Ohio Hockey News Roundup: 2/13/2014

Image courtesy of Sportslogos.net

Here at the Union and Blue, we are committed to covering the Columbus Blue Jackets and bringing you the latest news and opinions about the team. The Blue Jackets are not the only hockey team in Ohio and in the Ohio Hockey News Roundup we will provide a quick overview of the latest news in Ohio hockey. The primary focus will be NCAA men’s hockey, the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL, the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL, and the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL.

Lake Erie Monsters

The AHL was on its short All-Star break this past week. The Monsters had three games leading into the break: a 4-0 shutout win at Grand Rapids and then two back to back losses to the San Antonio Rampage at home to head into the break. Lake Erie dropped the first game 4-1 and last Saturday’s game 3-1. The Monsters are now 1-3-0 in the month of February.

• Last Saturday, the Monsters wore Special Olympics themed tribute jerseys. Those game worn jerseys are now being auctioned off. You can bid on goaltender Sami Aittokallio’s jersey here.

• The Monsters post the “Sights and Sounds” after each home game. You can check out highlights and interviews from Friday and Saturday night’s games.

NCAA

• It was another great weekend for the Ohio State Buckeyes, the team has not lost in their last five Big 10 games. This past weekend, it was two dramatic shootout wins over Michigan State, making Ohio State the only team to beat the Spartans in the shootout this season. Ohio State was far from being favorites in the new Big 10 Hockey Conference, but they have been holding their own and showing the other schools that they are a force to be reckoned with.

• As we already covered in CannonBalls last week, the Ohio University hockey team has also been on a roll lately as well. They completely demolished Kent State (sad face from this KSU grad) in a weekend series, 7-0 and 8-2.

• Bowling Green University has a proud Olympic tradition, and that will once again be the case at 2014 Sochi games. US coach Dan Bylsma, current Bowling Green sophomore and Team Latvia defenseman Ralfs Freibergs, as well as announcer Doc Emrick are just some of the noteable Bowling Green Falcons involved with the Sochi games.

• The Springfield Falcons’ connection to Ohio hockey goes beyond being the Columbus Blue Jackets AHL affiliate, they also have roster that contains several standout players from Miami of Ohio. The latest addition is Carter Camper, acquired via a trade between the Blue Jackets and the Boston Bruins.

ECHL – Cincinnati Cyclones and Toledo Walleye

The Cyclones have found themselves in a bit of a rough patch; they have now lost six games in a row. Picking up from where we left off last week, Cincinnati lost their second home game against the Toledo Walleye, 4-3 last Friday. They followed that up with a 3-2 loss at home to the Fort Wayne Komets on Saturday and a 4-2 loss to the Evansville IceMen on Sunday in Evansville. The Cyclones were back at home Wednesday against the Komets, which they lost 4-2.

As was already covered above, the Toledo Walleye swept their two game series with the Cincinnati Cyclones. However, the excitement was short lived, as they then lost Saturday’s game against the Kalamazoo Wings, 5-4 and Wednesday’s game against the Wheeling Nailers, 4-1.

• As part of their throwback weekend celebration, on February 21st and 22nd, the Toledo Walleye will be wearing throwback Toledo Storm jerseys. The Storm last played back in 2007. Both games will be against the Orlando Solar Bears.