Ohio State 2, Clarkson 0

A sluggish first period proved costly for Clarkson tonight in a 2-0 loss to Ohio State in the championship game of the Ohio Hockey Classic.

Here were the five things to watch:
1. Can Clarkson pull off a second straight upset? The Golden Knights beat second-ranked Miami (Ohio) 4-2 in a semifinal Friday night. Ohio State (12-6-1) is not as good on paper as Miami, but still has some impressive numbers. The Buckeyes have won seven straight games, have only allowed four goals in their last three games and has scored 26 goals in their last four. Ohio State also has seven NHL draft picks on the roster (Clarkson has eight). Well, as stated above, Clarkson got off to a bad start and never fully recovered.

2. Will the offense stay hot? Clarkson had its best goal output (4) since it scored six goals on opening night against RIT. The answer to this has to be a big no, it was the first time all year the team was shut out.

3. Beat another hot goalie. Both Miami (Ohio) goalies had impressive numbers going into last night's game and Ohio State has combined to stop 91.3 percent of opposing shots, led by sophomore Dustin Carlson, who has played in 16 games and has a .929 save percentage. See the above comment!

4. Defense. Clarkson needs to improve on the number of shots it allows. Freshman goalie Paul Karpowich was a key factor in Clarkson's win last night, but he was tested by way too many quality shots. Clarkson actually showed improvement in this category. The Buckeyes scored only one goal while Paul Karpowich was on the ice and while they had 34 shots, 15 of those came in the first period.


5. Score first. Clarkson is 2-3-1 when it scores first this year, which isn't that impressive until you consider that the team is 1-7-3 when the opposition scores first. Considering this game is being played on the road against a quality opponent, scoring first and taking the crowd noise out of the game could be a factor. In this game, scoring first really meant something!