The Ohio State men’s hockey team huddles up before the Ohio State-Wisconsin game Feb. 5. Ohio State won 6-2. Credit: Katie Good | For the Lantern
No. 11 Ohio State travels to Ann Arbor, Michigan, this weekend to close out its regular season schedule against the No. 3 Wolverines.
The Buckeyes (21-9-2) are coming off two losses at home against then-No. 7 Minnesota Friday and Saturday, the Golden Gophers’ first sweep of the year. Ohio State head coach Steve Rohlik said he and his team are ready to put that series behind them.
“We’ve got to throw that one out the window on Saturday and, as a group, get back to work,” Rohlik said. “We’ve had a good week of practice and that’s all you can ask.”
Along with dropping from No. 8 to No. 11 in the United States College Hockey Organization rankings, Ohio State fell from first to third in the Big Ten standings. The Buckeyes will need to at least split with Michigan (23-7-1) in order to host a first round conference tournament matchup.
Ohio State and Michigan have already met this season during a two-game series Dec. 10-11, 2021, in Columbus. The Buckeyes split with the Wolverines, losing the first contest 5-2 and winning the finale 6-1.
Michigan was without star sophomore forward Kent Johnson the last time they played Ohio State. Johnson’s absence, as he trained for the IIHF World Juniors Tournament, left the scoring load primarily on the shoulders of fellow sophomore forward Matty Beniers.
Both Johnson and Beniers will be out for this weekend’s series as they finish up the 2022 Olympic Winter games with Team Canada and Team USA, respectively. Even without these two weapons, senior forward Quinn Preston said there are numerous ways Michigan can take over a game.
“We have to make sure we put together two full efforts,” Preston said. “We’re going to try to play pretty strong around pucks and avoid the turnovers that can lead to offense the other way, because that’s how Minnesota scored.”
Throughout the season Rohlik has said he and his team pay little attention to the Big Ten standings, but said they’re going to take control of their underdog reputation from the conference rankings at the beginning of the year.
“Our body of work and what we’ve done, I’m proud of,” Rohlik said. “Our guys have done a heck of a job this year to put us in this position. I don’t think anybody gave us a chance to be where we’re at right now, and now you’ve got to take advantage of that.”
The weekend series will begin Friday on Big Ten Network Plus at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday on Big Ten Network at 8:30 p.m.
