdown: #2 Notre Dame and St. Cloud

2011-10-17T06:24:00.001-04:00

Buckeye Men: 2-5 L, 4-3 W

Friday recaps: OSU and Jim Meenan (South Bend Tribune)

Saturday recaps: OSU and Jim Meenan (South Bend Tribune)

I finally found some highlights! It's only about eight total plays from the weekend, but that's better than nothing. Blessings of the hockey gods be upon you. WNDU! I can't embed both videos at once so here's the link for Friday. (Great stuff from Dries and that Wuthrich goal was six kinds of ugly). And now for the glorious gloriousness of Saturday...

Monday recaps are gonna be fun!

2011-10-16T01:42:00.000-04:00

So much "Woooooo!"

You won't be laughing when it works

2011-10-15T06:44:00.024-04:00

Surprised to see a post today? Yeah, me too. This is waaaay too early to be up on a Saturday, but since I am (and not interested in doing laundry yet... or pretty much ever) I might as well note a few random things.

* I've been pretty adamant about not using Twitter despite a few very kind suggestions that I would be an entertaining read. When I'm at the game my attention is completely absorbed. I'm not a good enough multi-tasker to watch and be on my phone at the same time. It practically requires a blood sacrifice to get my internet connection to hold the online radio feed so Twittering (or whatever) when I'm listening from home isn't really an option either. However, I promised a couple readers that if I could figure out a way to automatically post the... seriously, what do you say instead of "Twitters?" I'd create an account for the blog since they prefer not to use Google Reader or the e-mail subscriber thing. That's available here now. I'm trying to get in the habit of checking it, but for the moment it's essentially an unmanned blog feed. Hope that helps, guys!

* Speaking of radio and blogs, if you were listening last night you heard Herb plugging Paul Caponigri's blog. Check it out here.

The Lowdown: #2 Notre Dame and St. Cloud

2011-10-13T05:14:00.003-04:00

Buckeye Men

(There was no officially official preview posted yet when I typed this up)

The Games

Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday at 7:00 p.m.

Saturday’s game is allegedly being broadcast on Comcast Local. If Ohio has a Comcast sports channel it’s not available on DirecTV and I can’t find anything about it on Google. Are they advertising local coverage in South Bend? Anyway, live stats for both games and an online link to Herb’s 1460 AM broadcast should be available on TOW*.

The Linkage: "Tyson Strachan!"

2011-10-11T05:00:00.002-04:00

In today's post: Ryan Kesler is naked, Nate Guenin's hard work finally pays off, the girl in the background does not faze Tyson Strachan, we say hello/goodbye to some goalie recruits, and other glorious linkages. Read on, intrepid followers...

The Breakdown: Quinnipiac and Bemidji State

2011-10-10T06:19:00.004-04:00

Buckeye Men: Good, bad, and ugly (Or: Please choke on your whistle and die)

Friday, 2-1 W

Highlights (No more embedding of video, that sucks. Of course it only ever worked half the time anyway…)

Recaps: OSU, Quinnipiac, Jeff Svoboda, Craig Merz, J. Justin Boggs

Except for Al McLean not playing, the lineup was the same as for the exhibition game.

There are plenty of recaps so I’m not going to do another one, especially since I'm not an eyewitness account this weekend. I’ll just mention some things that stood out from the radio broadcast.

Sounded like a good night for:

The Lowdown: Quinnipiac and Bemidji State

2011-10-06T04:47:00.001-04:00

I'm not set on a format for the previews this season, so if there's something you do or don't like about this one let me know.

Buckeye Men

Officially official preview

The Games

Friday at 7:00 p.m. Schedule magnet giveaway!

Saturday at 7:00 p.m. There will be a postgame autograph session with Sean Duddy, Cory Schneider, and Cal Heeter

Trade alert!!!

2011-10-05T05:06:00.003-04:00

The New Jersey Devils have traded Dave Steckel to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

And since I'm here anyway, Portland assigned Shane Sims to the Gwinnett Gladiators (ECHL).

Buckeye Links 10/4

2011-10-04T04:59:00.000-04:00

Behold your weekly linkage, chock full of informational goodness! The many sides of Ryan Kesler, the figure skating prowess of Tessa Bonhomme, Sergio Somma and the German word for "hats", finally some preseason love for Cal Heeter, training camp rosters galore, and much more...

Exhibition game photos

2011-10-04T04:58:00.000-04:00

As promised, here are my slightly awful photos from Saturday's exhibition game. You can click to embiggen them, but they tend to look better small...

The conversation went something like this...
Mom: That guy looks familiar. Do we know him from somewhere?
Me: Uh, pretty sure that's Coach Osiecki.
Mom: Oh! Give me the camera, I want to take his picture!
Me: You do know he's less than six feet away and can probably hear you, right?

Weekend Rewind: In which I am excited and extremely chatty

2011-10-03T05:31:00.002-04:00

Ladies first...

