The only team worse than the lowly Nanooks? The once-almighty Bucks

n Inside the Crease

By Mark Francescutti
Daily Sports Writer

What's going on with the crazy CCHA this season? After the first month, surprise Notre Dame shares first, while Ohio State has fallen off the roof to the bottom of the conference.

In a conference where anything and everything seems to be happening, the Buckeyes find themselves with a worse record than Alaska-Fairbanks.

Wait a minute - the Nanooks are ahead of the team that made it to its first NCAA final four appearance last season?

Well, it wasn't supposed to be this way.

At the start of this season, it looked as if Ohio State would play itself into the upper echelon of teams. Ranked second in the CCHA preseason poll and earning a top-ten ranking in the U.S. College Hockey Online preseason poll, the coaches and media already placed the Buckeyes on a pedestal of high expectations.

The Buckeyes had the most returning players of any team, including six of the team's top seven scorers, four of six defensemen and both goalies - which meant they weren't affected with the youth bug as was almost every other team in the conference.

Add that they just came off their most successful season in program history, and one might wonder, what could go wrong?

Yet so far, everything has.

Ohio State (1-3-2 CCHA, 1-6-2 overall) finds itself near the conference cellar.

A perfect example of Ohio State's season so far came this weekend in games against Michigan State and Western Michigan.

Versus the Spartans, the Buckeyes had an off game. Michigan State outshot them 44-13, and had seven more power-play chances leading to two goals.

And then when the Buckeyes do control a game, as they did against Western Michigan, the loose pucks slide the other way, goal chances are just chances and they can scrape up only a point against teams such as the Broncos.

Even with Hobey Baker candidate Hugo Boisvert, the team hasn't been able to put up the numbers.

"The previous games, we've been working really hard," Ohio State coach John Markell said. "But we have to score goals and we haven't done that yet."

It looks as if the Buckeyes have become a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the CCHA. The only difference is that when Ohio State does play well, it has the luck of a Homer Simpson.

"We weren't playing that well and our role players haven't stepped up," Markell said. "We've had a few freshmen play better than some of our upperclassman."

But a combination of several factors have led to the early demise of his team.

First, Ohio State shot itself in the foot with the decision to play the majority of home games this season in the brand-new Jerome Schottenstein center.

The only problem? The Buckeyes' new home won't be ready until the game against Michigan on Jan. 2.

Markell had to redo his team's schedule to play the majority of the early-season games on the road.

And so far this season, the Buckeyes have become great tourists, playing their first nine games on the road and earning just one win.

Ohio State has also had to live with the fact that it is are a team that can't sneak up on others as it did last season.

"Teams are now aware of us and I think we lost track of that fact," Markell said. "This is a new team, and I think that they were living on last year."

Markell also believes that the high expectations placed on his team caused some big butterflies.

"At Michigan those kids know from the beginning that there's a tradition at (their) school," Markell said. "Here, there's never been a team with as high expectations. It's a whole new role and experience."

But there's hope in Buckeye land, because Ohio State comes home for the first time this season.

Plus there's another light at the end of the tunnel for the Buckeyes, because this weekend will be the first game in which forward Eric Meloche is 100 percent.

Meloche returned from a six-game absence to give Ohio State a much-needed spark last weekend with an assist on Hugo Boisvert's second-period goal.

"He gives us a physical presence that we didn't have before," Markell said. "He makes the line with Hugo Boisvert so much better."

But the Buckeyes can't make themselves comfortable for too long, because they face the first-place Spartans and a tough Northern Michigan team that clobbered the Wolverines 6-1 on Oct. 31.

"We're finally done (on the road), but a lot of things can happen, because we have Michigan State and Northern," Markell said. "We know we still have to work hard."

'Inside the Crease,' which reports on

Michigan's CCHA opponents, will

appear every other Wednesday

throughout the Michigan hockey season.

11-12-98