Ohio State University is best known for producing football players, not hockey players.
The Buckeyes have won nine national football championships — including last year — and had 14 players selected at this year’s NFL Draft, including four in the first round. Since the NFL Draft started in 1936, a record 95 Ohio State players have been selected in the first round and there were 58 former Buckeyes on NFL rosters to start this season. The Buckeyes play their home games at Ohio Stadium — also known as the Horseshoe — in Columbus.
I had a chance to watch a game at the Horseshoe 10 years ago, and it was an amazing experience, with the Buckeyes beating Minnesota 28-14 in front of 108,075 fans.
Under the giant shadow of the Horseshoe, Ohio State has also had a hockey program since 1963 and the Buckeyes now compete in the Big Ten Conference. They have never won a national championship, but did advance to the Frozen Four final tournament in 1998 and 2018.
There are more than 40 Ohio State hockey players who went on to play in the NHL, but only five of them played more than 400 games — Jamie Macoun, Ryan Kesler, R.J. Umberger, David Steckel and Ryan Dzingel. Bill McKenzie leads all Ohio State goalies with 91 games played in the NHL.
Ohio State is a long way from Jakub Dobes’ hometown of Ostrava, Czech Republic, but it’s where the goaltender played for two seasons after being selected by the Canadiens in the fifth round (136th overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft.
Dobes, 24, left home when he was 17 to chase his dream of playing in the NHL. Dobes’s mother was an English teacher, so there wasn’t too much of a language barrier for him. His first stop was the Topeka Pilots in the North American Hockey League, followed by the Omaha Lancers in the United States Hockey League.
It was in Omaha that the 6-foot-4 Dobes really caught the eye of Ohio State recruiters as he posted a 26-16-3 record in 2020-21 with a 2.48 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.
“The amount of shots he got down in Omaha, you could tell that there was some serious talent,” Ohio State head coach Steve Rohlik said in a phone interview Wednesday. “And with the size he had, and his ability and confidence, we knew we had something special there.”
As a freshman at Ohio State in 2021-22, Dobes posted a 21-12-2 record, a 2.26 GAA and a .934 save percentage. He was named the team MVP, the Big Ten Goaltender and co-Freshman of the Year, was a semifinalist for the Mike Richter Award as the top goalie in NCAA hockey and was also an Ohio State Scholar-Athlete while studying international business and business administration.
Now Dobes is challenging Samuel Montembeault to be the No. 1 goalie with the Canadiens after starting the season with a 6-0 record, a 1.97 GAA and a .930 save percentage.
“It’s amazing,” Rohlik said. “It gives you goosebumps. You’re talking about hockey mania … you’re talking about what hockey is, Montreal. To even think about having one of your players as a starting goaltender for that franchise just fills you with pride and excitement and joy. I’m just happy for him. We always wish him nothing but the best. He’s a great young man.”
From the first time he saw Dobes play, Rohlik was impressed with his size, athletic ability and especially his confidence.
“He had that confidence and he fed off it, and our team played better for it because of his confidence,” Rohlik said. “But you could tell he was athletic. He was raw and I don’t think we’ve seen his best yet. I think his best hockey’s still ahead of us, which is pretty exciting.
“I think he always had that confidence,” added Rohlik, who is in his 16th season coaching at Ohio State. “His practice habits … you could see it in practice every day, even at our level. When he got thrust into the situation (with the Canadiens last season) he was just calm out there and didn’t let a lot of things affect him. But I think he’s still maturing. You can see that he’s enjoying the moment and he’s just trying to kind of stay within himself. He’s playing in the National Hockey League, the best league in the world, and you just have to stay humble and stay within yourself and keep doing the things that got you there.”
Rohlik still keeps in touch with Dobes through texts and the goalie visited with the Buckeyes last January ahead of their 4-3 victory over Michigan in a Frozen Confines outdoor game at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. The Canadiens were in Chicago at the time to play the Blackhawks.
“I just love his smile and his personality,” Rohlik said about Dobes. “You just love sitting down with him. We’re following him and he’s following us, too. It’s a great story.
“Once a Buckeye, always a Buckeye.”
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