After a blistering start to the season, a recent rough patch has senior Sean Duddy thinking philosophically about the Ohio State men’s hockey team.

“We’ve struggled a bit the last couple games, but that’s what happened,” the defenseman said. “That’s life. It throws adversity at you whether you’re playing hockey or going through school. You can’t always be at your best all the time. It’s what you do when your chips are down that shows your character.”

Since compiling a 13-4-1 record before a three-week break in December, the Buckeyes have gone 1-0-2. Both ties came last weekend at Bowling Green, the last-place team in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Before playing the Falcons, the talk was about how the Buckeyes needed to be focused on that series and not the one looming against Michigan.

Now facing a game tonight against the 13th-ranked Wolverines in Value City Arena and another Sunday on the outdoor ice at Cleveland’s Progressive Field, Duddy said the team had not been fully invested.

“I think we definitely might have overlooked Bowling Green a bit,” he said. “They played really hard and we didn’t play the style of play that we wanted to play. They beat us at our own game.”

Coach Mark Osiecki said the weekend had a few positives. Although the Buckeyes lost shootouts in both games, they came away with points while giving the coaching staff plenty to preach about this week.

“(We’re reminding them) what put them in this position, what got them there, what kind of effort they have to have every day in practice,” he said. “If we take a step back from that, we’re an average hockey club, to be honest. The fortunate part right now is we’re not playing great hockey but we’ve picked up points and we also can kick (the players) in the butt.”

The Buckeyes have maintained their No. 2 national ranking, but that will be put to the test by a Michigan team seeking revenge. When the teams met in mid-November, the Buckeyes earned their first sweep in Ann Arbor since the 1986 season.

Now the Wolverines boast a seven-game unbeaten streak to counter an earlier 0-6-1 stretch. They also have gained the services of defenseman Jon Merrill, a second-round NHL draft pick in 2010 who served a 22-game suspension to open the season for violating team rules. He made his season debut last weekend against Lake Superior State and had a plus-3 rating in the two games.

“He is going to play a lot in the NHL for a long period of time,” Osiecki said of Merrill. “That certainly helps them out, but that team is a top-five team in the country, no doubt about it. Obviously, you don’t want to be peaking early, and I think (Michigan coach Red Berenson) would say that they’re doing just fine.”

Ohio State senior goalie Cal Heeter said he is not worried that his team, with 12 freshmen, hit its stride too soon.

“We have a young team, but that’s no excuse,” he said. “We have to get back to what was working in the first half when we were going out and outworking teams every night. We can get back to that, and I have no doubts we will.”

ajardy@dispatch.com