Friday, November 29
Princeton, N.J.
7 pm
Ohio State
at
Princeton
Photo by: TakeYourShotPhotography
No. 12 Buckeyes Back in Action at Princeton
11/26/2024 4:20:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
The teams will meet Thanksgiving weekend in New Jersey
The Basics
As a team ...Â
- The No. 12 Ohio State men's hockey team closes out its stretch of six-consecutive road games with a series at Princeton this weekend.Â
- The teams will meet at 7 p.m. Friday and 4 p.m. Saturday in Hobey Baker Rink in Princeton, N.J.
- The games will be streamed through ESPN+, with an international feed available through GoPrincetonTigers.com and live stats available through OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
- Ohio State, coming off an open weekend, enters the series 9-2-1 overall and last played Nov. 15-16 when it swept Lindenwood on the road. Princeton is 1-4-1 and lost road games at Colgate and Cornell last weekend.
- The Buckeyes and Tigers met in the first non-neutral site games between the teams last Thanksgiving weekend, with Ohio State posting a sweep at home. The first four games between the squads were in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Allentown, Pa.
- Ohio State is No. 12 in both the USCHO and USA Hockey/The Rink Live rankings this week, its sixth-consecutive week in the Top 20.
- The series vs. Princeton is the final of three straight series on the road for the Buckeyes. The first half ends with home series vs. Penn State (Dec. 5-6) and Notre Dame (Dec. 13-14).
- The Buckeyes are in the Top 15 in the NCAA in scoring offense (3.59 goals per game), scoring defense (2.08 goals allowed per game) and scoring margin (+1.50).
- Five Buckeyes have at least 50 career points. Gunnarwolfe Fontaine is first with 109, Aiden Hansen-Bukata has 89, Davis Burnside has recorded 59, Joe Dunlap has 51 and Patrick Guzzo has 50. Goalie Logan Terness made his 50th collegiate start earlier this year.
- Sophomore forward Riley Thompson (5g, 10a) leads the Buckeyes with 15 points, ranking 16th nationally with 1.25 points per game.
- Ohio State will wrap the first half of its schedule with four home games.Â
- The Buckeyes will host Penn State at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5 and 7 p.m. Dec. 6. The opener is Pups n' Pucks night, The first 50 dogs to get a seat HEREÂ will get a dog bandana at the game. While supplies last, fans can enjoy dollar dogs at concession stands that night. Game two is Buckeyes Care night, where the work local business partners do for the Columbus community will be celebrated and the Ohio State Alumni Band will perform.
- Notre Dame comes to Columbus the following weekend, with puck drop set for 7 p.m. Dec. 13 and Dec. 14. The annual Teddy Bear Toss will be held during game one, with fans invited to bring a stuffed animal to donate. Game two is the Holiday Game, with fun activations throughout the night.Â
- Single game, miniplan and group tickets are all available now. Ticket information and purchasing options are online HERE. Fans can also contact the Ohio State Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-GOBUCKS (select Option 2, then Option 2) or Athletic.tix@osu.edu. Customer service representatives are available via phone Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
- Parking is free for all men's hockey home games.
- Ohio State has faced Princeton six times, with the first four meetings on neutral ice.Â
- The squads faced off in Columbus last Thanksgiving, with the Buckeyes posting a sweep with 6-3 and 4-3 wins Nov. 24-25, 2023.
- The teams first met in Cleveland, Ohio, in the Cleveland Cup Holiday Festival Dec. 22, 1971, a 3-2 Buckeye win in overtime.
- On Dec. 28, 1986, Ohio State posted a 6-5 win vs. the Tigers in the Schweppes Invitational in Cincinnati, Ohio.Â
- The teams faced off in Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh Jan. 3, 2003, with Ohio State prevailing, 4-1.Â
- In the NCAA Midwest Regional semifinal in Allentown, Pa., March 24, 2018, the Buckeyes advanced with a 4-2 win.Â
- Princeton, 1-4-1 on the year, is a member of the ECAC and the only league team on the Buckeye slate this season.
- The games this weekend will be the Buckeyes' first in the state of New Jersey.
- Buckeye junior defenseman Damien Carfagna is a native of Wood-Ridge, N.J.Â
- The Buckeyes posted a sweep of Princeton in Columbus Nov. 24-25, 2023, with 6-3 and 4-3 victories.Â
- In the first game, Ohio State led 2-0 after 20 minutes, with Scooter Brickey and Stephen Halliday tallying in the first period. In the second, Princeton scored at 4:16 and 11:21 to tie the game. Brent Johnson put Ohio State ahead less than a minute after the second Tiger goal but Princeton answered at 14:39 to again draw even. Just 50 seconds into the third Halliday notched his second power play goal of the game to put Ohio State ahead. Logan Terness stopped all 15 Princeton shots in the period to preserve the lead and Cam Thiesing and Dalton Messina added empty net goals in the final 1:25 to close out the win.Â
- In game two, the Buckeyes were ahead 3-0 after the first period, on goals from Patrick Guzzo and Cam Thiesing in the first four minutes and a Caden Brown power play score. Princeton got on the board at 5:41 of the second with a 4-on-4 goal. Davis Burnside answered for Ohio State with a power play goal but the Tigers tallied on a major power play late in the period for a 4-2 game through 40 minutes. Princeton made it a one-goal contest at 3:32 of the third but neither team scored the rest of the way.Â
As a team ...Â
- This is the first time the Buckeyes have played six straight games away from Columbus since a seven-game stretch Nov. 28, 2014-Jan. 10, 2015. In that season, the team played games vs. Wrestern Michigan and Notre Dame in a Thanksgiving tournament hosted by the Irish, followed by a single game at Michigan to close out the first half of the season. The second half started with two games at Mercyhurst before a trip to Penn State. That year, a game at Michigan followed before back-to-back B1G road series.
