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MU icers focused on Buckeyes

Miami plays host to rival Ohio State in the second round of the CCHA tournament.

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By Rick Cassano, Staff Writer Updated 6:57 AM Friday, March 12, 2010

OXFORD — Miami University hockey coach Enrico Blasi is all about short-term memory right now.

The RedHawks are back in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association tournament’s second round after getting bounced by Northern Michigan at this point last year, but Blasi cares little about that.

He’s focused on Ohio State, which begins a best-of-three series at Steve Cady Arena tonight, March 12, after closing the regular season with a scoreless tie/shootout win against Miami on Feb. 27.

“We’re not worried about what happened last year or the year before that,” Blasi said. “Ohio State is fresh in our memory. This time, there won’t be any shootouts. It could go all night.”

MU won the opener against Northern Michigan last year, then dropped the next two games and barely made it into the NCAA tournament. Is Blasi worried about another second-round meltdown?

“Different team, different leadership, different dynamics this year,” he said. “This team’s done a good job of staying in the present.”

Top-seeded Miami (24-5-7) is 3-0-1 against No. 8 OSU (14-16-6) this season, outscoring the Buckeyes 16-4 in the first three meetings.

Ohio State junior goaltender Dustin Carlson had 38 saves in the tie, and he matched his career high of 47 last weekend against Notre Dame.

“We’ve been trying to establish who was going to be the No. 1 guy,” OSU coach John Markell said of the goalie battle between Carlson (5-10-4, .921 save percentage) and sophomore Cal Heeter (9-6-2, .896) — they’ve both played in 19 games. “Dusty has been very good of late.”

RedHawks sophomore forward Trent Vogelhuber delivered five shots on goal in the regular-season finale. He remembers it well.

“It seemed like it was one of (Carlson’s) nights,” Vogelhuber said. “We definitely had good chances, myself included, to put the puck in the net.”

Markell likes the way his team is playing. The Buckeyes have rid themselves of a persistent injury bug, and they have some talented point producers in forwards Zac Dalpe (20 goals, 20 assists), Peter Boyd (six goals, 25 assists), Sergio Somma (14 goals, 14 assists), John Albert (six goals, 21 assists) and Hunter Bishop (12 goals, 12 assists).

“Their forwards are as skilled as anybody in the country,” Blasi said.

CCHA tournament

Who: Ohio State (14-16-6) vs. Miami (24-5-7)
When: 7:35 p.m. today, 7:05 p.m. Saturday and 7:05 p.m. Sunday (if necessary)
Where: Steve Cady Arena, Oxford

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