Opponent: #18 Western Michigan Broncos
Where: Lawson Ice Arena; Kalamazoo, Michigan – Friday and Saturday at 7:05 p.m.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Ohio State Buckeyes (14-10-5, 10-9-5-1 CCHA) has a firm hold on first place in the conference. Now, the picture is slightly bleaker. They have yet to win a game in the year of 2012, and they came up short twice in two very winnable games last weekend against Michigan State. Now they enter the final three weeks of the regular season tied for fourth, and only five points away from losing the opportunity for a home playoff series. The situation has just gotten dire for the Buckeyes, and their remaining games are against teams above them in the standings, and only one of them is at home. Throw a week off in there and the Buckeyes have really put themselves up against the wall.
This weekend they travel up to Kalamazoo to face the Western Michigan Broncos, who are currently second in the CCHA with 39 points. The good news for the Buckeyes? They are only three points behind. Only six points separate first and eighth place, so the final conference standings can wind up any of a million ways. Despite their long winless streak, the Buckeyes are still in a position where they can make up ground. It stinks that they’ll be sitting around next week while everyone else picks up points, but that’s just the nature of the beast. This road series is crucial, and if they don’t pick up any wins this weekend they’ll be fighting just for the right to play any more home games. They weren’t able to break through last week, and time is quickly running out.
One of the biggest causes of the Buckeyes’ slide of late has been their dire power play. At one point, OSU had the best power play and penalty kill in the conference. In the last five games, they have but two power play goals, and they went 0 for 14 with the man advantage last weekend against the Spartans. If you keep getting these opportunities, you have to convert.
Despite the continued slide, the polls have been incredibly kind to the Buckeyes. They enter this weekend ranked #15 in the country, and if they want to still be ranked going into the off week they’ll need a strong showing against the Broncos. These two teams have not met since last season, when the Broncos won the first game then tied the Buckeyes in the second. Western Michigan hasn’t exactly been all that hot lately in their own rate, as they’ve lost 4 of their last 6 games. This series will go a long way toward determining the final CCHA standings, which will likely begin to come into focus by Sunday.
Weekend prediction: The Buckeyes have to win eventually, right? They’ll get one this weekend in a split.
Both games can be heard on 1460 AM radio in Columbus.
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