Ohio State blows out Gophers men's hockey at Mariucci

The Gophers men's hockey team's seven-game winning streak over Ohio State ended with a thud.

Mason Jobst had two goals and two assists, Tanner Laczynski had a goal and three assists and the Buckeyes scored four second-period goals on their way to an 8-3 rout of the Gophers in a Big Ten Conference game at Mariucci Arena on Saturday night.
"Obviously disappointed but credit Ohio State," Gophers coach Don Lucia said. "We came out and didn't have a great start, then it's 2-2 and you think we are back in it. And we gave up those goals early in the second and it's game over.
"I always say we win as a team, we lose as a team. And tonight we lost as a team and the good thing is it is one loss, not three. We go back to work on Monday and get ready for Michigan State."

Said Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik: "Any time you play a team like Minnesota on their ice and come away with a win you've done something right. Ultimately, it was a great team effort. This was a good way to end the first half."

The teams played to a 2-2 tie through one period before Ohio State (9-2-4, 1-1 Big Ten) scored the next six goals.

Jobst got the game's first goal at 33 seconds. Defenseman Tommy Parran made it 2-0 OSU midway through the opening period. But the No. 11 Gophers (7-5-2, 1-1) counterpunched less than two minutes later on goals by Tyler Sheehy, his first of two, and defenseman Ryan Lindgren just 1:33 apart.

"We had a solid regroup in the locker room after the first period," Buckeyes senior forward David Gust said, "calming everyone down. We knew what we needed to do to go out there and get the job done."

Early in the second period, Nick Schilkey of Ohio State scored three seconds into a power play and Jobst 14 seconds later to put the Buckeyes ahead 4-2. And the goals kept coming.

Laczynski made it 5-2 and Josh Healey added a fourth goal — all in the period's first nine minutes — for a 6-2 lead.

That prompted Lucia to pull Eric Schierhorn for Nick Lehr, who had played in only one game before this season. Lehr didn't fare much better, giving up two goals on eight shots on net in 5:44 before the Schierhorn re-entered. He gave up two more goals in the third period.

Schierhorn's final numbers: six goals allowed, 12 saves. Christian Frey made 31 stops for Ohio State.

Penalty problems didn't help the home team either. The Gophers took 11 penalties for 44 minutes. Leon Bristedt got a major penalty and game misconduct after grabbing a facemask late in the second period. Lindgren got a major and a game misconduct for elbowing with four seconds left in the game.

The Buckeyes were 2-for-6 on the power play, the Gophers 1-for-4.

Sheehy scored his second goal on a power play with 2:30 left in the game. Sheehy also had an assist on Lindgren's goal for a three-point night. That gives the sophomore forward nine goals, including four this weekend, and six assists in seven career games against the Buckeyes. For this season, Sheehy leads the Gophers in goals with nine and points with 20. His 11 assists are tied for the team lead.

"We got to shake this one off and get ready for this next week, this next weekend, Michigan State," Sheehy said, "and go there as well prepared as we can."

The Buckeyes were picked to finish second in the Big Ten behind the three-time defending champion Gophers in a preseason coaches poll and came into this series ranked No. 10 by USCHO.com.

"They (the Buckeyes) were due for one," Lucia said. "We've played a lot of close games with Ohio State the last couple of years and they have been in our favor and they got a blowout win tonight."