Thursday, December 4
Columbus, Ohio
7:30 p.m.
Ohio State
vs
Minnesota
Photo by: Ohio State Athletics
Buckeyes Back Home for Series vs the Gophers
12/2/2025 1:09:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
Teams will meet Thursday and Friday
The Basics
The Schedule Ahead
- The Ohio State men's hockey team returns home for two games vs. Minnesota this week.
- The Buckeyes and Golden Gophers will meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and 6 p.m. Friday in the Schottenstein Center.Â
- Both games will be televised by BTN with the broadcast available on the Fox Sports app for BTN subscribers.Â
- Ohio State Radio will carry the action (1460 AM Columbus, WBNS-FM-HD2, streamed on espncolumbus.com and OhioStateBuckeyes.com and on the Ohio State Buckeyes app).
- Live stats can be linked from the schedule page on OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
- Ohio State is 5-9 on the year (1-5 Big Ten) after dropping two overtime games at Arizona State last weekend (2-3 OT, 3-4 OT). Minnesota is 7-9-1 overall (3-3-0 B1G) and coming off a 6-5 overtime win at Denver Saturday.
- Thursday is Peanuts Night, with an Ohio State hockey Snoopy and the Peanuts Gang longsleeve shirt giveaway (first 500 fans, first 200 Ohio State students).
- Friday is Holidays & Hockey. The game includes a Buckeye hockey themed oven mitt giveaway (first 2,000 fans) and an ugly holiday sweater contest. The annual Teddy Bear Toss will be postgame. Fans are encouraged to bring a stuffed animal to throw on the ice, with donations collected and delivered to Ronald McDonald House.
- Holideals, a 2-for-1 ticket promotion (online only), are available for select games, starting with Thursday's contest against Minnesota. The other included games are Jan. 2 vs. Bowling Green, Jan. 9 vs. Michigan State and March 5 vs. Notre Dame. Purchase Holideal Tickets
- Parking is free for Ohio State men's hockey home games in the Schottenstein Center.
- In Columbus, the Gophers lead the all-time series 18-7-3 and in the overall series Minnesota is ahead, 50-12-6.
- The series between Ohio State and Minnesota dates to 1968 but 62 of the 68 games have been since 1999.
- Last season, the teams met in Columbus Jan. 10-11, splitting the series. Ohio State captured game one 5-1 before Minnesota prevailed in game two, 6-1. The Gophers then posted a home sweep Feb. 21-22 with 4-1 and 6-3 wins.
- Davis Burnside leads the current Buckeyes with 12 games played against Minnesota, ranking first with four goals and five points. Max Montes has a 2-2-4 line in eight career games vs. the Gophers. Sam Deckhut and Thomas Weis have also played eight games against Minnesota. Nathan McBrayer has  1-2-3 line in seven games against Minnesota. Â
- Minnesota is 7-9-1 on the year, with a 2-3 ledger on the road. The squad is 3-3-0 in the Big Ten, dropping two games at Wisconsin, posting a home sweep of Notre Dame and splitting two games against Penn State at home.
- The Gophers are averaging 2.76 goals a game and allowing 3.18 per contest. The power play has converted 21.6 percent of its chances and the penalty kill has stopped 66 percent of its opponents' chances.
- Brody Lamb and Brodie Ziemer share the team lead with eight goals each and are first and second with 16 and 14 points, respectively. LJ Mooney is first with nine assists and third with 13 points.
- This season marks the 15th Teddy Bear Toss hosted by the Buckeyes. The tradition started in 2011 and has been held each year since, except 2020-21.Â
- The Buckeyes wrapped up a stretch of six consecutive road games last week. The squad last played at home Oct. 30-31, before an open weekend and then three straight road series.Â
- Ohio State is tied for second nationally with four overtime games this season. Bemidji State has played five, with the Buckeyes, Denver and Boston University each going to the extra period four times. Ohio State has dropped all four of its overtime games, including in three of the last five outings. Â
- Last weekend was the first time the Buckeyes had two games in a regular season series go to overtime since Dec. 6-7, 2019 vs. Minnesota in Columbus. In those matchups, the Buckeyes won game one, 3-2, before a 1-1 tie (and Minnesota 3x3 win for the extra Big Ten point). Ohio State and Minnesota also had two overtime games in a series Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2018, tying both 2-2 with two Ohio State 3x3 wins in Minneapolis. Â
- Three of the Buckeyes' five Big Ten Tournament games last year went to overtime, with Ohio State 2-1 in those contests.Â
- Seven of the Buckeyes' nine losses this year have been by one goal, with the lone exceptions two defeats at Michigan.Â
- Ohio State is averaging 3.14 goals a game, with three or more goals in eight games. The squad has two or less goals in three of the last four outings.Â
- The Buckeyes are allowing 3.14 goals per contest, giving up three or more in each of the last five games.Â
- Ohio State is 48-for-58 (.828) on the penalty kill this season. The squad was 6-for-7 at Arizona State last weekend, with a 3-for-4 game in the series opener and 3-for-3 night in game two.
- The Buckeyes are 10-for-47 (.213) with the man advantage through 12 games. Adam Eisele scored his first power play goal as a Buckeye last Saturday. Felix Caron has a team-best three power play goals. Riley Thompson has two power play goals this year, with Nathan Lewis, Davis Burnside, Ryan Gordon and Thomas Weis also tallying with the man advantage.
- Ohio State has a .510 faceoff winning percentage (448-431). Max Montes leads the Buckeye squad with 118 wins, while Riley Thompson has 104 and Jake Karabela has 93. Among Buckeyes with more than 25 faceoffs, Montes is first with a .554 winning percentage.Â
- Twenty-one Buckeyes have posted at least one point this year, with 15 scoring a goal and 20 notching at least one assist. Â
The Schedule Ahead
- The Buckeyes will return to action Jan. 2-3 with a home-and-home nonconference series against Bowling Green. The teams will meet in Columbus for game one, with puck drop at 6:30 p.m., and in Bowling Green for game two at 6:07 p.m. The home game is Ohio State's Our Honor Defend Military Appreciation night.Â
- Ohio State will be back in Big Ten play the following weekend, hosting Michigan State Jan. 9-10.Â
- Following a road trip to Notre Dame Jan. 23-24, the Buckeyes will host Michigan Jan. 30-31.
Players Mentioned
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