No. 1 Buckeyes Host UMass This Weekend

Buckeyes vs. Minutemen

The No. 1-ranked Ohio State men’s hockey team opens its home schedule with a series vs. UMass this weekend. The Buckeyes and Minutemen will meet at 7 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday in Value City Arena in Columbus.
The games will be streamed online through the BTN Plus subscription package on BTN2Go. The radio call will be on 1460 AM in Columbus, online at ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sportsnetwork/ and on the Ohio State Buckeyes mobile app. Live stats, and radio and video links, can be found at go.osu.edu/mhkylivestats18.
The game Friday includes Hockey Hour from 6-7 p.m., with fun activities for the family around the concourse. Postgame, youth are invited to the ice to take a shot on the Buckeye net. Saturday there will be a Frozen Four banner ceremony pregame. The team’s full promotional calendar for the season is HERE.
Ohio State and UMass met in Amherst last season, with the Buckeyes posting 3-1 and 3-0 victories.

Buckeye Notes to Know

The series vs. UMass begins the Buckeyes home slate. The squad was 13-4-3 at home last year, with a 6-0-2 mark in nonconference games.
Ohio State started the year with a sweep at Arizona State. Five Buckeyes scored a goal, with five posting an assist. Sean Romeo and Tommy Nappier each started a game in net.
The Buckeyes return 21 players from the 2017-18 squad, including eight of the Top 10 scorers. The team added eight newcomers, with five making their Buckeye debuts last week.
Ohio State was undefeated in nonconference regular season games last season, posting a 7-0-3 mark, going 3-0-2 at home and 4-0-1 on the road. The team is undefeated in its last 12 nonconference regular season games (8-0-4).

Buckeyes No. 1 in National Polls

Ohio State is ranked first in the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls for the second consecutive week. The Buckeyes garnered 38 of 50 first place votes in the USCHO rankings and 25 of 34 in the USA Today poll.
Last week marked the first time in program history the team has held down the top spot in either poll. The Buckeyes were ranked No. 1 in the WMPL Radio poll for three weeks in November/December 1983.
UMass, this week’s opponent, is the first team receiving votes in the USCHO poll. Six of seven Big Ten teams are ranked in the USCHO Top 20 – No. 1 Ohio State, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 6 Minnesota, No. 10 Penn State, No. 11 Michigan and No. 15 Wisconsin.
The Buckeyes are one of two schools with their men’s and women’s teams ranked in the Top 5 of a USCHO.com poll. The Ohio State women are ranked fourth, while the Minnesota Duluth men are No. 3 and the UMD women are No. 5.

For Starters

This is the first time the Buckeyes have started a year 2-0 since the 2007-08 team defeated Mercyhurst and Wisconsin to win the Lefty McFadden College Hockey Invitational in Dayton, Ohio.
The squad opened 2016-17 with a win and a tie on its opening weekend, part of a seven-game unbeaten streak (5-0-2) to open the year.

OSU vs. UMass – The Series

The Buckeyes and Minutemen met in Amherst, Mass., last season. The Buckeyes posted two wins, a 3-1 victory Oct. 20 and a 3-0 win in game two the next night.
The only other meeting between the schools was Dec. 28, 2002, when the squads skated to a 2-2 overtime tie in the Florida College Classic in Estero, Fla.

OSU vs. UMass – The Last Time

Game 1 (Ohio State 3, UMass 1): Ohio State won the series opener with UMass, 3-1, Oct. 20, 2017, scoring the game’s final three goals. The Minutemen took a 1-0 lead at 10:01 of the first period, with the Buckeyes answering at 15:32 on Matt Miller’s first goal of the season. At 11:17 of the second the Buckeyes converted a 5-on-3 power play chance, with Mason Jobst scoring. Ohio State notched a second power play goal at 4:07 of the third, as Jobst again tallied. Sean Romeo had 24 saves for the Buckeyes, including 10 in the second period and 11 in the third. The Buckeye penalty kill was 5-for-5 and the power play was 2-for-4.
Game 2 (Ohio State 3, UMass 0): The Buckeyes scored once in each period en route to the victory. Kevin Miller scored in the first, Janik Moser tallied in the second and Matthew Weis put the game out of reach in the third. Tanner Laczynski had the primary assist on all three Buckeye goals. Romeo had 23 saves for his first shutout as a Buckeye. The penalty kill was 3-for-3.

The Minutemen

UMass is 2-0-0 after starting the year with a sweep of a home-and-home series against Rensselaer. The Minutemen won 6-1 at home and then posted a 3-1 victory on the road.
In the sweep, defenseman Cale Makar had a team-high four points, with two goals and two assists. Mitchell Chaffee scored three goals and Bobby Trivigno had three helpers. In goal, Fille Lindberg and Matt Murray each started a game.

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