Friday, March 8
Madison, WI
8:00 PM ET
Ohio State
at
University of Wisconsin
Buckeyes to Face No. 5/6 Wisconsin in B1G Tournament Opening Round
3/7/2024 9:21:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
The Basics
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- The Ohio State men's hockey team heads to the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis., for a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal best-of-three series this weekend.
- The Buckeyes are the No. 7 seed, with No. 5/6-ranked Wisconsin the No. 2 seed.
- The teams will meet at 8 p.m. ET Friday and at 7 p.m. ET Saturday. If necessary, game three will be at 6 p.m. ET Sunday.Â
- The series  will be streamed through B1G+. Ohio State Radio will carry the action on 1460 AM and the Ohio State Buckeyes app. Live statistics can be linked from OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
- Ohio State is 12-18-4 on the year (4-18-2 1-0-2 B1G) and Wisconsin is 25-9-2 this season (16-7-1 2-2-1 B1G).Â
- In the regular season, the Buckeyes and Badgers each posted a sweep at home. Ohio State lost 3-0 and 6-1 in Madison Dec. 1-2 and in Columbus Feb. 16-17 the Buckeyes posted 3-2 OT and 3-1 wins.
- Ohio State is 2-2 all-time vs. UW in the Big Ten Tournament, with a quarterfinal series sweep in 2020 in Columbus and losses in the 2017 semifinals in Detroit and in the 2014 final in Saint Paul, Minn., in the inaugural tournament. The teams also met in the first round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament, a Wisconsin 1-0 overtime win in Albany, N.Y.
- This is the third time since the start of B1G play Ohio State is the lower seed in its first B1G Tournament game. In 2015, Ohio State was No. 5 and topped No. 4 Penn State, while in 2021 No. 6 Ohio State lost to No. 3 Michigan. Both contests were single-game quarterfinals at a neutral site.
- This season, 22 of 23 Buckeye skaters have gotten on the scoresheet, including 20 goal scorers. Ten have double-digit points, with five posting 20 or more, including leading scorer Stephen Halliday, who has 33 points.Â
- Defenseman Scooter Brickey is tied for second among NCAA defensemen with 12 goals this year. He is the first Buckeye blueliner with 10+ goals since Ryan Root in 1997-98.
- Dalton Messina is tied for third nationally and leads the B1G with three shorthanded goals, the first Buckeye with three since Anthony Greco in 2015-16.Â
- The Buckeyes are 13-11 all-time in Big Ten Tournament action, with just one true road game (at Michigan in a 2022 semifinal loss).
- In the quarterfinals, Ohio State is 11-4, with four wins when the tournament was single elimination at neutral sites, sweeps of Michigan State (2018) and Wisconsin (2020), a three-game loss to Penn State (2022) in a best-of-three series in Columbus and a three-game win vs. the Nittany Lions last season in Columbus.Â
- Ohio State has never won the Big Ten Tournament, reaching the title game twice (2014, 2018). The squad has advanced to the semifinals seven times (with the 2020 game canceled). Â
- The program has two conference postseason tournament titles, winning the CCHA in 1972 and 2004.
- Ohio State is 28-26-5 all-time vs. Wisconsin and leads the regular season series since the start of Big Ten play, 25-14-5, with a 27-16-5 mark overall since 2013-14 (including postseason play). In Madison, Wisconsin is ahead, 12-11-3.
- Earlier this season, the Badgers posted a home sweep with 3-0 and 6-1 wins Dec. 1-2. The teams last met in Columbus Feb. 16-17, when Ohio State notched 3-2 OT and 3-1 victories.
- In the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes and Badgers have met four times, with three of the games going to overtime. The first game was a 5-4 UW win in the inaugural Big Ten Tournament final in 2014. In 2017 Wisconsin won in the semifinals, 3-2. In Columbus in 2020, Ohio State posted a sweep with 9-1 and 2-1 OT wins in the quarterfinals.Â
- Patrick Guzzo leads current Buckeyes with 14 games played vs. Wisconsin, while Joe Dunlap, Michael Gildon and Cam Thiesing have each skated in 12 games vs. the Badgers. Davis Burnside (6 games played), Gildon and Thiesing each have a team-best three goals vs. UW, while Scooter Brickey (8 gp) is first with six assists. Stephen Halliday (8 gp), who has two goals and five assists, and Thiesing (3g, 4a) share the team lead with seven points against the Badgers.
- Ohio State head coach Steve Rohlik is a 1990 graduate of Wisconsin, where he was a captain on the Badgers' national championship team.
- Assistant coach JB Bittner spent a season on the Badger coaching staff in 2015-16.
- Buckeye freshman forward Thomas Weis is a native of Madison, Wis., and his classmate Max Montes is from Hartland, Wis. Â
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