Ohio State Gets First Sweep Over Minnesota in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minn. — Minnesota was swept by Ohio State this weekend at 3M Arena at Mariucci as the Buckeyes came out on top 6-2 Friday and 2-1 Saturday. It’s the Buckeyes fourth and fifth ever wins in Minneapolis and first every sweep on the road against the Gophers, but the biggest loss for Minnesota was an injury LJ Mooney suffered in the first period.
“I talked to him, it sucks, he’s our motor and hopefully it’s not too bad,” said Gophers captain Brody Lamb. “We’re gonna miss him, but hopefully it’s not too long.”
While Brodie Ziemer leads the team in scoring with 19 goals, 10 assists and Lamb is right behind at 14 goals, 14 assists, it’s been Mooney who seems to create space and draw attention every time he’s hit the ice this season. The freshman’s play has made a huge impact on the Minnesota power play which came into the night leading the nation scoring at 31 percent on the year. Mooney was hit early in the first period along the Ohio State bench, finished his shift and then never returned to the ice on Saturday.
“We lost LJ there in the first period. It was a big loss, obviously, especially on our power play,” said Gophers coach Bob Motzko. “Our guys gave it everything they had. We just couldn’t find a way to get another one in tonight.”
Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik credited his team’s penalty kill as a big factor in the Buckeyes victory. Ohio State killed off four Gophers power play chances during the night. Minnesota has struggled to score five on five goals this season and have leaned heavily on their man advantage opportunities, but they looked less lethal after losing Mooney to injury.
“I don’t think they felt they were at their best last night. I thought we played pretty well and took advantage of some chances,” said Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik. “But you know how it is, you lose on a Friday, you’re gonna see the other team’s best on Saturday. We talked a lot about it, we just kind of had to stay the course tonight and I think our penalty kill came up huge tonight and really that was the difference.”
Minnesota has had trouble transitioning out of their own end this season and it cost them again early in the game with Ohio State. The Buckeyes Ryan Gordon held the zone after a failed Gophers clear, moved the puck down to Max Montes who drew all the attention before dishing to William Smith as the fourth player attacking the net. Smith had plenty of time and picked a corner 8:11 into the first period.
Minnesota tied the game 4:08 into the second period when after an aggressive hold at the red line by Leo Gruba in their 1-1-3 forecheck, Beckett Hendrickson and Brodie Ziemer made strong transition plays getting the puck to Brody Lamb. The captain finished off the play with a nice shot for his 14th goal of the season.
Ohio State took advantage of another Minnesota giveaway midway through the third period that ended up being the game winning goal. Broten Sabo won the puck in the neutral zone, advanced it to Jake Karabela and the CHL recruit from Guelph, Ontario got his second goal of the weekend by picking the top near corner 10:25 into the third period.
The Gophers did make a push late in the game with an extra attacker in the last 1:26 of the game. The Gophers got a couple chances off of a few face-off wins and Lamb rang the post with a good look with 46.3, but Sam Hillebrandt was able to keep the puck out of the net for the 28 save victory. The Gophers were better in the face-off circle Saturday winning 28 of 48 draws, but they couldn’t get a bounce when they needed one.
The loss drops fifth place Minnesota seven points back of Wisconsin in the Big Ten and sixth place Ohio State is now only one point behind the Gophers in the league standings. Minnesota sitting at No. 38 NPI after ranking as high as No. 27 earlier this season have put themselves in a position where the Big Ten Tournament is their only path into the NCAA Tournament. It’s been pretty clear that Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State are some of the top teams in college hockey and finishing fourth or fifth would be a much easier path into the postseason. The Gophers have a lot of work to do to stay in fifth down the stretch as they finish the year with a series at Notre Dame, at Michigan and home against Michigan State.
“We talk a lot about having no quit. I think that a lot of success is based off of how much pain you can endure and it’s been a painful season in a lot of ways,” said Leo Gruba. “We’re going to continue to stick with it, we haven’t quit yet, we’re not going to quit.”