By: J. Justin Boggs (USCHO.com) — COLUMBUS, Ohio — Following the Ohio State Buckeyes’ 5-3 win over the Ferris State Bulldogs on Friday night, the standings in the middle of the CCHA got a bit more interesting.

Ohio State climbed above the Michigan Wolverines who lost to Michigan State Friday night for seventh in the conference. With Michigan State’s win, Ferris State now drops four points behind the Michigan State Spartans as they are now in second.

“I think after the Miami series (two weeks ago) when we dropped two, the ability to win the league outright was going to be an uphill climb,” Ferris State head coach Bob Daniels said. “But right now, we certainly have a great opportunity to secure a top three spot and help us with our tournament bid in terms of the NCAA. So there is no panic, but in some respects, a little panic would be good.”

With Michigan in ninth place in the CCHA, there is only a four point separation between them and fourth place Lake Superior State. Alaska, Nebraska-Omaha, Ohio State, and Notre Dame all lie in between.

“I don’t even know what the other teams are doing, all I am worried about is
what we have to do tomorrow,” Ohio State coach John Markell said.

“We had a standing board in the locker room and we took that down to focus game-to game and not to focus on every other team,” Buckeyes’ forward Sergio Somma said.

Ohio State has now won four of its last five games since the holiday break. Ferris State has lost four out of its last five games.

The Buckeyes never trailed in Friday’s game. Ohio State’s Cal Heeter was the better of the two goaltenders stopping 46-of-49 shots. Bulldogs’ goalie Pat Nagle had 25 saves on 30 shots. Markell said he will likely start Dustin Carlson as his goalie for Saturday’s rematch. Daniels said he would need to sleep before deciding, but said he would likely give Taylor Nelson the……

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