After getting their first win of 2012 last week at Western Michigan, the Ohio State Buckeyes find themselves in fourth place in the CCHA entering the week off. That’s the good news. The bad news? They’re entering a week off, which means every other team in the conference will be fighting for points while the Buckeyes will get nothing. This means OSU could fall quite a ways down the standings before the final home-and-home against Miami next weekend. The CCHA standings are as chaotic as ever, with only eleven points separating ninth place and first place.
As far as OSU is concerned, they sit eight points behind first and just three points away from ninth. (Six points away from tenth.) This is crucial, for if the Buckeyes end up in the bottom three they won’t be hosting a playoff series in Columbus. This would be an unfortunate development for a team that once had a commanding lead in the conference standings. (They would also not get a home series if they wind up in fifth place, but let’s cross that bridge once we get to it.) This weekend, they’ll just have to wait and see where they end up.
Looking back at last weekend, it was yet another series in which a sweep was possible but it just eluded the Buckeyes’ grasp. On Friday, OSU fell to Western Michigan 3-2 in overtime, just 1:40 away from at least getting a point out of the matter. It seemed as if things would go south once again on Saturday, but then OSU rallied back to take down the Broncos in regulation. That was a huge win for a number of reasons. First and foremost: it broke the winless streak, which has removed that monkey from the Buckeyes’ back. They knew they were struggling, and throughout that slide it was always a matter of just getting that first win. In 2011, it seemed like they would never lose. In 2012, it seemed as if they’d never win again. That changed Saturday, and that alone makes that win enormous.
However, those three points were crucial in keeping the Buckeyes in the mix. Had they lost, they’d be tied for seventh with four other teams, possibly in ninth place. With that win, they are able to be in a somewhat reassuring place while the teams around them all play their weekend series. It may not be an ideal situation, but at least they aren’t in a position where they’re at the bottom and the gap can only widen. Now they have the week off to prepare for two huge games against Miami that will determine their final playoff seeding. The Redhawks are currently seventh in the CCHA, ranked 19 overall, and they face Notre Dame at home this weekend. If you’re the Buckeyes, there really is no winner in that series that you can root for. (Perhaps a sweep one way or the other; that way one of the teams can be pushed a bit more down the latter.) However, all that matters right now is winning once you take the ice to end the regular season. Next weekend, the Buckeyes will need to leave everything on the ice.
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