COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State men's hockey team scored three times in 49 seconds in the third period to rally from a 1-0 deficit and down Western Michigan, 4-2, Friday in Value City Arena. The Buckeyes, now 4-6-1 and 3-3-1-1 in CCHA play, and Broncos (5-3-1, 1-3-1-1 CCHA) will close out the two-game series at 8:05 p.m. Saturday in Value City Arena. Note the new game time, as the hockey game follows a 3:30 p.m. Ohio State vs. Iowa football game in Ohio Stadium.

The Broncos scored in the first period and the lead held until Buckeye freshman Paul Kirtland tallied his first career goal at 4:50 to tie the game. Sophomore Hunter Bishop followed with a score 34 seconds later and senior Mathieu Picard closed out the stretch with a goal at 5:39, putting the Buckeyes ahead, 3-1. The Broncos drew within one (3-2) at 12:21 but junior Peter Boyd scored at 17:34 to give the Buckeyes a two-goal cushion.

The Broncos led 1-0 through two periods. Jared Katz scored at 8:37 of the first period, tallying on the power play off assists from Matt Tennyson and Tyler Ludwig. Western Michigan goalie Riley Gill had 28 saves through the first two stanzas, with 12 in the first and 16 in the second. Buckeye goalie Dustin Carlson stopped 14 of the 15 shots he faced. The Broncos were 1-for-3 on the power play in the first period and did not have a man advantage in the second. Ohio State was scoreless on three power plays through the first two stanzas.

The Buckeyes took command early in the third period with three goals in the first 5:39 (all coming in 49 seconds). Kirtland opened the scoring on the power play with his first career tally. Matt Bartkowski passed up to Zac Dalpe, whose pass went to Kirtland as he was coming out of the penalty box. His shot deflected in to tie the game at 1-all at 4:50. Just 34 seconds later, Bishop scored low glove-side off a drop pass from John Albert, with Kyle Reed picking up the second assist. Picard scored 15 seconds after that on a one-timer off a pass from Patrick Schafer on the wall. The Broncos cut the lead to one (3-2) when Luke Witkowski scored at 12:21 on the power play. Boyd regained Ohio State's two-goal edge at 17:34. Shane Sims led Dalpe into the WMU zone. He stickhandled to the slot before the puck came to Boyd in the high slot and he was able to shoot it past Gill to make the score 4-2. Shots in the third were 10-6 in favor of the Buckeyes. The Broncos had five power play chances, including an opportunity with 1:41 left that became a 6-on-4 when they pulled the goalie.

Carlson made 19 saves in 59:52 in the Buckeye net. Gill had 34 saves in 58:50 for the Broncos.

Western Michigan was 2-for-8 on the power play, with Ohio State 1-for-6.

 Postgame Quotes
John Markell, Ohio State head coach
On the game
"I thought our guys played a good game. Western Michigan came in here and got on the board first with the deflection. But our guys stuck with the game plan; we didn't get frustrated, and we got payback. It was nice to see we got a win for whoever was in goal."

On all of the opportunities to score
"We had plenty of chances. Western's goalie played well. We had some miscommunications on our part which led to opportunities for Western (Michigan). We kept attacking with bodies and were very opportunistic. It was all about staying level, not too high or too low."

On the play of Dustin Carlson
"The first goal was not his fault. He was there; it was just deflected. I thought he did a good job and played really hard for us."

Dustin Carlson, Ohio State junior goalie
On his first win of the season
"I think it was the first game of the season that we gave up less than 30 shots when I was in goal. Our guys were moving around quite a bit more. They were hustling, but there was calmness about them. We weren't fighting the puck. The team looked strong."

Hunter Bishop, OhiO State junior forward
On the third period
"We were all thinking positive in the intermission and coming into the third period. Coach (Markell) was stressing the importance of sticking to the process. He told us the goals would come. Then the goals came in bunches tonight."

Jim Culhane, Western Michigan head coach
On the game
"What it boiled down to was the fact OSU took advantage of their scoring opportunities. We had chances to score throughout the first and second periods, but we didn't capitalize. We let them hang around and they put it together in the third."

