Buckeyes Fall in Opener at No. 10 Minnesota

Friday, January 19

Minneapolis, Minn.

8:00 PM

Ohio State

9-10-4, 1-10-2

University of Minnesota

13-6-4, 6-4-3

Ohio St.

Minnesota

Photo by: Brad Rempel

Buckeyes Fall in Opener at No. 10 Minnesota

1/19/2024 11:21:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Box Score Box Score

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men's hockey team dropped game one of a weekend series at No. 10 Minnesota, 5-2, Friday in 3M Arena at Mariucci. The Gophers led 3-0 after the first period and 3-1 through two. Stephen Halliday and Theo Wallberg both had a power play goal and an assist for Ohio State in the loss.

The Buckeyes (9-10-4, 1-10-2 0-0-2 B1G) and Gophers (13-6-4, 6-4-3 1-0-0 B1G) will close the weekend and regular season series at 8 p.m. ET Saturday in Minneapolis. The game will be televised by BTN and on Ohio State Radio.

Quoting head coach Steve Rohlik
"I didn't mind our start, but we gave up another faceoff goal that put us in a hole. Penalties are going to happen, but you need to avoid the bad ones and they basically led to two power play goals. Minnesota doesn't need much to go on a run. We were down 3-0 and tried to claw our way back, but couldn't recover. We need to be better tomorrow."

The Short Story
Minnesota controlled play through much of the first period, outshooting the Buckeyes 17-6 and ending the stanza ahead 3-0. Rhett Pitlick opened the scoring at 11:32 off a faceoff in the Buckeye zone. Connor Kurth tallied at 15:48 shortly after the end of a Gopher power play and at 17:34 Jimmy Snuggerud converted with the man advantage.

The only goal of the second was scored by Buckeye freshman defenseman Theo Wallberg on the power play at 7:39. His shot from the point got through traffic, set up by Stephen Halliday and Patrick Guzzo. Ohio State outshot Minnesota 11-9 in the second period.

In the third, Pitlick scored on the power play at 3:18 and at even strength at 6:12 for a hat trick and 5-1 Gopher lead. Buckeye leading scorer Halliday scored from the faceoff circle at 11:03 on the power play, assisted by Wallberg and Brent Johnson. Ohio State had the shot advantage in the final period, 12-6.

For the game, the Buckeyes were outshot, 32-29. Logan Terness started in goal for Ohio State and had 25 saves in 46:12. Kristoffer Eberly closed out the game with two saves in 9:27. Ohio State skated with the net empty for the extra attacker for the final 4:05. Ohio State blocked 10 Gopher shot attempts, with Nathan McBrayer, Johnson, Davis Burnside and Guzzo each blocking two.

Each team was 2-for-3 on the power play in the game.

Buckeye This and That

Cam Thiesing played in the 100th game of his collegiate career.
Wallberg and Halliday, both Senators' draft picks, led the Buckeyes with two points on a goal and an assist each.
Halliday has a team-best 24 points and is first with 16 assists. He is on a six-game point streak (4g, 7a 11p) and has a goal in each of the last three games. He has 17 multiple-point games in his career.
The Buckeyes are 21-for-90 (.233) on the power play this season. The squad is 9-for-24 (.375) in the six games since returning from December break.
Wallberg is tied for second on the team with 13 assists on the year. He had his third multiple-point outing this season.