Time to split

It seems everyone split their series this weekend.

Columbus Blue Jackets
Went 1-1 dropping their game in Pittsburgh but storming back to claim an unlikely victory, with unlikely heroes, on Saturday against the NHL's 2nd best squad in San Jose.

Syracuse Crunch
This weekend marked the return of Nikita Filatov to the lineup. It certainly has been a while for this kid as he's battled a "lower body injury" and apparently some flu.

On Friday the Crunch dropped a 3-2 decision to the Lake Erie Monsters. Derek MacKenzie and Aaron Rome collected the assists. Filatov finished with no points, a -2 and drew two penalties.

On Saturday the Crunch looked to get back in the win column against the Toronto Marlies... and win they did by a final of 4-1. Unlike the previous night Filatov did get on the board with a goal as did fellow Russian rookie Maksim Mayorov who collected a goal and an assist. What impressed me more is that goaltender Dahm made 42 stops on 43 shots. The Crunch managed just 14 shots the entire game but made them count.

The Crunch now sit 5th in the North Division with a 24-21-3-2 record.

Mike York continues to lead them in scoring with 34 points in 47 games. Derek MacKenzie is quickly closing the game though with 27 points in just 34 games. Mayorov leads in rookie scoring with 21 points in 43 games.

Hockey Buckeyes
It was a big weekend for the Ohio State Men's hockey team as they took on #2 ranked Notre Dame on Friday and Sunday.

Unfortunately things did not start off well on Friday as the Buckeyes blew a 4-3 with just a second remaining in regulation as Notre Dame tied it and then went on to win in OT.

Zac Dalpe's comments on the game:
On the team after the game
"It was silence. Everyone was speechless. Tomorrow is a new day and tonight just wasn't our night. At times the game got away from us. It was a good effort and we can draw some positives from the loss."

On returning after an injury
"It felt good. It took a minute to get my lungs back. I kept it simple. My linemates helped me. It was an emotional loss, but Sunday we'll come out ready to play."

On the crowd
"I've been here for a year and it was the largest crowd I've ever seen. It helps. They definitely get the blood pumping. "

On Sunday things looked a lot brighter as the Buckeye's rode Dalpe's 3 assists and John Albert's goal and 2 helpers to a 4-1 win over the Irish.

Heck I'm just going to let the video they have posted on their site do the talkin on this one:



The win moves the Buckeyes to 18-9-3 this year and is 11-8-3 in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings, tied for fourth with Alaska, two points behind third-place Michigan.

Not to be missed was that both games drew crowds of over 6 thousand which is an excellent turnout for college hockey -- well done Columbus!

-LTL

Weekend in review

Lots of hockey this weekend -- lets get right to it.

The Columbus Blue Jackets ran out of gas playing their 3rd game in 4 nights versus the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night as they lost 5-2.

Steve Mason showed signs of being a human and the Blues special teams really took it to the Jackets scoring 4 PP goals. I think Hitch summed it up best when he said the Blues were a desperate bunch and certainly played that way. The game put an end to the Jackets 4 game win streak with the last 3 of those coming on the road.

The bigger story right now is the price the Jackets paid for that game with reports from Puck-rakers that Kristian Huselius is out with a concussion due to a cheap shot from the Blues David Backes. It was great to see a reaction from teammate Fedor Tyutin coming to the defense of his teammate but that is a mightly big blow.

This team can ill-afford to lose yet another top 6 skill player but that is where the Jackets find themselves right now. They can't make excuses with Detroit tomorrow night and then the Captitals, who have only lost once at home, next to end this road trip on Friday.

You have think the pressure just got a little heavier for Howson to make a move to help this squad.

The Syracuse Crunch are really struggling.

On Friday they blew a 300 lead and dropped their game 4-3 against Hamilton with Rome, Kelly and Vigilante getting on the board.

Then on Saturday against the Lake Eerie Monsters in Cleveland they lost 3-2 in OT... Pohl and Garlock got on the board and hey, at least they got a point.

The weekend drop the Crunch to a 15-16-2 record and all the way to 5th place in the North Division. Ouch.

The best news of the weekend was the play of the Ohio State Men's hockey team. They routed Army on Friday in their first game of the Ohio Hockey Classic and then were able to squeeze out a 2-0 win on Saturday over Clarkson to win the tournament.

The win marked the 9th straight win on home ice for the Buckeyes and I believe it was only the 2nd time they have won their own tournament which started in 2004.

It was the first time this season I was able to watch this team play live.

Of course I was most interested in 2008 2nd round pick (Carolina) Zac Dalpe and he did not dissapointment. As I mentioned before you can see this kid has the tools to be a pro and he sealed the game for the Buckeyes with an empty netter with seconds remaining.

The guy who really stood out to me though was this Corey Toy kid from Round Hill, VA. Talk about an in your face rough and tumble defensive defensemen -- this kid was a rock and a punisher. Not sure where this kid projects as a pro but this 6ft 195lb guy sure can bring it at the collegiate level.

The Buckeyes can really spread the scoring around... guys like John Albert and Elkins were also impressive.

The biggest suprise of the tournament was the #2 Miami Redhawks getting upset both nights. I was able to watch the entire game against Army and once again they ran into a hot goaltender....they outshot Army something like 50 to 15 but Army capitalized on some shothanded chances and were able to hand on.

Miami has two Jackets prospects in Will Weber (2nd round pick in 2007) and Trent Vogelhuber (7th round pick in 2007). Weber of course is the guy I watched and let me tell ya this kid has pro size at 6'4" 205lbs and he skates well with it and isn't afraid to get physical. Of course he's raw but I liked what I saw. Vogelhuber, from Dublin OH, didn't see a whole lot of time as he played mostly on Miami's 4th line...he's a project obviously but he's also recovering from major knee surgery.

The Buckeyes now sit at 13-6-1 overall and 6-5-1-1 in the conference. They are back it this weekend at Bowling Green.

-LTL