Patrick Guzzo (71) takes a shot during No. 7 Ohio State’s 2-1 loss to No. 1 Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament Saturday. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics
The Ohio State men’s ice hockey team’s Cinderella run came to a close Saturday night.
In the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament Ohio State (14-20-4, 4-18-2 Big Ten) became the first seventh-seeded team to win in a series in the tournament. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, they could not repeat their success against the top-seeded Michigan State Spartans (23-9-3, 16-6-2) as they dropped the winner-takes-all game 2-1 in East Lansing, Michigan.
The first period of the game was highlighted by a couple of missed chances by the Spartans. The first opportune chance was by Spartan junior forward Red Savage, who beat junior goaltender Logan Terness, but his shot rattled off the right post of the net.
The Spartans looked to open the scoring again only two minutes after the chance by Savage, but a diving Terness stopped senior forward Reed Lebster’s shot on a seemingly wide-open net.
Neither team could convert on the power play as they went 0-1, each with the man advantage. The heavily contested first period ended scoreless with both teams recording 13 shots on goal and winning 12 faceoffs each.
The deadlock was broken with 1:23 to go into the second period as the Spartans opened the scoring off of a deflection by sophomore forward Daniel Russell, making it his 15th goal of the season. It was assisted by sophomore forwards Karsen Dorwart and Isaac Howard.
The Spartans put the puck past Terness again less than three minutes after their opening goal, but after a challenge from head coach Steve Rohlik, the goal was taken off the board as it was deemed senior forward Nicolas Muller interfered with the Buckeye goaltender on the play, keeping the score at 1-0.
Breakaways tested both Buckeye goaltenders, but they both made important saves to keep the Spartans with their one-goal lead. Ohio State entered the third period knowing that they needed to score or their season would be over. This led to them swarming the Spartan net early in the period, and two minutes later, freshman Max Montes scored his ninth goal of the season.
However, Michigan State did not let the celebration last long by putting the puck past Terness only 13 seconds after Montes’ goal. Rohlik challenged this goal for interference on Terness again but was unsuccessful. This resulted in senior defenseman Nash Nienhuis reclaiming the Spartan lead.
The back-and-forth period continued as Ohio State seemed to have scored the tying goal, but the play was quickly reviewed for offsides, and Michigan State won this challenge meaning the score remained 2-1 in favor of the Spartans.
After that chance by the Buckeyes, Michigan State shut them down and ended their Cinderella run just before the championship game.
With Ohio State ranked 29th in the NCAA Tournament Pairwise Comparison Ratings— and only 16 spots available for the NCAA tournament— the Buckeyes have a slim to none chance of being selected, essentially bringing an end to their 2023-24 season.
