Here's the column that would have been sent to "Hockey Weekly," if they were
going to print this week.
Paula C. Weston
Girl Reporter
Coming off a losing weekend, Buckeye Head Coach John Markell saw
some things to be happy about. "A lot of positive came out of this
weekend," he said, "even though we lost."
His Buckeyes played hockey with top-ten ranked Clarkson, at least for a
couple of periods. For the first and second periods of the October 18th
game, and for the first period of the October 19th game, the Buckeyes looked
as though they could play with anyone. After two periods on the 18th, the
Buckeyes led a sluggish Clarkson 4 to 2. After the first period on the
19th, the Bucks were beating Clarkson 2 to nothing.
But that was as good as it got.
Just like last year, this talented Buckeye team has the uncanny ability to
come out strong, and finish up weak. What hurt the Buckeyes after their
first full weekend of hockey was penalties, both theirs and their
opponents'. Confused? So's Markell.
"We were doing fine there playing five-on-five. Any time we played
five-on-five this weekend, we did all right." Carried over from last
season is the Buckeyes' inability to capitalize on the power play. In fact,
the Buckeyes allowed a short-handed Clarkson goal, when Clarkson was down
two players. When they have the power play, the Buckeyes tend to lose
focus. Last season it wasn't uncommon to watch a Buckeye power play without
a single shot on goal.
Also hurting the Buckeyes--again--are stupid penalties. OSU had 62 penalty
minutes for the weekend against Clarkson, including a 10-minute misconduct
called on rookie Ryan Jestadt in Friday's game.. "Ryan Jestadt was one
[player] who was so undisciplined that I don't know if I can play him
tomorrow," said Markell Friday. It was surprising to see Jestadt on the ice
Saturday, a game in which he earned the first OSU penalty, his only penalty
of the night.
Markell was also unhappy with the refereeing both nights, but especially
Friday. "The refereeing wasn't very consistent. It wasn't pretty, what he
was calling." He called Friday's refereeing "atrocious."
The Buckeyes led Clarkson 4-2 after two periods Friday, and 2-0 after the
first period Saturday. On Friday, Clarkson scored 5 unanswered goals in the
third period to win 7-4; on Saturday, Clarkson scored 5 unanswered goals in
the second and third periods to win 5-2. Paula C. Weston
CCHA Column
October 21, 1996
page 2
After Friday's game, Markell said the game could best be summarized in one
word. "Undisciplined is the only word I've got. That is the key word for
what we were in the third period. Instead of buckling down and getting to
the work at hand, they decided they were going to get chippy and eliminate
them with high sticks and elbows and everything else. They learned a
lesson. So did I. I learned what some of those guys are made of."
Markell thinks the small senior class--consisting only of three-time
captain Steve Brent, assistant captain Chad Power, and offensive threat
Pierre Dufour--contributes to the discipline problems on the ice. "When you
have a strong senior class, you can fall back on that." Markell said he
needs someone to step up and lead.
Two potentially bright spots for the Buckeyes are the new goaltenders, Ray
Aho and Tom Connerty. The goaltenders are competing for time in net, just
as former Buckeyes Tom Askey and Kurt Brown did for four years. This
competition will make each goaltender better, according to Ray Aho. "I've
got to push Tom, and he's got to push me. We have a lot of time, so
hopefully we can step up and play as well as they [Askey and Brown] did."
Aho played the 18th; Connerty played the 19th. Each goalie had 37 saves.
Aho saw 44 shots on goal; Connerty saw the puck come at him 42 times.
Again, there's a pattern here for OSU. For the series, OSU was outshot 86
to 49.
Well, at least it's better than two to one.
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