On his team's performance
"I thought we played smart, intelligent hockey game for the first 40 minutes. We did a lot of the things we wanted to do coming in, but we weren't able to sustain it for the full game."

On the changes WMU will need to make for Saturday's game
"We'll look at the tape and discuss some things with the team. We're going to need to do a better job of capitalizing on our chances."

Tyler Ludwig, Western Michigan senior defenseman
On Ohio State's three goals in 49 seconds of the third period
"They capitalized on our mental mistakes - once they got that first goal, they grabbed momentum and we had a hard time regrouping."

Jared Katz, Western Michigan senior center
On Ohio State's poor Friday night record
"You really can't look into that too much - you still have to come out and play the game."

On the performance of senior goalie Riley Gill
"They had a lot of good opportunities tonight and Gill did a good job of turning most of them away. Both he and [backup goalie] Jerry Kuhn have been great for us all year."

Hockey Game Box Score (Final)
Ohio State Men's Hockey 2009-10
Western Michigan vs Ohio State (Nov 13, 2009 at Columbus, Ohio)

 Western Michigan (5-3-1, 1-3-1-1 CCHA) vs. Ohio State (4-6-1, 3-3-1-1 CCHA)
 Date: Nov 13, 2009  Location: Columbus, Ohio        Arena: Value City Arena   
 Attendance:2129   Start time:7:05 pm   End time:9:11 pm   Total time:2:06   

 Goals by Period 1 2 3 Total
 Western Michigan 1 0 1 2
 Ohio State 0 0 4 4
 
   1st period - 1, WMU, Jared Katz/5 (Matt Tennyson/4, Tyler Ludwig/4)
8:37 (pp). Penalties - Greg Squires, WMU (hooking) 1:58; Paul
Kirtland, OSU (charging) 7:00; Chris Reed, OSU (cth elbowing) 9:46;
Sergio Somma, OSU (kneeing) 14:10; Jordan Collins, WMU (holding)
17:59; Matt Bartkowski, OSU (cross-checking) 18:41; Ross Henry, WMU
(cth high-sticking) 19:46.

   2nd period - Penalties - Patrick Schafer, OSU (cross-checking)
13:08; Max Campbell, WMU (slashing) 13:08.

   3rd period - 2, OSU, Paul Kirtland/1 (Zac Dalpe/5, Matt
Bartkowski/2) 4:50 (pp). 3, OSU, Hunter Bishop/2 (John Albert/5, Kyle
Reed/1) 5:24. 4, OSU, Mathieu Picard/1 (Patrick Schafer/2) 5:39. 5,
WMU, Luke Witkowski/1 (Greg Squires/8, Tyler Ludwig/5) 12:21 (pp). 6,
OSU, Peter Boyd/3 (Zac Dalpe/6, Shane Sims/5) 17:34. Penalties -
Mathieu Picard, OSU (o-holding) 1:19; Paul Kirtland, OSU (tripping)
2:43; Chris Clackson, WMU (interference) 3:59; Travis Paeth, WMU
(cross-checking) 9:25; Kyle Reed, OSU (cross-checking) 10:20; Shane
Sims, OSU (tripping) 10:43; Hunter Bishop, OSU (slashing) 13:22;
Jordan Collins, WMU (interference) 13:22; Luke Witkowski, WMU
(hooking) 14:31; Patrick Schafer, OSU (hooking) 18:19.

   Shots on goal - WMU 5-10-6 21; OSU 12-16-10 38.

   Power plays - WMU 2 of 8; OSU 1 of 6.

   Penalties - WMU 8 (16 min); OSU 11 (22 min).

   Goalies - WMU, Riley Gill 4-3-0 (58:50 minutes, 38 shots-34 saves)
, EMPTY NET (01:10, 0-0); OSU, Dustin Carlson 1-5-0 (59:52, 21-19) ,
EMPTY NET (00:08, 0-0).

   Penalty shots - None.

 A-2129  T-2:06   
 Three stars: 1. Mathieu Picard    2. Hunter Bishop    3. Tyler Ludwig   
 Ref: Brian Hill; Dean Sanborn   Line: Justin Perrone; Jared Reid
 Win-Dustin Carlson (1-5-0).  Loss-Riley Gill (4-3-0).