The Ohio State men’s club hockey team celebrates during the Ohio State-Louisville game Nov. 18, 2021. Credit: Courtesy of Savannah Deuer
The Ohio State Men’s Ice Hockey Club won the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Southeast Regional Tournament Feb. 27 and will attend the club’s first ever ACHA National Championships.
The Buckeyes punched their ticket to the big dance by defeating Rider, Miami (OH) and Cincinnati Feb. 25-27.
This year’s national tournament will be held at the Centene Community Ice Center in St. Louis Thursday through March 20. For club president Alex Vineyard, a third-year in aerospace engineering, it meant a lot to take the club this far.
“It really meant a lot to us because we knew we had the capability to be a national competing team,” Vineyard said. “We said it from day one we had the skill and the talent on the team.”
To get to the national tournament, they had regionals to take care of. Luckily, the Buckeyes were able to go on a winning run that propelled them through the weekend. This brought back a phrase from Vineyard and Hubbard’s freshman season that they said perfectly described this year’s run.
“One of our coaches came in and said, ‘The Bucks are getting hot,’ because we were doing well that point in the season, and then everyone’s like, ‘Don’t let us get hot,’ ” Vineyard said. “If you let us get hot, we’re taking everybody down.”
Ohio State started out its regional weekend against Rider Feb. 25. After a stalemate first period, Rider took the lead 2-1 in the second period and carried it to the start of the third. Rider then scored two more goals in the third period to take a 4-1 lead.
Head coach Greg Corcoran said Rider presented a different challenge for the Buckeyes.
“Rider was tough because we’ve never played them before,” Corcoran said. “Coming from the east coast, it’s a little bit of a different brand of hockey.”
The Buckeyes answered the call, though, and scored three unanswered goals to take the game into overtime before scoring a fourth in overtime to secure a 5-4 victory over Rider. Club treasurer Declan Rooney, a third-year in finance, said he felt like it was the toughest game of the weekend, but one they needed to be successful.
“That game was tough from a mental perspective,” Rooney said. “A game I think we really needed to have to set us up for the rest of the tournament.”
With the overtime win over Rider, the Buckeyes advanced into the second round of the tournament where they faced a familiar foe: Miami (OH).
The Redhawks beat Ohio State once in the regular season and just one week prior, knocking the Buckeyes out of their league playoffs. Corcoran said Miami (OH) was strong this season, especially in the league playoffs.
Ohio State hoped for a better result against Miami (OH) this time around, and it was evident that it was in for another fight as the score was 1-1 at the end of the first period. The game stayed knotted at one until the third period, when the Buckeyes snatched a goal to push them over the line with a 2-1 victory over the Redhawks.
“That was just a game where we got a contribution, really, whether it showed up on the scoreboard or not, from every single guy,” Rooney said. “Every system we were running was clicking on all cylinders.”
In the final game of the weekend for the Buckeyes, they played another familiar opponent in Cincinnati. The Buckeyes had more regular season success against the Bearcats, splitting their season series.
Ohio State saw itself down at the end of the first period but came alive in the second period, scoring four goals to grab a 4-2 lead going into the final period. Both teams scored a goal in the third stanza, and the Buckeyes grabbed the victory 5-3 over their in-state rivals and secured their spot in the National Tournament.
Corcoran said the final game is always the hardest to win.
“It was a tough game,” Corcoran said. “You’re both vying for that spot in the national tournament.”
Ohio State looks to earn its first national title beginning Thursday.
