Last year’s Ohio State Men’s Hockey team disappointed a lot of Miami faithful by beating the ‘Hawks 1-0 and 5-2 in Columbus on January 7-8. But fret not Buckeye haters RedHawks fans, this was the beginning of the end, and Ohio State promptly finished the season 3-10-3 which included a 2-game sweep out of the CCHA tournament at the hands of Lake Superior State.

Head Coach Mark Osiecki will be at the helm for his second season after a 15-18-4 overall and 10-14-4-2 CCHA record last year. He will have a new goalie coach to mentor senior netminder Cal Heeter and will take one of the largest freshmen classes in college hockey history into the season with 13 rookies on the roster to start things off.

For all of the so-called “draw” of the upcoming Big Ten Conference and the Ohio State “brand name,” this year’s out of conference schedule certainly isn’t impressing us. Ohio State opens up tomorrow (10/1) with an exhibition against Windsor (Canada) College, followed by a home series against Quinnipiac October 7-8. They later have a November series against Alabama-Huntsville and one game at the RMU/Pittsburgh College Hockey Showcase on December 30th. Throw in a game against Little Sisters of the Poor and it looks something like the football team’s OOC schedule (in which they’ve played Akron, Toledo and Colorado this year, and looked awesome awful at Miami of Florida 2 weeks ago).

Outside the weak out of conference schedule, Ohio State does have a couple “marquee” games this year. They will play at Notre Dame in potentially the final game/series in the Joyce Center Ice Rink on October 14-15 (schedule is still undecided for the Irish). Then there’s the aforementioned College Hockey Showcase in Pittsburgh against host Robert Morris University. Finally, to top it off, on January 15th Ohio State heads to Cleveland and Progressive Field for the Frozen Diamond Faceoff against arch-rival Michigan.

Our Fearless Predictions:
The Buckstache rides again…towards the bottom of the league and another first round CCHA tournament road trip and early exit. And with these HIDEOUS “traditional” new uniforms, I’m not sure it will be a pretty ride, either.

The CCHA Media took Ohio State 9th and the Coaches predict a 7th place finish.
Ceiling: 7th
Floor: 11th
Related Links:

Ohio State Hockey Men’s Hockey Examiner – Season Preview
OSU Lantern – Season Preview