COLUMBUS, Ohio – Four members of the No. 8 Ohio State men’s hockey team have earned All-Big Ten accolades, the conference announced Tuesday. Defenseman Mason Lohrei and forward Jake Wise are second team honorees, while forward Stephen Halliday and goalie Jakub Dobeš are honorable mention selections. Wise also was the recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award for the Buckeyes.
Lohrei, a sophomore, was an honorable mention all-conference selection a season ago. A draft pick of the Boston Bruins from Madison, Wis., he was a Top 3 finalist for the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award for the second year in a row. Lohrei has 26 assists and 29 points this season, ranking second for the Buckeyes in assists and third in points, and has 54 shot blocks. He is eighth among NCAA defensemen, third among B1G blueliners, with .68 assists per game, and ranks seventh among all conference skaters in helpers per outing. He has matched his career high set last year and has a career best in assists.
A fifth year senior from Reading, Mass., Wise is second on the squad with 35 points, ranking third with 12 goals and 23 assists, all career highs. A team co-captain, he leads the country with 471 faceoff wins and is tied for sixth nationally with nine power play goals (the most for a Buckeye since Carson Meyer had nine in 2019-20). The Chicago Blackhawks draft pick has a point in all but 12 games and has at least one point in each of the last five outings (1g, 6a, 7p).
Dobeš, from Ostrava, Czechia, was a first team all-conference selection and the Big Ten Goaltender of the Year as a freshman last season. The Montreal Canadians draft pick was a finalist for the league’s goalie of the year award again this campaign. He has started all 38 games for the Buckeyes in 2022-23 and leads the nation in games and minutes played. He has posted 20 wins this year, tying for eighth in program history, and his 41 career victories are ninth all-time. Dobeš was one of nine semifinalists for the Mike Richter Award this season and has a 2.33 goals-against average and .918 save percentage. His career marks of a 2.30 goals-against average and .926 save percentage rank among the Top 5 in school history.
Halliday, a draft pick of the Ottawa Senators, leads the Buckeyes with 31 assists and 40 points. He is fifth among NCAA freshmen (third in the Big Ten) with .82 assists per game and ranks ninth among rookies nationally (fourth in the B1G) with 1.05 points per outing. The native of Glenwood, Md., is the first Buckeye to hit the 40-point mark since All-Americans Tanner Laczynski and Mason Jobst in 2017-18. The last Buckeye freshman with at least 40 points was Tom Fritsche, who had 45 in 2004-05. Halliday leads the Buckeyes with 11 multiple-point outings this year, including five games with three assists.
The Buckeyes, 20-15-3 on the year, await a possible at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is set for 6:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU.
