Bullying Buckeyes

Perhaps inspired by their football counterparts, the Ohio State Buckeyes defiantly stormed into Ann Arbor and bested second ranked Michigan 3-2, abruptly ending the Wolverines 12 game winning streak. The tenacious and hard-fought victory — due largely to senior forward Tommy Goebel's two unassisted goals — improved previously slumping OSU to 4-10-1 on the season and, with Miami idle, virtually guaranteed the RedHawks unanimity as the nation’s best team when the weekly USCHO.com poll is released on Monday. In the Rocky Mountains, where the evening’s expected drama unfolded, No. 3 Denver’s senior netminder Peter Mannino shutout eighth ranked North Dakota, 1-0. The blanking, the normally high-flying Sioux’s second in three weeks, has the Pioneers nipping on the heels of in-state rival CC in the WCHA. Elsewhere in the conference, No. 13 Wisconsin used one of its now-trademark comebacks to best tenth ranked St. Cloud 3-2 in Madison and visiting No. 20 Michigan Tech toppled No. 14 Minnesota in overtime by an identical score, buoyed by three unanswered goals from three different players — each their first of the season. Finally out east in Boston, the nightmare season continued for Jack Parker and his BU Terriers (now just 4-8-2) as a Nathan Gerbe hat trick contributed mightily to the 6-2 walloping by No. 19 BC.