[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

2/12/06

WISCONSIN 4 | OHIO STATE 2

Buckeyes cold outside
Lambeau Field’s tundra proves unfriendly, unlucky

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Scott Priestle
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

<!--PHOTOS--><TABLE class=phototableright align=right border=0><!-- begin large ad code --><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE align=center><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle></IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle></IMG> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=credit width=200>MIKE ROEMER | ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS </TD></TR><TR><TD class=cutline width=200>Wisconsin’s Ross Carlson, front right, and Ohio State’s Sam Campbell vie for the puck behind the Buckeyes’ goal in the first period at Lambeau Field. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


GREEN BAY, Wis. — At least the beer was cold.
The Frozen Tundra Hockey Classic served as a perfect excuse for football-style tailgating in mid-February, and thousands partook. Some of the players wore eye-black, and a crowd of 40,890 in Lambeau Field did the wave.
But playing outdoors on a legendary football field did little to change Ohio State’s fortunes. This has been an injury-hindered month and a frustrating season, and the Buckeyes left here last night a little more banged up and a little more irritated than they arrived.
They lost 4-2 to Wisconsin, and in so doing lost an opportunity to move up in the power rankings. They also might have lost another player, as left winger Kenny Bernard took a knee-on-knee hit late in the game and had to be helped off the ice.
As it is, Ohio State has no healthy players in reserve, having lost five players to injuries in the past month, four of them likely seasonending injuries. And at 14-14-4, Ohio State has little margin for error over the final five games of the regular season.
"We have to prepare for our next game. I don’t think we can look further than that," coach John Markell said.
The Buckeyes were outshot 31-20. They killed off seven of eight Wisconsin power plays but could not convert on any of their seven power plays. They hit the post three times and had a goal disallowed.
The latter stuck in their craw. Defenseman Sean Collins knocked in a rebound in the first period, but the officials conferred and ruled that the net had come loose before the shot, so they wiped off the goal.
"They told me the official at the blue line called it off," Markell said. "For him to see that, and the ref standing right there at the net didn’t, I don’t know."
The Buckeyes were whistled for 14 penalties, two of them 10-minute misconducts for yapping at the officials. The injury and evident frustration stained what otherwise figures to be a pleasant memory.
The game-time temperature was 28 degrees with little wind and no snow. The crowd was the second-largest in NCAA history, behind the outdoor game between Michigan and Michigan State in October 2001.
"To come out and see the entire crowd, it was an amazing sight," Collins said.
In the four hours before the game the parking lot filled with red, with a few green-and-gold Packers buses sprinkled in. Most of the red was Wisconsin cardinal, not Ohio State scarlet, and the Wisconsin fight song blared from multiple car stereos.
Ohio State players and coaches might have preferred a more neutral site, but the OSU fans in the parking lot did not seem to mind being in the minority.
"It’s OK. We just didn’t want to miss this," said Dick Bailey, 55, of Hilliard, who made the trip with 15 family members from central and northwest Columbus. "It doesn’t happen every year."
Former Ohio State hockey player Don Rogers, who earned letters in 1973 and ’74, found a way around it. He and his son, Jeff, and friend Mel Dillon met a group of Wisconsin fans at a bar Friday night and joined their tailgate yesterday afternoon.
"It started as a rivalry," Don Rogers said, "but the most important thing is it’s hockey. It doesn’t matter who you’re rooting for. It’s hockey."
spriestle@dispatch.com