Men’s Hockey: No. 4 Ohio State topples No. 11 Notre Dame 4-2 in high-scoring matchup

Michael Benzinger
Sat, 02 Feb 2019 05:17:24 +0000
Ice Hockey, Men's hockey, News, Sports, austin pooley, brendon kearney, Buckeyes, cam morrison, Carson Meyer, dakota joshua, Freddy Gerard, Gordi Myer, gustaf westlund, hockey, Mason Jobst, Matt Miller, men's hockey, Men's ice hockey, Michael Graham, Notre Dame, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Notre Dame Ohio State, ohio state, Ohio State men's ice hockey, ohio state men’s ice hockey schedule, ohio state men’s ice hockey score, quinn preston, ronnie hein, Sasha Larocque, Sean Romeo, Steve Rohlik, Tanner Laczynski [and 2 more]

Then-junior forward Freddy Gerard celebrates as Mason Jobst scores an empty net goal during the third period of Ohio State’s 5-1 victory over Denver in the NCAA Tournament. Credit: Nick Hudak | For The Lantern

What was originally expected to be a low-scoring game turned out to be a high-scoring affair, as Ohio State (16-5-4, 9-3-3 Big Ten) defeated Notre Dame (14-9-3, 7-7-2 Big Ten) 4-2, its fourth straight win.

Ohio State senior forward Freddy Gerard led the team with two goals, scoring what would be the deciding goal on a power play midway in the third period to secure the win for the Buckeyes.

Ohio State head coach Steve Rohlik said that he has seen a more consistent team as of late during the Buckeyes’ winning streak.

“I think we’ve had a pretty good season, I think we’ve been more consistent lately,” Rohlik said. ?“I think we were a little up-and-down at the beginning but I like the consistency that our team’s brought and I think that’s the correlation of having some success.”

The second period showed surprising offensive aggression from Notre Dame: a team that is primarily known for its defense.

After the first period goal from Gerard and the third goal of the season by Ohio State sophomore forward Austin Pooley, assisted by freshman forward Quinn Preston and junior defensman Matt Miller, the Fighting Irish stepped up, scoring two goals in 34 seconds: one by freshman forward Michael Graham on a power play and the other from junior forward Cam Morrison. ??

Notre Dame nearly doubled the Buckeyes’ aggression, having shot on target 11 times versus Ohio State’s six in the second period.

The Buckeyes showed an increased aggression that was seemingly absent in the third period, shooting on target 11 times in total, something that led to the power play that helped lead Ohio State to the victory.

“I thought we did a good job at third coming out, skating, moving our feet,” Pooley said. ?“And I think when we move our feet like that we’re going to eventually draw penalties and we did a good job at that in the third.”

Nearing the end of the third period, Notre Dame put the pressure on Ohio State. With their goalie pulled, shot after shot came at redshirt senior goaltender Sean Romeo.

Adding eight saves in the third period, Romeo recorded 27 saves on 29 shot attempts in the Ohio State win.

“He’s a big-time player, a big-time goalie,” Rohlik said about Romeo. ?“You’ve seen that out of him before. He made that ESPN save there tonight at the end. Incredible.”

Ohio State senior forward Brendon Kearney added a goal with one second left on the game clock, sneaking the puck away from the Fighting Irish and shooting it straight into Notre Dame’s empty net.

Ohio State will play Notre Dame again at home at 8 p.m. Saturday.