{"id":91108,"date":"2019-02-13T06:00:04","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T12:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=91108"},"modified":"2020-08-24T12:53:12","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T17:53:12","slug":"second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/","title":{"rendered":"Second-ranked Ohio State finding momentum at right time, Buckeyes a group ‘that believes in themselves’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mason<\/a>
Mason Jobst leads Ohio State in scoring with 15 goals and 33 points in 28 games this season (photo: Omar Phillips).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ohio State has won seven games in a row, outscoring its opponents 26-11 in that time.<\/p>\n

Buckeyes coach Steve Rohlik is particularly excited about that second number.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve played fairly consistent,\u201d Rohlik said \u201cWe were a little up-and-down at the beginning of the year. That was our strong point last year — we were pretty consistent start to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rohlik said he\u2019s been reminding the team that they \u201cdon\u2019t need to score six to win,\u201d and that consistency will help them in closer games, like the 2-1 overtime victory over Wisconsin last weekend. Aside from a 6-4 win over Penn State, no team has managed more than two goals against the Buckeyes during their winning streak.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to play consistent and be connected,\u201d he said. \u201cTo me, that\u2019s what is important for our team to understand because that\u2019s what we got away from earlier in the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in the year was a 6-3 loss to Massachusetts, an 8-2 loss to Bowling Green and a 7-7 tie with Michigan State.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try not to get into too many of those but the game sometimes dictates that,\u201d Rohlik said of high-scoring affairs. \u201cHaving some guys that have been around for four years, they understand we\u2019ve been in those games and they have the confidence that if we play 60 minutes most times you\u2019re going to go through some momentum swings in a hockey game.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve just got to try and ride out theirs and, again, stay consistent and believe in yourself. We\u2019ve got a group that believes in themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Buckeyes have been able to win seven in a row despite Tanner Laczynski, Sasha Larocque and Gustaf Westlund missing multiple games due to injuries. Laczynski hasn\u2019t played since Jan. 19 against Penn State and both Larocque and Westlund went down during the game against Notre Dame on Feb. 1. Rohlik said all three are day-to-day or week-to-week in terms of a return date.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, everybody\u2019s dealing with some injuries, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Rohlik said. \u201cFor us, it\u2019s no different. The guys that have filled in have done a great job, but if we can get those guys back, it just gives us that much more depth, and if you can do that, you\u2019re probably going to be a little bit better hockey team.\u201d<\/p>\n

One constant for Rohlik is that he\u2019s been able to pencil Mason Jobst into the lineup every game. The senior center leads the Buckeyes with 15 goals and 18 assists this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayers like that don\u2019t come around that often,\u201d Rohlik said of Jobst. \u201cTo have a four-year player, two-time captain, All-American and Hobey Baker candidate and to be there for us his senior year, to me, it\u2019s just amazing what he does on and off the ice. He leads by example with his work ethic. That\u2019s what you want out of your culture, when you have a guy doing those things and you have other guys following. There\u2019s no secret why there\u2019s been some success here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohio State has had consistent play in goal, too, from two players. Sophomore Tommy Nappier has a 11-1-2 record with a 1.60 GAA and senior Sean Romeo has a 8-4-2 record with a 2.32 GAA. The two have split duties, with Romeo manning the net on Fridays and Nappier on Saturdays, the whole season. Most goaltending tandems tend segue into one clear-cut starter eventually, but this one seems to be going strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t give those two enough credit for understanding what we\u2019ve talked about and what we\u2019ve done since the beginning of the year,\u201d Rohlik said \u201cThey\u2019ve gone in and done their job and they\u2019ve put the team first. That speaks volumes of our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

This weekend, the Buckeyes get a reeling Minnesota team at home. The Gophers are 2-6 since sweeping Notre Dame, but have already shown Ohio State that they are no pushover. Minnesota took the Buckeyes to overtime twice earlier in the season, scoring with 41 seconds to tie the first game and erasing a two-goal deficit on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The difference this time is OSU will be playing at home, where it will play four of the final six regular-season contests and more than likely every game it plays in the Big Ten tournament.<\/p>\n

