Ohio State went into last night’s game against Michigan with a firm grasp on first place in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and ranked second in the nation.

A season-high crowd of 9,828 bundled up in temperatures approaching single digits to check out the Buckeyes for themselves.

So why wasn’t second-year coach Mark Osiecki doing even a slow burn after Michigan scored twice in the first period on the way to socking Ohio State 4-0 at Value City Arena?

Although the Buckeyes (14-5-3, 10-4-3-1) have had an impressive start to the season, Michigan (13-8-4, 7-6-4-1) is still the team in the league that everyone wants to be.

The Wolverines have 10 players on their roster who have been drafted by NHL teams. Those players are working on giving Michigan a 22nd straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Ohio State plays eight freshmen, or men who were going to senior prom just last spring.

“We said it from day one that we are going to go through growing pains,” Osiecki said. “In my opinion, that club (Michigan) is top five in the nation.”

After a slow start, Michigan is 6-0-2 in its past eight games. Ohio State, meanwhile, is experiencing its first real hardships. It lost back-to-back games in shootouts to Bowling Green last weekend.

Osiecki said the Buckeyes are growing by the game.

“We’ll find a way out of this,” he said. “Every team goes through this. I think we have great character in the locker room. It stinks to lose, but this is good for us. We are better today than we were yesterday.”

Defenseman Sean Duddy, one of four seniors for the Buckeyes, said the players would not lose confidence. They will travel to Cleveland today to practice for an outdoor game against Michigan at 5:05 p.m. Sunday at Progressive Field.

“We’re going through a funk right now,” Duddy said. “I don’t think morale is down. We’ve just got to fight through it. We’ve got to learn from the things we didn’t do well.”

The Buckeyes had a 46-33 advantage in shots on goal and, for long stretches, carried the action in the Wolverines’ end. Defenseman Lee Moffie gave Michigan a 1-0 lead at 10:23 of the first period with a wrist shot into a wide-open left side against goalie Cal Heeter. Forward A.J. Treais made it 2-0 with a wicked slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle with 1:13 left in the period.

Michigan coach Red Berenson credited his players for coming up big in a difficult environment. Ohio State won the first two meetings in November in Ann Arbor.

“It was a good crowd against a good team,” Berenson said. “I got to think we got lucky, but we also played well. I thought the game could have gone either way had (Ohio State) scored the next goal.”

Michigan goalie Shawn Hunwick came up big time and again. A half-dozen of his saves came from point-blank range.

“I don’t think I had a good warm-up,” he said. “I wasn’t seeing the puck well. Then the puck hit the crossbar (early in the game). Once we settled in, it was a good game for us.”

The Wolverines scored two empty-net goals in the final 77 seconds of regulation.

Osiecki said he expects his players to be excited about the prospect of playing before approximately 25,000 in Cleveland.

“You have to just keep forging forward,’’ he said.

mznidar@dispatch.com