Past As Prologue

Ohio State Taps Into '98 FF Team in Making This Run

by Sara Civian/CHN Reporter

Ohio State played solid hockey all season. That generally goes without saying for a Frozen Four-bound team, but up until their blowout win over defending national champion Denver, the Buckeyes had flown under the radar.

Now the win that punched their ticket to the Frozen Four for the first time in 20 years forced them back into the conversation...how does that conversation sound?

Well, they haven’t exactly been a powerhouse in recent years, and this run they’re on is coinciding with that of their new conference. The conversation sounds a lot like lumping all of the program’s success in with the Big Ten's newfound glory and wrapping a bow around all the newness.

Sure, whatever. The people who matter remember 1998.

Head coach Steve Rohlik remembers 1998. So does his whole staff, and all 27 players on the roster. How could they possibly forget? Every time they want to enter their locker room, they have to punch in “1-9-9-8” first.

That's because equipment manager Tim Adams remembers 1998. He saw the same potential in the current team, and it inspired him to make the storied year their locker room code at the beginning of the season.

Dan Cousineau, who scored two goals in Ohio State’s Frozen Four loss to Boston College way back when, didn’t even know about it.

“It’s almost like, ‘Hey guys, it’s time,'” he said. “I think that was a great idea.”

Rohlik used it, in part, as a nod to Ohio State hockey’s history — which exists, no matter who remembers.

“That’s how we try to move forward,” Rohlik said. “Remember the past, remember the tradition of Ohio State hockey. It’s been here a long time, and people forget that.”

There are, at the very least, a handful of guys who will never forget. Some of them got together at Cousineau’s house to watch Ohio State beat Denver. Soon they’ll board their planes to reunite again in St. Paul. It’s not their first Frozen Four rodeo, but this time around they won’t be playing.

Former Ohio State defenseman Ryan Jestadt's advice to those who are?: "Keep going! No reason to change anything. This team doesn't panic."

The 1998 Buckeyes know how it feels to be overlooked, and they want 2018 remembered.

“I’m still kind of shocked it was 20 years ago,” Cousineau said. “We definitely had a chip on our shoulder, maybe we were seen as a team that wasn't ‘supposed’ to be there, but we had success. I was so impressed by how locked in [Ohio State was against Denver]. They looked so calm, and I think they’re taking this underdog thing to heart. Ohio State is not necessarily seen as a hockey school, and I think that kind of plays into it.”

Being overlooked in 1998 was much more understansable. In 10 prior seasons leading up to that one, Ohio State's highest win total was 12. The program had never made the NCAA tournament. When it went 27-13-2 and made the Frozen Four, it was a truly magical ride.

Things are different now. Since then, there has been disappointment (in the mid-2000s, the program employed three future NHL centers down the middle at the same time — R.J. Umberger, Dave Steckel and Ryan Kesler — yet failed to win another NCAA game until this year) but it's all been building again towards this.

It’s been part of Rohlik’s mission to take these lessons from Buckeyes past to heart. You can’t point to any one of them and define a single star, and although it’s part of the reason for the lack of flash in the highlight-reel era, the same thing is working for the 2018 squad.

A team without a singular star also makes for some long-lasting friendships when the playing days are over. Cousineau, Jestadt and former All-American Hugo Boisvert cited beating Michigan State in Yost to advance to the Frozen Four as a favorite memory, but it goes beyond hockey for them.

“Really, it all comes back to our relationships,” Cousineau said. “Our team was very, very close and that is what I’ll always remember.”

Despite the glaring similarities between the two teams, so much has changed. Cousineau, Jestadt and Boisvert are amazed at the skill and speed of new school college hockey.

“It’s a completely different game now, and I think that’s why there’s so much parity,” Cousineau said. “When we played, you felt like there were six teams that could win every year. I feel like now anybody can.”

It just might be their Buckeyes. Boisvert reminisced on the ping of a post that would’ve given the 1998 team the go-ahead goal in the last minute of the second period.

"So close we were..."

It's time for the same chip-on-the-shoulder Ohio State to take another crack at it, just in a completely different landscape.

“It’s the chance of a lifetime, and we are so proud of [the 2018 Buckeyes],” Boisvert said. “Finish the journey."