Ohio State will close its ice hockey regular season with a matchup against top-ranked Minnesota in Minnesota. Credit: Katie Good | Asst. Photo Editor
After taking five of six conference points from No. 4 Michigan last week, No. 8 Ohio State travels to 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis to face No. 1 Minnesota with home-ice advantage in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on the line.
The Buckeyes (18-11-3, 11-9-2 Big Ten) are tied for second with Michigan in the Big Ten standings after tying Feb. 16 and winning outright in Cleveland Saturday. Ohio State looks to clinch a high seed in the conference tournament against the Golden Gophers (23-8-1, 17-4-1 Big Ten), with second and sixth place separated by just five points heading into the final weekend.
Minnesota already earned the top seed in the Big Ten Tournament. The second, third and fourth seeds following this weekend host a best-of-three series against the fifth, sixth and seventh place teams in the tournament quarterfinals next weekend.
Despite seeding on the line, head coach Steve Rohlik said the team mentality remains “status quo,” treating this series like any other amidst the high stakes.
“If you can keep that mentality from the beginning of the year, there’s no reason to change,” Rohlik said. “l always talk about Monday through Thursday, our approach or detail, our work ethic, and our guys have been doing that all year.”
Minnesota earned the top seed after sweeping No. 10 Penn State over the weekend with a 7-2 domination in a Feb. 17 affair and coming back to win 3-2 in overtime Saturday. It looks to pad its strong NCAA Tournament resume, ranking first in the PairWise.
The Buckeyes and Golden Gophers last met Oct. 28-29, 2022, in a series split that saw Ohio State take game one 6-4 with Minnesota rebounding to take the finale 4-2.
For the second week in a row, Ohio State is tasked with defending a dangerous offense. Minnesota tops in the Big Ten in goals, assists and points per game at 4.06, 7.03 and 11.09, respectively.
Leading the charge for the Golden Gophers are the forward trio of freshmen Logan Cooley and Jimmy Snuggerud as well as sophomore Matthew Knies. Cooley and Snuggerud rank among the top five in the country in points with 44 and 43, respectively, while Knies leads the team in goals at 20.
Sophomore defenseman Cole McWard said volume and aggression are keys to matching the high-powered Minnesota offense.
“We were just talking about putting pucks behind their [defense] and getting on the hunt,” McWard said. “I think that our team works well when we do that, when our forwards can go for a check and get the puck back.”
It’ll be a battle of top goaltenders. Led by senior Justen Close, the Golden Gophers hold the lowest goals-against average in the conference at 2.31 per game. Ohio State trails just behind at second lowest, with sophomore Jakub Dobeš leading the Buckeyes to a 2.36 per-game average.
Both are semifinalists for the Mike Richter Award, given annually to the nation’s top goalie. For Dobeš, this is his second time contending for the honor in as many years. Rohlik said Dobeš’ work ethic and mental game has helped him get to this point.
“His makeup, his mentality. You know, he wants to be the best player in practice every day,” Rohlik said. “I think it’s just his approach to everything he does. He knows he’s a long way off from a finished product, and that, to me, is pretty impressive.”
The Buckeyes had another successful weekend on special teams. Freshman defenseman Tyler Duke deposited the team’s nation-leading 10th short-handed goal Saturday. Additionally, Ohio State’s top-ranked penalty kill unit stopped all 12 Wolverine opportunities.
Fifth-year forward Jake Wise earned Big Ten Third Star of the Week honors Tuesday after a five-point series performance, including shootout and power-play goals, paced the Buckeyes to a 1-0-1 weekend. Wise leads the team with eight man-advantage goals.
“The biggest thing has just been [Wise’s] leadership, how he approaches everything,” Rohlik said. “More important than his goals or assists is just how he shows up every day, what he does on and off the ice. That’s why he’s getting rewarded.”
Friday’s puck drop is scheduled for 9 p.m. on ESPNU, while Saturday yields a 5:30 p.m. start with Big Ten Network televising.
