Men’s club ice hockey team celebrates their first national tournament berth postgame of their regional final victory over Cincinnati on Feb. 27. Credit: Courtesy of Savannah Deuer
The Ohio State men’s ice hockey club will travel to St. Louis to compete in the program’s first-ever berth in the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s National Championships.
The Buckeyes collected a No. 4 seed and will play Massachusetts, Dakota College and Trine University, who are all in Pool C with Ohio State.
The winner of the pool will advance into the next round of the tournament.
Declan Rooney, a third-year in finance and club treasurer, said it’s exciting to be at the national tournament for the first time in club history, especially with the amount of youth on the team.
“We’ve got basically two full years worth of guys that hadn’t played on this team,” Rooney said. “For a team that’s this young to be able to go out there and do what we’re doing now, I think it’s super exciting.”
Even though the team may be young, Alex Vineyard, a third-year in aerospace engineering and club president, said he believes this team has what it takes to compete at the national level.
Rooney echoed this confidence and said that going in with the right mentality and playing their style of hockey can help the Buckeyes go far.
“We qualified for a reason. We’re here to do some damage no matter what the seeding says,” Rooney said. “Just go in and play our brand of hockey, and the chips will end up falling where they may.”
Massachusetts is entering the tournament as the top seed in Pool C, and Vineyard pointed to its traditionally dominant nature as a telling sign of its season.
“They’re always good. You see them in nationals pretty much every year,” Vineyard said. “They’re going to be a really, really tough opponent.”
Head coach Greg Corcoran pointed to Dakota College’s offense, while Rooney pointed to Trine’s similar schedule, making both teams difficult challengers for Ohio State.
“They kind of play a similar caliber of teams that we do for the bulk of their schedule,” Rooney said. “I think that’s going to be a really good, even matchup.”
Corcoran said that if the Buckeyes play their way, there’s no reason they can’t be the ones to go all the way.
“Someone’s going to win this thing, so why not us?” Corcoran said. “Why can’t we do it?”
The Buckeyes play Massachusetts at 2:45 p.m. Monday before they play Dakota College Tuesday at 11:45 a.m. Ohio State finishes the group stage against Trine Wednesday at 2:15 p.m.
