Recap: Massa, Opportunistic Mavericks Stymie Buckeyes 11/7/14

The Ohio State Buckeyes suffered a difficult 4-1 loss at home Friday night. The visiting #19 Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks were outshot and out-chanced, and still managed to limit the hosts to a single goal.

UNO’s victory came thanks to the stellar play in net. Ryan Massa was magnificent all night, turning aside all but one of the Buckeye shots. The senior’s evening came as a continuation of his hot streak to start the season. Massa’s .962 save percentage Friday boosts his season-long mark to a brilliant .953.

The other high points for the Mavericks came in special teams. UNO potted two powerplay goals and killed off all five OSU opportunities. Avery Peterson (MIN, 6th) put the game completely out of reach with 9 minutes left in the 3rd. His powerplay goal was a nifty snipe from the left dot. Peterson fired the puck over the blocker of Matt Tompkins (CHI, 7th). One *ping* later and the ricochet landed as a goal, a 3-1 lead. A late empty netter was a formality to complete the contest.

Massa and the special teams were necessary, because Ohio State’s loss came in spite of a dominating night for the home team. OSU both outshot and out-chanced the opposition all night. In the first period in particular, OSU dominated scoring chances 12-3 and still came out trailing. To make it all the more frustrating, all four lines were clicking each producing at least two scoring chances at even strength. The Schilkey-Weis-Angeli line led the way with 7 ES chances, and the trio of Stork-Lundey-Johnson contributed 6. Over and over, the superior showing from Ohio State ended with Massa denying goals.

As the Buckeyes were handily controlling play, they augmented their game with superior physicality. OSU won board battles, landed bone-crunching hits, and converted their edge into more opportunities. The game did feature a few questionable hits from each side (some uncalled or minimally punished moments with limbs flying too high), but Ohio State led the legal contact. They simply couldn’t convert enough for victory.

Unfortunately, the lowest point for OSU came at a time when goals were most needed. In the early moments of the 3rd period, the Buckeyes trailed 2-0. Instead of pushing play, Ohio State was hemmed in their own end for most of the first 4 minutes. Repeated zone exit tries failed, leading to defensive zone frustration and more poor puck movement. This kind of start only limited the time left for a comeback, further putting the game out of reach.

Nebraska-Omaha and Ohio State close out their series in Columbus Saturday night. The puck drops at 7:00 pm in the Schottenstein Center. It’s a great low-cost alternative if you aren’t at the CBJ game or watching OSU-MSU in football.

Extra Notes:

• Ohio State hosted Military Appreciation Night at the game Friday. The Buckeyes wore camo sweaters, and the player names were replaced with branches of the US Armed Forces. You can bid on the jerseys to benefit Defending the Blue Line. The game ceremonies opened with a master sergeant repelling in to drop the puck. The OSU honorary captain was a Marine vet, and active duty overseas OSU alums were featured throughout the evening.

Private First Class Taren Davis of the Ohio National Guard dropped the ceremonial puck tonight. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/QKjzuhro6z

— Ohio State Men's Hockey (@OhioStateMHKY) November 8, 2014

• The Mavericks were without their leading scorer for the game. Jake Guentzel (PIT, 3rd round) suffered an upper body injury at Cornell last weekend and was not in the lineup Friday. UNO didn’t need him for this win, but he is a significant loss. (Stick tap to Matthew McGreevy for the link!)
• The Schott had a great atmosphere for the game thanks to a number of sizable high school groups in attendance. The crowd was noisy and happy until late in the game, often starting chants independent of the college student section. Hopefully we’ll see more of this as Big Ten hockey games start up in a few weeks vs Michigan State.

BS Hockey’s 3 Stars

1. Ryan Massa (UNO) // Massa kept the Buckeyes off the board until late in the 3rd, and ended the evening with a .962 save percentage. His perfect mark on 5 penalty kills was especially impressive (8 of his 25 saves came with UNO down a man). He was the key figure for a Mavericks team that fell short in shots and scoring chances.

2. Avery Peterson (UNO) // The freshman was an essential piece of the Maverick powerplay. He put in the previously mentioned powerplay snipe, an impressive shot that effectively ended OSU’s comeback. Even more, the Minnesota draft pick contributed a secondary assist on the second UNO goal and another scoring chance in the second period.

3. Nick Schilkey (OSU) // Schilkey’s line was held off the scoreboard, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. The OSU sophomore had a game-high 4 even strength scoring chances and added another 1 on the powerplay. Another night against another goalie and the outcome might be different.

Scoring Chances 11/7/2014

Team scoring chances by period, listed as (even strength / powerplay)

Scoring chances at even strength by player:

Powerplay scoring chances by player:

Chances were tracked in real time at the game using the general scoring chance area as described at Defending Big D.

(Featured image: Ohio State and Nebraska-Omaha in warmups before the game November 7th in Columbus. Photo by Matt Souva)