Rookies Sparking OSU’s Early-Season Success
Merkulov, Lohrei, Dobes producing for Buckeyes
Twelve games into the season and the Ohio State Buckeye’s men’s hockey team scoring leaders are a pair of first-year Buckeyes.
Forward Georgii Merkulov and blueliner Mason Lohrei each have 10 points as the team prepares for a weekend series against Notre Dame at Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend.
During a session with the media earlier this week, Lohrei mentioned that “as a freshman you learn something new every week,” and while looking forward to the Notre Dame series added, “This is the Big Ten, you have to bring it every weekend.”
Merkulov, who played Junior Hockey for the Youngstown Phantoms, earned Third Star of the Week in the Big Ten for his four-point performance (2G,2A) in Ohio State’s series against Mercyhurst last weekend. The Buckeyes split that series, losing 5-4 in the Friday opener and rebounding for a 3-2 victory on Saturday night.
A third first-year player, goaltender Jakub Dobeš continues his impressive start to his collegiate career owning a 1.83 goals against average (GAA) and a .931 save percentage.
Dobeš counterpart for the Fighting Irish, graduate student Matthew Galajda has a 1.38 GAA and .943 save percentage in eight games.
The upcoming weekend match up features two top 20 ranked team as the Fighting Irish are ranked eighth and the Buckeyes 18th.
“They (Notre Dame) really don’t have any weaknesses,” observed Ohio State head coach Steve Rohlik. “They’re good at every level from the net out. There as good a hockey team as there is in college hockey right now.”
Ohio State (8-4-0, 4-2-0-0-0) leads Notre Dame (10-3-0, 4-2-0-2-0 Big Ten) 12-10 in league standing points because of the Irish winning two of their contests in overtime.
The Buckeyes continue to play extremely well in the third period and have outscored their opponents 21-7 in the final period of regulation this season.
Senior forward Quinn Preston attributes that to end of practice skating declaring, “We’ve been conditioning a lot this year and I think it’s really paid off.”
Preston has earned eight points (4G,4A) in 12 games against Notre Dame as a Buckeye
BlueLineNotes:
> Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson has 540 career wins, which ranks second among active NCAA Division I head coaches.
> Ohio State associate head coach, Steve Miller, is serving on the USA Hockey staff for the World Junior Championship for the sixth consecutive year. The 2022 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Cup Championship is in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta December 26, 2021- January 5, 2022.
> Notre Dame’s sophomore forward Landon Slaggert has been named to the 2022 U.S. National Junior Team Preliminary Roster. The USA’s training camp begins December 12 at the USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.
> This weekend’s series is the first of back-to-back weekends the Buckeyes face off against Big Ten opponents. Ohio State hosts Michigan for a weekend series beginning on December 10, 2021.
--- Follow Jim Smith on Twitter and Instagram @BlueLineNotes
