Men’s Hockey: Buckeyes’ strong first period wins series-opener versus Wisconsin

Collin Ginnan
Fri, 04 Dec 2020 01:10:38 +0000
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Ohio State freshman forward Patrick Guzzo (71) battles for a faceoff against Wisconsin sophomore forward Owen Lindmark (18) Dec. 3. Ohio State won the game 4-2. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor

Senior defenseman Grant Gabriele scored for the third game in a row as the No. 13 Ohio State men’s hockey team took game one from No. 14 Wisconsin 4-2 Thursday at the Schottenstein Center.

Junior forward Gustaf Westlund opened the scoring for Ohio State, notching his third goal of the season on a slap shot from the high slot 3:50 into the first period.?

Forward Travis Treloar scored three minutes later, poking in a rebound off the left pad of Wisconsin graduate goaltender Robbie Beydoun. The freshman from Norway has scored two goals and accounted for five points in the last three games.

“What’s stood out to me is just every day, his practice habits, what he’s all about — he wants to get better,” Ohio State head coach Steve Rohlik said Thursday. “I love his drive, he’s a student of the game. When you bring that to the rink every day, you’re going to see some results.”

With just over four minutes remaining in the first period, junior forward Quinn Preston continued the flurry of goals, scoring for the Buckeyes’ second time on a rebound off the pads of Beydoun.

“Especially this week, I thought we left out a lot of rebounds against Michigan State, so we wanted to get bodies in front and get one or two guys around to try to pop in a rebound,” Treloar said. “I thought we did a good job of that, especially in the first period.”

Wisconsin was assessed separate minor penalties on one play late in the first period and Gabriele capitalized on the two-man advantage for his third goal in as many games. The Buckeyes led 4-0 after the first 20 minutes.

The Badgers responded in the second period with a pair of goals a minute apart, cutting the Buckeye lead in half. Senior forward Jason Dhooghe scored on a breakaway from an Ohio State neutral zone turnover and sophomore forward Cole Caufield fired a shot from the high slot past Ohio State goaltender Tommy Nappier.

Rohlik called a timeout following the Badger goals and Wisconsin did not score again the rest of the evening.

“I really only said a couple things, they knew I didn’t need to say too much,” Rohlik said. “Basically just — we’re still up by a couple goals, let’s keep the game simple. That’s the No. 1 message.”

Nappier saved 37 of Wisconsin’s 39 shots, adding to his already high .933 save percentage in 2020. Ohio State killed a late Badger power play and Nappier saved a handful of shots with the Wisconsin net empty to clinch the Buckeyes’ second Big Ten win.

“We’ve got to be better than we were tonight is the message,” Rohlik said. “If we show up in the first period and go out there with energy and play the right way, that’s what’s going to give us our best chance.”

Wisconsin forwards Ty Pelton-Byce, Tarek Baker, Roman Ahcan and Dominick Mersch did not play for the third-straight game due to COVID-19 protocols, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.?

“Wisconsin’s going to be better,” Rohlik said. “We know they’re shorthanded some players and stuff like that, but again they’ve got a lot of talent and had a lot of fight tonight and came back and had a lot of chances. I know they’re going to be a better hockey team tomorrow, too.”

Ohio State moved to 2-3-0 with seven Big Ten points, while the Badgers fell to 4-5-0 with 13 Big Ten points.

Game two of the series is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Friday with coverage by ESPNU.