It may not get the coverage of similar matchups in Minnesota, Michigan or Massachusetts, but Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik is excited to renew the in-state rivalry between Ohio State and Bowling Green this weekend.
In one of the few contests across the country this weekend, the Buckeyes and Falcons will play a home-and-home series with Thursday’s game being played in Columbus and Friday in Bowling Green.
“It’s important,” Rohlik said of the two teams facing each other for the first time since 2018. “They bring a great crowd down here and going into their building, it’s just the tradition of their building and playing in there with their crowd and some of our people there, that’s just what college hockey’s all about.”
The two teams have played 10 times since both left the old CCHA in 2013 and the games have been fairly even, with Bowling Green holding a 5-4-1 edge.
“Coach (Ty) Eigner does a great job there,” Rohlik said. “They compete as hard as anybody, they know their identity, (and) you know what you’re getting into every time you play them. I have a lot of respect for them, and I think our team does as well.
“We understand the rivalry, being two hours away. A couple years ago I think they came in here and put it to us pretty good, so we understand how good they are.”
Ohio State is coming off a split at home with Michigan where it dropped a close game on Friday when the Wolverines scored three goals late in the third and rebounded to pick up a 6-1 victory on Saturday.
“Both nights could have went either way,” Rohlik said of the split. “Friday night was 2-2 with four minutes to go in the game. (Michigan) is dangerous at any part of the game, so you’ve got to be on your toes start to finish. Saturday, again, it was a 2-1 game and then all of a sudden, a couple pucks went in for us there in the third period.”
It was the fourth time this season that OSU dropped the first game of a weekend series but managed to avoid the sweep. Obviously, Rohlik would like more opportunities to add to the two sweeps that the Buckeyes have picked up so far, but he likes the bounce-back ability his team has shown.
“I hate to say it’s consistency because you’ve got to get better, right?” he said. “You shoot to go out and win, but it’s hard to win every night in college hockey and our league’s so tough top to bottom. It’s just resilience, if you go out there and get beat your team knows they can bounce back and think about getting a W the next night. It’s the other way, too, you go out and win on Friday and you know that whoever you play the next night is going to come out and give you their best shot.”
The victory over Michigan was Rohlik’s 150th as a head coach, coming the night after Michigan head coach Mel Pearson picked up the 200th of his career.
Rohlik, who is in his ninth season as bench boss for OSU and served as associate head coach for the four seasons prior, heaped the lion’s share of praise for the accomplishment on those around him.
“Really, I had no idea,” he said. “For the most part, for me, it just tells me how lucky I am to have so many great assistant coaches with me and people around me here. Probably most important is to have so many good players come through here, to see them have success really means the most to me.
“That’s the most important thing.”
