Week of Reckoning

The findings in East Lansing 

following the Larry Nassar 

trial hint at a deeper 

problem, writes Betelhem 

Ashame. 
» Page 2B

The Big 4-0-0
Kim Barnes Arico earned 
her 400th career victory 
as the Michigan women’s 
basketball team beat 
Northwestern.
» Page 4B

Wolverines swept by sixth-ranked Buckeyes

SPORTSMONDAY

The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | January 29, 2018
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OLUMBUS — 
Ohio State has 
notoriously won 
games this season 
by gaining a first-

goal advantage. The Buckeyes had 
done so in 11 of their 16 wins prior 
to Saturday night, emblematic of a 
team that can hold onto early-game 
momentum.

Given this, when freshman 

forward Jack Becker cracked Ohio 
State’s net first, the Michigan 
hockey team — who hadn’t seen 
a single goal Friday night — was 
provided with a glimpse of hope.

But Saturday, this stat wouldn’t 

matter. The Buckeyes didn’t score 
first. However, with another lights-
out performance on their home turf, 
they didn’t need to.

After being neutralized the night 

before, No. 17 Michigan started 
strong, but eventually deteriorated. 
For the second time this season, No. 
6 Ohio State (10-5-1-0 Big Ten, 17-5-
4 overall) swept the Wolverines (7-9-
2-1, 12-12-2), this time handing them 
a 5-3 defeat.

For Michigan, who had been able 

to cruise past Minnesota and Penn 
State in its previous two weekends, 
the series in Columbus served as a 
wake-up call of sorts.

“We may have been getting by, 

and as coaches, we knew that we 
had to clean some things up,” said 
Michigan coach Mel Pearson. “We 
got a little bit of a reality check 
this weekend. Ohio State is a very 
good hockey team, you can’t take 
anything away from them, but we 
made it too easy for them with the 
goals they scored all weekend.”

The game opened up sloppily, 

with an absence of smooth passing 
and urgency evident on both sides of 
the puck. 

Ohio State notched the first 

man-advantage 4:29 into the first 
period, as a tripping call sent senior 
defenseman Sam Piazza to the box. 
Despite many close opportunities 
and the fact that the Buckeyes 
capitalized more often than not on 
their power play the night before, 
the Wolverines escaped the penalty 
unharmed.

And less than three minutes later, 

Michigan did something it couldn’t 
all of Friday — find the net. Despite 

having two Ohio State blueliners 
wedged between him and the 
goal, Becker sent a long-range shot 
straight at the net, passing both the 
defensemen and Buckeye goaltender 
Sean Romeo to get the Wolverines 
on the board.

But Ohio State wouldn’t let this 

advantage stick for long. Halfway 
through the period, forward Freddy 
Gerard successfully tipped the puck 
in off a rebound, equalizing the 
game as Value City Arena erupted. 

In the final two minutes of 

the period, Michigan’s first line 
had a few dangerous chances 
in the Buckeye zone. However, 
the Wolverines were unable to 
capitalize a second time, sending 
both teams to the locker rooms tied 
neck-and-neck at 1-1. 

Ohio State had no desire to waste 

time coming out of the intermission. 
Just 26 seconds into the second 
period, Gerard broke away from 
a pack of Michigan defensemen, 
challenged sophomore goaltender 
Hayden Lavigne for the second time 
of the night, and again sent a blast 
past the netminder.

Holding a 2-1 lead, the Buckeyes 

were given the first power play of 

the second period, with a Wolverine 
penalty for roughing with 5:48 left in 
the frame. Michigan fended off the 
Buckeyes again, allowing just one 
on-target shot over the stretch.

Unfazed by their deficit, the 

Wolverines fired again midway 
through the period. Michigan’s 
fourth line would find the net for the 
second time that night, as freshman 
Dakota Raabe found Niko Porikos 
right outside the crease, and the 
senior lit the lamp for his first goal of 
the season.

And as the game presented a 

competitive energy completely 
absent the night before, it was not 
long before Ohio State’s offense 
challenged again. Three minutes 
after Michigan’s goal, Buckeye 
forward Ronnie Hein fired the puck 
past Lavigne to gain a 3-2 edge.

With just over three minutes 

remaining in the second, the back 
and forth nature of the game 
quickly came to a halt. Ohio State 
forward Brendon Kearney found the 
Wolverine net, widening the gap to 
two for the largest lead of the night. 
The Buckeyes demonstrated their 
offensive depth, with three different 
lines supplementing the night’s four 

goals thus far.

“I just did not like our defensive 

awareness, and our puck 
management tonight was not good 
and led to two or three of their 
goals,” Pearson said. “I wouldn’t say 
their goals were unearned, we just 
can’t play like that against a team 
like Ohio State. We knew how they 
play and we talked about managing 
the puck tonight and we just did not 
do a good job of that.”

Though Michigan was unable 

to answer, Ohio State incurred an 
elbowing penalty with 12 seconds 
remaining in the period, giving the 
Wolverines their first power play of 
the game to start the third.

This man-advantage was fruitless 

for Michigan, as it was shut down by 
the Buckeyes’ penalty kill — the top 
in the nation — that boasts an elite 
.905 average.

Because of this, the Wolverines 

had been looking anemic on their 
power play all weekend. Ohio State 
saw a few close opportunities for 
short-handed goals Friday night that 
fell flat, but this would no longer be 
the case during the second half of 
Saturday’s third period. With 8:12 
dwindling in the game, Buckeye 

forward Mason Jobst broke away 
with the puck, evading Lavigne with 
a short-handed blast, tacking on a 
fifth Ohio State goal.

The Buckeyes continued their 

dominance on the penalty kill, 
preventing Michigan from finding 
the net while the Wolverines were 
on a significant two-man advantage.

With 2:30 left on the clock, 

Michigan attempted a final late-
game rally as sophomore forward 
Jake Slaker scored, bringing the 
game to 5-3. 

“I think I was kind of like, ‘Well, 

we’ve got two minutes, we could 
try to get back in this,’ ” Slaker said. 
“But it was also super frustrating, 
because it was so late.”

At this point in the game, every 

Wolverine on the ice exhibited this 
same frustration. Michigan had just 
come off two competitive series in 
which it had claimed all the points. 
This weekend, it walked away with 
none.

“Obviously, it’s not good enough,” 

Porikos said. “Coming in here, 
leaving with no points, it’s not what 
we wanted. But it is what it is.”

Added Slaker: “There’s not much 

to say after a weekend like that.”

ANNA MARCUS
Daily Sports Writer

BUCKED
UP

Design by Jack Silberman

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily

OSU 4 MICHIGAN 0
OSU 5 MICHIGAN 3

