Ohio State Preview

Back in early December, the Wolverines and Buckeyes played a pair of close games down in Columbus. Ohio State won the Friday night game 3-2 in overtime after they scored with 10 seconds left in regulation to send the game into an extra session.

The Wolverines won the second game in the series by a 2-1 margin. Shots were close in the first game of the series, but Michigan outshot the Buckeyes 48-25 the next night, putting up 15+ shots in each of the three periods. Cal Heeter stood on his head to hold Michigan to a pair of goals. Michigan didn't get on the board until 6 minutes into the third period, and David Wohlberg netted the game winner with just over five minutes left in regulation.

Ohio State sits eighth in the CCHA currently with a 9-11-2-2 record. They could finish anywhere from 5th/6th all the way down to 11th without any trouble, as the middle of the pack in the conference is really jammed together. They're 14-13-2 overall on the season and sit 25th in the PWR.

Unlike Michigan at the moment, their seniors are leading the way. All five of their 15+ point-scorers are seniors, and six of their top seven goal scorers are members of the senior class. They're led by Sergio Somma who has 15 goals and 26 points in 29 games. Their leading point man is John Albert, with a 11-20--31 line. Danny Dries has 13 tallies. Somma and Dries are the two to watch when they've got a man advantage, with nine and five goals, respectively. Somma's total is good for fourth in the country with the man advantage.

In net it's been Cal Heeter almost all the way. Backup Jeff Michael has played just 22 minutes on the season. Heeter is 14-13-2 (clearly) and has a 2.35/.920, good for 23rd nationally in both categories. He gave up 4 on 78 shots in the earlier series down in Columbus. He pitched a 40-save shutout against Miami back in January.

Ohio State is 32nd in offense, T-16th in defense and not nearly as good on the power play as their two snipers would suggest. Somma and Dries have combined for 14 of their 23 power play goals. OSU is just 37th with the man advantage at 16.9%. That's worse than us, actually. The PK is just 81.5%, good for 35th and a tick ahead of Michigan's.

Maybe this is the week some guys break out of their slumps. Louie Caporusso has owned the Buckeyes, scoring 4-8--12 in just 8 games. Chad Langlais has 9 points in 10 games and Chris Brown has been good for a point per game.

Shawn Hunwick's only appearance against OSU was in the overtime loss earlier this season.

Both games will air on the Big Ten Network.