Saturday night, it took 27 seconds for Ohio State to get the game winning goal. Dan Knapp made sure the Buckeye scoring didn’t stop there.
Knapp notched a hat trick, scoring in the game’s first minute to stake OSU to a lead it never relinquished as the Buckeys shut out Ferris State 6-0.
With the puck loose in the slot, Knapp picked it up and went across the top of the crease. Ferris State goaltender Mike Brown sprawled, but Knapp shot the puck over him to make it 1-0.
That was all Ohio State needed as Dave Caruso was sterling in net.
“We were due for a game like that,” Bulldog coach Bob Daniels said. “The key is to just forget about it and move on.”
Bryce Anderson continued the scoring early for the Buckeyes on another defensive breakdown for the Bulldogs. Lee Spector carried the puck into the zone and wristed it toward the net. Anderson was there to deflect it past Brown at 3:45 to give the Buckeyes a 2-0 lead.
Ferris State tightened up after that second goal, but Caruso was stellar as he kept the Bulldogs off the board with a series of saves.
The second period was a mirror image of the first with Ohio State coming out as the dominate team. Its passes were crisp and its defense ferocious.
Brown was the story early in the second as he kept Ferris State within two goals. The rest of the team was having problems getting it going though as their passes were going wide and the puck just wasn’t bouncing their way.
Andrew Schembri notched his seventh and eighth goals of the season to give Ohio State a four goal lead. Dan Knapp chipped the puck across the crease to Schembri who stuffed it in short side on Brown at 8:47. Schembri chipped in his second goal of the night at 19:50 while on the power play.
“I really thought we needed to get that third goal after they got the first two,” Daniels said. “It just didn’t happen. When we got down by three, it was just too big of a hole to climb out of. Especially on a Saturday night and down two men to injury.”
Ferris State didn’t have much life in the third period as Ohio State continued to dominate. Even a change in goal for the Bulldogs didn’t help matters as Knapp notched his second and third goals of the game to give Ohio State the 6-0 win.
Caruso and the Buckeye defense did the rest of the work, preserving the shutout.
Ferris State travels to South Bend to play Notre Dame next weekend. Ohio State will host Nebraska-Omaha for a pair of games next weekend.
