COLUMBUS, Ohio-- The No. 2 Ohio State men's hockey team (19-5-4, 12-3-3-2 Big Ten) will face the Minnesota Golden Gophers (11-14-4, 8-9-3-0 Big Ten) for the second and last time of the regular season for a weekend series at the Schottenstein Center with puck drop set for 6 p.m. both Friday and Saturday.
Ohio State can clinch at least share of the Big Ten title this weekend with also wrapping up the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament which would send the Buckeyes to the semifinals and give them home-ice advantage in the semifinals and championship game at the Schott.
However, before the Buckeyes can collect those accolades and an opportunity of a Big Ten Tournament title, they will have to go up against a tough Gopher team that gave Ohio State all it could handle in the previous matchup between the two teams back late November and early December where the Buckeyes squeaked by with both wins coming past regulation.
Even though Ohio State head coach Steve Rohlik knows that the previous series didn't go well for Minnesota, losing both games against Penn State by a combined score of 13-4, Rohlik still expects a Gopher team led by veteran head coach Bob Motzko to look back at what they did well against Ohio State back at 3M Arena at Mariucci back in Minneapolis.
"We had two good games against them; two ties," Rohlik said. "They're a good hockey team, we just know we got to be better. When it comes down to it, it's a bounce or two. We were fortunate to get the extra points, but we know we got to be better this weekend against a really good hockey team."
In order for the Buckeyes to be successful in this weekend series in defending against three elite scorers for the Gophers in junior forward Rem Pitlick and senior forwards Tyler Sheehy and Brent Gates Jr., they will need their goaltending tandem to be as outstanding as they have been all year when sharing the net.
It has been a theme all year in that redshirt senior goaltender Sean Romeo stepped back from starting the majority of the games last year on the way to a Frozen Four appearance to sharing the net with calm, cool and positionally sound sophomore goaltender Tommy Nappier.
So far it has been a system where Romeo would get the net on all the Friday games, while Nappier would get clean-up duty in the Saturday contests. Romeo has had a very good season, but not quite to the level on last year with a record of 8-4-2 while sporting a 2.32 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage.
However, Nappier has thrived and looked like one of the best goaltenders in the country with a dazzling record of 11-1-2 with a 1.60 goals-against average and a .946 save percentage, each statistic second in the country only behind Quinnipiac's Andrew Shortridge who has a 1.32 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage while sporting a record of 13-3-1 with the Bobcats.
Rohlik said with Nappier playing exceptionally well last year along with Romeo's dominance and knowing he would be back for his final season, Rohlik and his coaching staff along with volunteer assistant coach Dustin Carlson and goaltending consultant Dave Caruso, they felt if they had two guys they were comfortable that can be starting goaltenders then why not use them in a back-to-back game situation?
"We talked about actually this summer with the coaching staff in our meetings," Rohlik said. "We have three really good goalies, but we have two guys that we felt comfortable with, that deserve to be in there. We just made a decision before we even started. This is the way we were going to go and we are going to continue to do that."
After starting 37 games last year for the Buckeyes, Romeo could've easily took the shared games the wrong way, especially after taking the team so far in the NCAA Tournament and being a dominant presence, but in the end, Romeo knew that Nappier deserved some more playing time due to the work ethic and diligence that he should in a back-up role this past season.
Rohlik said he was impressed with the maturity of the two at the beginning of the season and continues to be impressed now that the regular season has just six games and the situation has not been a distraction to the team on and off the ice as well as each goaltender.
"The biggest thing is they are team guys, they put the team first," Rohlik said. "Certainly, they both could be playing every night, they just understand their job. They prepare each week. I give my--Dusty and Dave a lot of credit working with our goalies. Certainly, when you got two guys that put the team first, it speaks volumes for the rest fo everybody on our team."
With the season winding down to a crucial point, the Buckeyes are looking to keep the consistency going that they have shown in all facets of their game while being on a current seven-game winning streak.
One thing that has been a focus of Rohlik over the past few weeks has been the work on special teams as the head coach would like to see the power play and penalty kill become a more integral part of their game without losing any ground in other key parts of the game.
Ohio State's special teams are seen to be average to above-average this season with the power play firing at 21.7 percent, which is 15th in the country. While the penalty kill, although it has been improving, seems to be a weakness for the Buckeyes going at 82.2 percent, which is 27th in the country.
Rohlik said the difference between a very good team and an elite, championship-contending team is how effective you can be with your special teams while other not relying on other aspects of your game whether that be 5-on-5 play, your defensive structure or your goaltending.
"Consistency; we just want to stay with it," Rohlik said. "Our special teams have got to continue to get better. That's something I'll talk about every week, it's never where you want it to be. Down the stretch here to win hockey games, usually, the team that wins the special teams is going to win the game. I think that's probably going to be the same this weekend."
