Michigan - Ohio State Preview

Who: Michigan (8-12-2) vs #11 Ohio State (12-6-6)

Where: Yost Ice Arena

When: Friday, 8:00pm EST - Saturday, 7:30pm EST

About Ohio State

Few times in this rivalry have we gone into a series where they Buckeyes were a tournament caliber team and the Wolverines were sitting near the bottom third, but here we are welcoming a much better Ohio State team to Yost.

The Buckeyes are good; ranked 15th in the RPI and 11th in the poll they raced out to an 8-1-4 start before cooling off a bit to start conference play and sit at 12-6-6 on the year.

The Buckeyes have always been a dynamic offensive team under Rohlik. They get out in transition and move the puck well in open space, however, this year’s team has climbed to 2nd in the country in scoring recording 4 goals per game with a power play that ranks 4th nationally.

Nick Schilkey is a star and he’s tied for 4th nationally in goals scored with 17. David Gust has 12 and Mason Jobst is 15th nationally in scoring with a 12-13—25 line. This team features quite a bit of scoring depth as well.

Defensively they’re average sitting at 30th in goals allowed and have the 51st ranked penalty kill. Christian Frey and Matt Tomkins split time in net for the 4th consecutive year. Frey has been a solid goaltender throughout his career and has played well this season, posting a 2.64 goals against and a .922 save percentage.

Fancy stats

From CollegeHockeyNews the Bucks are 37th in Corsi (Shots For - Shots Against). Michigan is 59th.

About Michigan

The Wolverines get the Buckeyes at home after a much needed week off. Michigan will look to get back on track after an awful stretch through December and January that saw them win just two games.

This isn’t a good match-up for the Wolverines. The Buckeyes are fast and talented, which doesn’t fare well for a Michigan team that can’t seem to stop anyone from scoring. They’ll need Nagelvoort/Lavigne/LaFontaine to put the team on their shoulders for any chance this weekend.