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8 — Friday, March 9, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

In Big Ten Tournament Semifinal, ‘M’ faces toughest foe: Buckeyes

Ohio State is a very good 

hockey team.

The Buckeyes are ranked 

sixth in the nation in both the 
USCHO and USA Today polls, 
and fourth in Pairwise. They’re 

11th nationally in scoring and 
fourth in goals against. Their 
power play percentage is better 
than that of all but seven teams, 
and their penalty kill is second to 
none. They’ve won 23 games, lost 
eight and tied five.

“Personally,” said Michigan 

senior forward Dexter Dancs, “I 
think they’re the best team in the 
Big Ten that we’ve played so far.”

Notre Dame may have won the 

Big Ten regular-season title and 
might be ranked ahead of Ohio 
State in every poll. But it’s easy to 
see where Dancs is coming from.

Back in late November, the 

Buckeyes walked into Yost Ice 
Arena and stomped all over the 
Wolverines, leaving with wins 
of 3-2 and 5-1. Two months later, 
Michigan traveled to Columbus 
a different team, coming off 
four straight wins against then-
No. 9 Minnesota and then-No. 
12 Penn State — and Ohio State 
walloped the Wolverines again, 
by a combined score of 9-3.

This Saturday, in the Big 

Ten 
Tournament 
semifinal 

in Columbus (7:30, Big Ten 
Network), they’ll get a chance 
to change that with a spot in 
next 
Saturday’s 
conference 

championship game on the line.

Michigan is rolling right now. 

Two straight wins over the 
nation’s top-ranked team and a 
12-3-1 record in its last 16 games 
prove as much.

But none of those victories 

have 
come 
against 
the 

Wolverines’ fiercest rival.

“We love to hate Ohio State,” 

said 
senior 
forward 
Tony 

Calderone. “So definitely just 
playing them even if we’ve beat 
them already, I think (not having 
beaten Ohio State) gives us a 
little extra fire.”

What makes the Buckeyes just 

so tough? For one, they appear 
to be specifically engineered 
to exploit any and all opposing 
weaknesses. 
Their 
sterling 

statistics with the man advantage 
and when shorthanded attest to 
that.

At the same time, it’s been 

inconsistency and little mistakes 
— such as neutral and defensive-
zone turnovers and meaningless 
penalties — that have cost 
Michigan more than anything 
throughout the season, even 
during its most recent surge. 
The Wolverines’ four losses to 
Ohio State, then, went exactly 
how you might have expected. 
They outshot the Buckeyes, 131-
120, during the season series, but 
allowed five goals on 14 Buckeye 
power plays while failing to 
score on any of their 12 chances.

“That’s 
how 
Ohio 
State 

plays,” said Michigan coach 
Mel Pearson, who stated that 
his 
team 
“beat 
themselves” 

in January’s series. “... (The 
Buckeyes are) very patient and 
they just wait to capitalize on 
your mistakes and they’re very 
good at it. But we just tried to 
do too much. We were getting 
behind and then we pressed, we 
started pressing, and when you 
start pressing sometimes you 
try to do too much and get out of 
position, you play on the offense 
and that’s what happens, you 
turn it over.”

Added Calderone: “We got 

to stay out of the box, we got 
to 
eliminate 
our 
turnovers 

around the blue lines, which is 
something we’ve 
struggled 
with 

recently. 
So 
as 

long as we can 
eliminate 
their 

chances we won’t 
beat ourselves.”

But 
even 
if 

the 
Wolverines 

eradicate 
most, 

if not all, of their 
prior mistakes, it 
may not make a 
difference.

Ohio State possesses a deep 

forward corps, with six in 
double-digit goals this season. 
Their top line — Big Ten Player 
of the Year finalist Tanner 
Laczynski (41 points), Mason 
Jobst (41) and Matthew Weis 

(36) — is one of the few anywhere 
that 
can 
go 
blow-for-blow 

with Michigan’s “DMC” trio of 
Dancs, Calderone and Cooper 
Marody. Sean Romeo (.925 save 
percentage), meanwhile, might 
be the best goaltender in the 
conference 
not 
named 
Cale 

Morris, and is liable to steal any 
game at any time.

“They’re the favorite. To me 

they’re one of the top three, 
four teams in the country, 
easily, easily,” Pearson said. “So 
it’s just like you’re going to be 
playing somebody in the (NCAA) 
Tournament if you get in. Good 
opportunity, 
good 
measuring 

stick for us, and we’ll be ready.”

Now, 
about 
that 
NCAA 

Tournament.

Saturday’s contest begins a 

new phase of the Wolverines’ 
season. 
Their 
previous 
36 

games held no win-or-go-home 
implications — save for the Great 
Lakes Invitational in January. 
But from this weekend on, there 
are no more Friday-Saturday 
matchups. No more best-of-
however-many series. For the 
rest of the season, Michigan 
has only one game at a time to 
achieve its goals.

“You play to win. You can play 

a shorter bench because you only 
have one game,” Pearson said. 

“… So you’re not 
concerned about 
resting guys or 
not giving them 
as much ice time 
because 
you 

know you have 
to play the next 
day. This is it. It’s 
all on the table 
and you don’t 
play again for 
another week. … 

You play for that moment, to win 
that game.”

This game, however, is likely 

the Wolverines’ biggest test of 
the season.

Thus, coming out on top will 

take their strongest performance 
of the season as well.

HOCKEY

JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer

“Good 

opportunity, 

good measuring 
stick for us ...”

