Wolverines swept by Buckeyes

By Lindsey Ungar –

ANN ARBOR – The Michigan hockey team is not used to losing – plain and simple. Especially at home in front of sell-out crowds.

No. 14 Ohio State defeated No. 7 Michigan, 6-5, to sweep the weekend series at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor on Saturday night. Michigan has now dropped five of its last six games.

“It’s frustrating,” Michigan captain Luke Glendening said. “We’ve gotten one point of the last 12, and we’ve got to stop the trend. This isn’t something that we’re used to so it’s frustrating. Really frustrating.”

The last time the Wolverines were swept by the Buckeyes at Yost? 1986. No one on the Michigan hockey team was even born yet. Coach Red Berenson was just three years into his Michigan coaching career.

The win marked the seventh straight for the Buckeyes, and the first time Michigan dropped two consecutive games in their own barn since dropping three in a row in November 2009 (Miami and Michigan State).

“I think whatever happened in the past doesn’t really matter now, but we take a lot of pride in playing at home,” Berenson said. “We take pride in all of our games, but Yost has been a special place and to give up back-to-back games to anybody is a big disappointment.”

After exchanging goals in the first and early second, one play seemed to turn the tide. Chris Brown received a 5-minute major after hitting Devon Krogh into the boards in the offensive zone. Ohio State’s trainer rushed on the ice, and Krogh was able to skate off with help from his teammates.

Michigan’s penalty kill staved off almost four minutes before Ohio State’s Ryan Dzingel tipped Chad Niddery’s shot past goaltender Shawn Hunwick to jump out to a 3-2 lead at 8:18 of the second period. Just 16 seconds later, Dzingel grabbed another to push the lead to two. He finished with four points.

Although Michigan matched Ohio State punch for punch to nip its lead to 6-5 with 1:40 left in the third, it was too much to overcome for the Wolverines.

“We were doing really well and they really hadn’t had a scoring chance,” Berenson said. “All of sudden they scored two goals on that major and that was huge. We had to battle back from that and we did. It was just too little too late.”

Special teams played a crucial role in the contest, with five goals scored on the power play and one shorthanded. It was a total reversal from Friday night, where the teams went a combined 0-9 with the man advantage.

Michigan jumped out to the early lead on the power play. Mike Chiasson stepped in from the point to rip a shot past Cal Heeter’s blocker less than three minutes into the first period. It was the freshman’s first career goal.

Ohio State added two even-strength goals from Alex Lippincott and Chris Crane, taking a 2-1 lead midway through the first. Michigan’s Luke Moffatt tied the game at two early in the second.

Dzingel’s deuce gave Ohio State a bit of a cushion before Michigan claimed its second power-play goal from Alex Guptill, drawing to 4-3 at 12:03 of the second. Max McCormick fired back just over three minutes later to grab the two-goal lead again for the Buckeyes.

The teams traded goals early in the third from Derek DeBlois (shorthanded) and Lippincott (power play). Guptill’s second gave Michigan life with just under two minutes left in the third, but it could never find the equalizer.

“I think as a team we need to pull together and work on some defensive zone things. But we also need to have confidence in ourselves that we’re going to be okay,” Glendening said. “We’ll come back.”

Michigan and Ohio State will face off against each other again at the Frozen Diamond Faceoff on Jan. 15. The game will be held outdoors at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

NOTES: Chiasson is the son of former Red Wing Steve Chiasson. He was drafted by the Wings in 1985, playing before passing away in a fatal car accident in 1999… It was the seventh straight game between Ohio State and Michigan that has been decided by one goal… It was the second consecutive sell-out at Yost… Hunwick stopped 31 of 37 shots; Heeter stopped 26 of 31.