Recaps: OSU

It's not often that anyone upstages Natalie Spooner, but it sounds like freshman Taylor Kuehl did just that in Friday’s Scarlet and Gray game. Kuehl scored two goals and added an assist to help lead Scarlet to a 4-3 win. Spooner had a goal and an assist (plus a shootout goal) for Gray. Check out the official recap for more details.

Next Up

Home opening series against Bemidji State on Friday October 7th at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday October 8th at 4:00 p.m.

And now the guys...

Recaps: OSU, J. Justin Boggs

Photos: Rachel Lewis

Best I can tell here were the lines and defense pairings from Saturday night, asterisks denote starters:

Weekend previews! Hockey is back!

2011-09-30T05:37:00.012-04:00

Lots to talk about today, roster changes, exhibition games, questionable fashion choices...

OSU Ladies

This week:

Scarlet and Gray game at OSU Ice Rink, tonight at 5:00 p.m. The format for the game is is a little different. OSU has the details.

On my honor, this is the last lame preview I will post for the women. You know what's not lame? This video!

OSU Men

I'm assuming you all remember last season well enough that I don't need to post the record and top scorers and stuff.

This is not Michigan! No stupid hats!

2011-09-29T05:48:00.002-04:00

Obviously this is not a preview post. It’s been a bad crazy day already so I haven’t finished it. I could just slap my notes together, all half-assed and whatever, but I really don’t want to. That’s no way to start the season. I promise I will get it together in the next twenty-four hours. In the meantime have a look at the CCHA’s preseason polls and all-conference teams. Still no love for Cal Heeter! Geez. I’m going to end every conversation I have today with, “And now I would like to honorably mention Cal Heeter. Thank you.” Somebody ought to be honorably mentioning him.

And great effing googly moogly, we're going to be talking about this. *facedesk*

Know your enemies: Michigan State, Northern, Notre Dame, and Western

2011-09-28T05:35:00.005-04:00

Here are the roster changes for the last four teams. Check them out and be sure to come back tomorrow to talk Buckeye hockey. Exhibition game in just three and a half-ish days!

Michigan State Spartans

Last Season

Record: 11-15-2-0, 10^th in conference (10-27-4 overall)

CCHA team stats: 6^th in offense (2.32), 8^th in defense (2.68)

Top five scorers: Derek Grant, 8-25--33; Brett Perlini, 18-12--30; Torey Krug, 11-17--28; Dustin Gazley, 11-15--26; Daultan Leveille, 8-10--18

Who They Lost

Forwards: Derek Grant, Dustin Gazley, and Joey Shean; defenseman Zach Josepher; head coach Rick Comley

Know your enemies: Lake Superior, Miami, and Michigan

2011-09-27T17:07:00.001-04:00

And so we continue with the comings and goings of this season's CCHA...

Lake Superior Lakers

Last season

Record: 8-12-8-5, 8th in conference (13-17-9 overall)

CCHA team stats: Tied for 9th in offense (2.11), 9th in defense (2.79)

Top five scorers: Rick Schofield, 17-18--35; Domenic Monardo 12-17--29; Will Acton, 9-15--24; Zach Trotman, 6-14--20; Matt Cowie, 4-13---17

Who They Lost

Forwards: Dan Barczuk, Will Acton, Tyson Hobbins, Chad Nehring, and Rick Schofield; defensemen Matt Cowie and Dillin Stonehouse; goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wilson

Know your enemies: Alaska, Bowling Green, and Ferris State

2011-09-27T05:52:00.071-04:00

I've started these things three times and not been satisfied with any format I've tried. Since I've dickered around and run myself out of time, you're stuck with the copy/paste version. I'm not much help when it comes to reading the statistical tea leaves, but to make up for the copy/pasting I'll explain a few of the reasons I predicted the finish I did for each team. Well, to the limited extent that "reason" is involved in any of my ridiculous predictions...

Oops! Recap and Weekly Linkage

2011-09-26T05:15:00.002-04:00

(Sorry about the giant headline banner thing on this new layout. I’m working on fixing that.)

Argh! The season hasn’t even officially started yet and I’ve already screwed up royally. I had the Buckeye ladies’ exhibition game against Wilfrid Laurier on my calendar for this coming Friday. Oh well. The important thing here is not my failure to read numbers properly, but that it looks as though the team started the year off right.

Last season’s leading scorers, Natalie Spooner and Laura McIntosh, were away at Team Canada’s evaluation camp, but the offense was apparently clicking along alright without them. Eight different players recorded points and Lisa Steffes and Chelsea Knapp combined for 19 saves. OSU won 3-1.

Several freshmen stood out in the boxscore, but none more so than Kayla Sullivan. She scored the season’s (unofficial) first goal, posted four shots and a +2 rating, and won 12 of 16 faceoffs! Big Shiny Preseason Star!

Hopefully the new-look Ohio State website will let me link directly to the game recap. Try this and let me know if it still makes you start at the homepage and go through all the menus. Am I the only one thinking the boxscore is weird? It’s mostly just the “team summary” thing. I don’t really see the necessity for breaking down shots-by-period. (At least that’s what I’m assuming it is.)