- The games at Princeton close out the Buckeyes' nonconference schedule this season.Â
- The Buckeyes rank ninth nationally in scoring offense, averaging 3.58 goals a game. The squad has three or more goals in seven of 12 games on the year.
- Ohio State is 12th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing 2.08 goals per game. The Buckeyes have held opponents to three or fewer goals in all but two games. Â
- The penalty kill is 29-for-34 (.853) this season, ranking 18th in the country, and was 7-for-9 in the series at Lindenwood. Ohio State is averaging 8.0 penalty minutes per night.
- On the year, the Buckeyes are 5-for-39 (.128) on the power play. The squad was 2-for-9 at Lindenwood.Â
- The Buckeyes have scored first in eight of 12 games this season and are 7-1 in those contests. Wisconsin scored first Oct. 18, but the Buckeyes prevailed in overtime, 2-1. Ohio State overcame a 1-0 deficit in each game at Lindenwood.Â
- Ohio State has outscored opponents 13-5 in the first period and 17-9 in the second on the season, with a one-goal edge (12-11) in the third.
- Head coach Steve Rohlik, a Wisconsin alum, hit the 200-career win mark Oct. 19 on the road vs. the Badgers. He is the third Buckeye coach to record 200 or more wins, joining Jerry Welsh (328) and John Markell (280), and now has 206.
- Ohio State opened the year unbeaten in its first eight games, with a 7-0-1 mark. The loss at Michigan State Nov. 8 ended a seven-game winning streak, the longest for the program since 2019.
- Sophomore transfer Riley Thompson was named B1G First Star of the Week after a team-best five points in the sweep at Lindenwood. He is first on the team with 15 points, ranking 16th nationally in points per game. He has a point in seven of 12 games this season, with five multi-point outings. Thompson is sixth in the Big Ten with 9.75 faceoff wins per game.
- Thompson and graduate Aiden Hansen-Bukata are tied for the team lead with 10 assists each and tied for 16th in the NCAA in assists per game (.83). Hansen-Bukata has three two-assist games this season. He is first on the squad with a +10 rating.Â
- Grad student Gunnarwolfe Fontaine has a point in seven of the last eight games and is tied for second on the squad with 12 points (4g, 8a). He had two goals, scored less than two minutes apart, and three points in game one at Lindenwood and a goal in game two. Fontaine is fourth among current NCAA players in career points, with 36 goals and 73 assists for 109 points in 143 collegiate games.Â
- Junior Davis Burnside shares the Ohio State lead with six goals and is tied for second with 12 points. Five of his goals have come in the last six games.
- Buckeye goalies Logan Terness and Kristoffer Eberly split the starts in five of six series, with Terness starting both games at Michigan State.
- Eberly is first nationally with a 1.29 goals-against average  and is third with a .946 save percentage. He recorded his first career shutout at Bowling Green Oct. 26 and is 5-0-0 on the year.
- This season, 21 Buckeyes have at least one point, including freshmen James Hong, Nathan Lewis, Jake Rozzi, Chris Able and Noah Powell. Hong scored the Buckeyes' first goal of the season and has a 2-3-5 line to lead the rookies. Powell scored his first collegiate goal and added an assist in game one at Lindenwood.Â
- Hansen-Bukata is tied for 14th among NCAA skaters with 144 collegiate games played. Fontaine and Patrick Guzzo are tied for 16th with 143 appearances each.
- Defenseman Damien Carfagna has four goals and six assists for 10 points through 12 games this season, already surpassing the six points (2g, 4a) he had in 34 games last year. He had a 6-10-16 line in 35 games for UNH as a freshman.Â
- Carfagna leads the Buckeyes with 18 shot blocks, Brent Johnson has 17 and Hansen-Bukata has 16. Nathan McBrayer (15) and Theo Wallberg (13) also have double-digit blocks. Johnson is sixth (1.55) and Carfagna is seventh (1.50) in shot blocks per game in the B1G.
- Through 12 games, sophomore Sam Deckhut has a 3-3-6 line, matching his total in 29 games as a rookie last year.
- Sophomore Max Montes shares the team lead with six goals on the year, adding an assist for seven points. He had nine goals in 37 games a season ago.Â
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