And Columbus has taken note, too, of the No. 2 Buckeyes, as the average attendance for the last four home games has been stellar.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe energy has been incredible here,\u201d Rohlik said. \u201cThe fans and our students, you walk in and there\u2019s 11,000, 10,000, 9,000 and 10,000. It\u2019s been a great run and it speaks volumes for hockey here in Columbus. You\u2019ve got the Blue Jackets, you\u2019ve got youth hockey growing, you\u2019ve got our women\u2019s team doing well and then us.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got a lot of people following those teams. It\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ohio State has won seven games in a row, outscoring its opponents 26-11 in that time. Buckeyes coach Steve Rohlik is particularly excited about that second number (photo: Omar Phillips).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":91109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[812],"coauthors":[855],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSecond-ranked Ohio State finding momentum at right time, Buckeyes a group 'that believes in themselves' - College Hockey | USCHO.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ohio State has won seven games in a row, outscoring its opponents 26-11 in that time. Buckeyes coach Steve Rohlik is particularly excited about that second number (photo: Omar Phillips).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91108\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Second-ranked Ohio State finding momentum at right time, Buckeyes a group 'that believes in themselves' - College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ohio State has won seven games in a row, outscoring its opponents 26-11 in that time. Buckeyes coach Steve Rohlik is particularly excited about that second number (photo: Omar Phillips).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91108\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-13T12:00:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-24T17:53:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobst.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"659\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"454\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Drew Claussen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@USCHO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Drew Claussen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/\",\"name\":\"Second-ranked Ohio State finding momentum at right time, Buckeyes a group 'that believes in themselves' - College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobst.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-13T12:00:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-08-24T17:53:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fbf976132f97155e5f6e6487fbde73fd\"},\"description\":\"Ohio State has won seven games in a row, outscoring its opponents 26-11 in that time. Buckeyes coach Steve Rohlik is particularly excited about that second number (photo: Omar Phillips).\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobst.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobst.jpg\",\"width\":659,\"height\":454,\"caption\":\"Mason Jobst (26 - Ohio State) (photo: Omar Phillips)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Second-ranked Ohio State finding momentum at right time, Buckeyes a group ‘that believes in themselves’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/\",\"name\":\"College Hockey | USCHO.com\",\"description\":\"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fbf976132f97155e5f6e6487fbde73fd\",\"name\":\"Drew Claussen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/4e1d9091eeac610709a57e965bd893f6\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f42f2ce3549e15735a085b06d411cbce?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f42f2ce3549e15735a085b06d411cbce?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Drew Claussen\"},\"description\":\"Big Ten Columnist Drew Claussen covers the Big Ten for USCHO.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/author\/drewclaussen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Second-ranked Ohio State finding momentum at right time, Buckeyes a group 'that believes in themselves' - College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"Ohio State has won seven games in a row, outscoring its opponents 26-11 in that time. Buckeyes coach Steve Rohlik is particularly excited about that second number (photo: Omar Phillips).","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91108","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Second-ranked Ohio State finding momentum at right time, Buckeyes a group 'that believes in themselves' - College Hockey | USCHO.com","og_description":"Ohio State has won seven games in a row, outscoring its opponents 26-11 in that time. Buckeyes coach Steve Rohlik is particularly excited about that second number (photo: Omar Phillips).","og_url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91108","og_site_name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OfficialUSCHO\/","article_published_time":"2019-02-13T12:00:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-24T17:53:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":659,"height":454,"url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobst.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Drew Claussen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@USCHO","twitter_site":"@USCHO","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Drew Claussen","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/","name":"Second-ranked Ohio State finding momentum at right time, Buckeyes a group 'that believes in themselves' - College Hockey | USCHO.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobst.jpg","datePublished":"2019-02-13T12:00:04+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-24T17:53:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fbf976132f97155e5f6e6487fbde73fd"},"description":"Ohio State has won seven games in a row, outscoring its opponents 26-11 in that time. Buckeyes coach Steve Rohlik is particularly excited about that second number (photo: Omar Phillips).","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobst.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/jobst.jpg","width":659,"height":454,"caption":"Mason Jobst (26 - Ohio State) (photo: Omar Phillips)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2019\/02\/13\/second-ranked-ohio-state-finding-momentum-at-right-time-buckeyes-a-group-that-believes-in-themselves\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Second-ranked Ohio State finding momentum at right time, Buckeyes a group ‘that believes in themselves’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/","name":"College Hockey | USCHO.com","description":"Men's and Women's D-I and D-III College Hockey News, Features, Scores, Statistics, Fan Forum, Blogs","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fbf976132f97155e5f6e6487fbde73fd","name":"Drew Claussen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/4e1d9091eeac610709a57e965bd893f6","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f42f2ce3549e15735a085b06d411cbce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f42f2ce3549e15735a085b06d411cbce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Drew Claussen"},"description":"Big Ten Columnist Drew Claussen covers the Big Ten for USCHO.","url":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/author\/drewclaussen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91108"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110029,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91108\/revisions\/110029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91108"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=91108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}