:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45693172/480106907.0.jpg)
Just when you think that maybe the Buckeyes at least were headed in the right direction, they lay an egg tonight against a last place Wisconsin team.
The Ohio State Men's hockey team fell to the Badgers tonight, 3-2 at Value City Arena. With the victory, the Badgers split the weekend series with the Buckeyes and got within two points of OSU in the Big Ten standings.
OSU looked like they'd keep up Friday night's domination after Anthony Greco scored at 1:06 of the first to give the Buckeyes the 1-0 lead on his 14th of the season. But Wisconsin would even it up at 12:45 of the first on a goal by sophomore forward Grant Besse. Wisconsin led in shots 7-6 in the first, a far cry from OSU's domination in the shot department on Friday.
Christian Lampasso scored for OSU to give the Buckeyes the 2-1 lead in the second at 8:16 but Wisconsin's senior forward, Josh LaBate tied it up on a goal that would need further review but ultimately stand. OSU at least led in shots 13-10 in the second, but still came out of it just even. You'd think that maybe they could do what a team like OSU should do to a team like Wisconsin in the third. You'd be wrong.
Wisconsin freshman forward Adam Rockwood scored at 16:00 of the third and OSU would not be able to respond. Wisconsin took the game 3-2 in Columbus.
Christian Frey did not play amazingly or anything close, and the offense didn't support him as it did on Friday night. It comes down to the Buckeyes not controlling play to the same degree they did on Friday night. They didn't get as many shots on goal and allowed more.
When you're playing a team that hasn't won a conference game yet, you'd think a team that was staring down and beating a top 5 team in the beginning of the season would be able to dominate them even if it didn't show up in the score. But they didn't do that. If anything, it was an even game tonight which simply cannot happen.
A split of a series at this point is an improvement for the Buckeyes, even against a meandering Wisconsin team, but it should have been more than that after they ran over the Badgers on Friday. The goaltending was mediocre, the offense didn't put up enough shots and the team didn't prevent enough shots. It was a recipe for disaster that should not have been an issue against this team.
Story of the season.