Big Ten Tournament News and Notes

Tourney Time

The bracket is set for the 2019 Big Ten Hockey Tournament. This is the second year all three rounds of the tournament will be held on campus sites. The tournament begins with best-of-three quarterfinal series, followed by single-elimination games for the semifinals and final. Both the semifinal and final games will be televised by BTN and available through BTN2Go and the Fox Sports App.

Ohio State, as the regular season champion and No. 1 seed, receives a bye to the semifinals and will host the lowest remaining seed from the quarterfinal round at 3:30 p.m. Sunday March 17 in Value City Arena. Tickets to the semifinal game are on sale now and can be purchased online (HERE) and over the phone through Ticketmaster and at the Ohio State Ticket Office in Value City Arena. Should Ohio State advance to the final, it will be held at noon Sunday, March 24 in VCA.

The quarterfinal matchups are No. 7 Michigan State at No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 6 Michigan at No. 3 Minnesota and No. 5 Wisconsin at No. 4 Penn State. All three series will be played Friday, Saturday and, if needed, Sunday.

A different team won the Big Ten Tournament each of the first five years, with Ohio State and Michigan State the two teams to not yet capture the postseason trophy.

Buckeyes This and That in the Postseason

• Ohio State is 8-5 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament.
• This will be the sixth time (in six tournaments) the squad will play in the semifinal round, with a 2-3 record in the semifinals. Ohio State topped Minnesota in the inaugural tournament to reach the championship game (falling to Wisconsin in overtime 6-5) and beat Michigan in overtime last year to advance to the final (losing to Notre Dame in overtime, 3-2). The Buckeyes lost to Minnesota in the 2015 and 2016 semifinals and to Wisconsin in 2017.
• The Buckeyes have not been a conference tournament’s No. 1 seed since capturing the 1972 CCHA regular season and tournament titles.
• Ohio State has two conference postseason championships. Along with the 1972 crown, the squad won three games in three days to capture the 2004 CCHA Super Six championship.
• The Buckeyes have played each of the other six conference teams in the Big Ten Tournament – Michigan (1-0), Michigan State (5-0), Minnesota (1-2), Notre Dame (0-1), Penn State (1-0), Wisconsin (0-2).
• Six Buckeyes have played in eight Big Ten Tournament games – Sasha Larocque, Tommy Parran, Dakota Joshua, John Wiitala, Brendon Kearney and Mason Jobst. Jobst leads the current Buckeyes with five goals, seven assists and 12 points in Big Ten Tournament play. Kearney (2g, 3a) and Tanner Laczynski (2g, 3a) are tied for second with five points each. Wiitala is second on the squad with three B1G Tournament goals.
• Ohio State was the B1G Tournament No. 2 seed in 2018, No. 3 in 2017, No. 4 in 2016 and 2014 and No. 5 in 2015.

The Last B1G Tourney Game in VCA

In game two of the quarterfinal series last year vs. Michigan State, Freddy Gerard scored in overtime to clinch the series and send the Buckeyes to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.