Saturday, March 22
East Lansing, Mich.
7:30 p.m.
Ohio State
at
Michigan State
Photo by: Ohio State Athletics
B1G Final Up Next for No. 9 Buckeyes
3/20/2025 3:31:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
Ohio State will take on No. 1 Michigan State Saturday night
The Basics
The NCAA Tournament field will be announced at 3 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU.
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- The No. 9 Ohio State men's hockey team will take on No. 1 Michigan State in the Big Ten Tournament Championship game Saturday.
- The No. 3 seed Buckeyes and No. 1 seed Spartans will meet at 7:30 p.m. in Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Mich.
- The game will be televised by BTN and available on the Fox Sports app. Ohio State Radio will carry the game (1460 AM, Ohio State Buckeyes app and website) and live stats will be available through OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
- Ohio State is 24-12-2 this season and was 14-9-1 3-2-0 in conference play. Michigan State is 25-6-4 and was 15-5-4 2-1-2 in league games.
- In the regular season, the Buckeyes were 1-3 vs. Michigan State. Ohio State was swept in East Lansing Nov. 8-9 (4-2, 4-1) and the teams split a series in Columbus Jan. 30-31 (OSU 4-2, MSU 4-1).Â
- In the semifinals, the Buckeyes downed Penn State in overtime, 4-3, and the Spartans shut out Notre Dame, 1-0. Ohio State defeated Wisconsin in a quarterfinal series, two games to one, and the Spartans had a first round bye.
- The Buckeyes and Spartans met in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals last year in East Lansing, with Michigan State posting a 2-1 win.
- For the third time in his career, Steve Rohlik was selected the Big Ten Coach of the Year. This season, he led the Buckeyes, who were picked to finish last in the preseason poll, to a third place finish.
- Five Buckeyes were Honorable Mention All-B1G selections - forwards Davis Burnside, Gunnarwolfe Fontaine and Riley Thompson, defenseman Damien Carfagna and goalie Logan Terness. Patrick Guzzo was the B1G Sportsmanship Award winner for Ohio State.
- Ohio State is No. 9 in the USCHO and USA Hockey/The Rink Live rankings this week, its 21st-straight week in the Top 20.
- The Buckeyes are in the Top 20 in the NCAA in scoring defense (2.47 goals allowed per game), scoring offense (3.18 gpg), scoring margin (.71) and winning percentage (.658).
- For the sixth time in the last eight years, the Buckeyes have hit the 20-win mark.Â
- The squad posted its fifth Top 3 finish in the B1G in that stretch and the 14 B1G wins tied for the most in program history.
- Six Buckeyes have reached the 20-point mark
- . Gunnarwolfe Fontaine is first with 39, followed by Davis Burnside (33), Riley Thompson (32), Aiden Hansen-Bukata (26), Damien Carfagna (26) and Max Montes (25).Â
- Fontaine had two goals in the B1G semifinal, including the OT gamewinner. He is fourth among current NCAA players with 136 career points.
- Sixteen of the Buckeyes earned a spot on the Academic All-Big Ten team, the B1G announced this week. Patrick Guzzo is now a four-time honoree.
- The Buckeyes are 18-14 all-time in Big Ten Tournament action.
- Ohio State began postseason play this year with a quarterfinal series win over No. 6 seed Wisconsin in Nationwide Arena in Columbus. After the Badgers claimed game one 4-1, Ohio State prevailed in overtime, 3-2, in game two, including an extra attacker score that forced OT. A third-period power play goal broke a 1-all tie in game three, which the Buckeyes won 3-2.
- In the semifinals last week against Penn State in Value City Arena, Ohio State was a 4-3 winner in overtime. The Buckeyes led 1-0 after the first period but were down 2-1 heading into the third. Ohio State scored back-to-back for a 3-2 lead and Penn State then tied the game with less than six minutes remaining. Gunnarwolfe Fontaine tallied in overtime for the victory.
- Ohio State has never won the Big Ten Tournament.
- This will be the Buckeyes' third appearance in the Big Ten final. The squad lost to Wisconsin in the inaugural championship game in 2014 in St. Paul, Minn., 5-4 in overtime. In 2018, Ohio State dropped a 3-2 decision in overtime at Notre Dame.
- As the No. 3 seed, Ohio State is 3-2 in the B1G Tournament, downing No. 6 Michigan State in a single-game quarterfinal in 2017 and losing a series to No. 6 Penn State, two games to one, in Columbus in 2023.Â
- The program has two conference postseason tournament titles, winning the CCHA in 1972 and 2004.Â
- Patrick Guzzo holds the Buckeye record with 16 Big Ten Tournament games played, with Davis Burnside and Joe Dunlap tied for second with 12 appearances. Burnside and Max Montes are tied for third with four career B1G Tournament goals and tied for sixth with six career B1G Tournament points each. Damien Carfagna is tied for fourth all-time with five assists in B1G postseason play.
- Gunnarwolfe Fontaine is fifth with five single-season points (3g, 2a), one back of first, and his three goals this year are tied for second all-time.Â
- Ohio State trails the all-time series with Michigan State, 58-101-13 and in East Lansing, the Spartans have the lead in the series, 54-23-7.Â
- This year, the teams met in East Lansing Nov. 8-9 and the Spartans posted a sweep with 4-2 and 4-1 wins. In Columbus Jan. 30-31, the squads split, with a 4-2 Ohio State win and 4-1 Spartan victory.
- In the postseason, the Buckeyes are 7-7 all-time against Michigan State and in the Big Ten Tournament, Ohio State is 5-1 vs. the Spartans. The Buckeyes won a single-game quarterfinal in overtime in both 2014 (2-1) and 2016 (4-3) in Saint Paul, Minn. and posted a 6-3 quarterfinal victory in Detroit in 2017. The squads met in a best-of-three quarterfinal series in 2018 in Columbus, with a Buckeye sweep (6-2, 4-3 OT). Last year, Michigan State won in the semifinals on its home ice, 2-1.Â
- Patrick Guzzo leads the current Buckeyes with 20 games played against Michigan State, while Joe Dunlap has appeared in 16 games and Davis Burnside has skated in 13 contests. Dunlap has a Buckeye-best five goals against Michigan State and Guzzo and Burnside are second with four. Guzzo also has a team-high five assists and nine points vs, MSU, followed by Dunlap (5g, 3a) with eight and Burnside (4g, 3a) with seven. Max Montes has a 2-4-6 line in nine games vs. the Spartans.Â
- Three Buckeyes - Kristoffer Eberly (Pinckney), Patrick Guzzo (Marysville) and John Larkin (Northville) - are natives of the state of Michigan.
- Ohio State split a series with then-No. 2 Michigan State Jan. 30-31 in Columbus in the last meeting between the teams.
- In game one, the Buckeyes notched the game's final two goals to defeat the Spartans, 4-2. The Spartans scored early but Buckeye Riley Thompson tallied late in the first and at 3:39 of the second for a 2-1 Ohio State advantage. Michigan State tied the game at 13:41 of the second with a power play tally. In the third, Gunnarwolfe Fontaine put the Buckeyes in the lead at 7:40 soon after a Buckeye power play and Thomas Weis added an insurance goal at 13:33. Buckeye goalie Logan Terness had 35 saves in the win and Ohio State blocked 25 shots.
- In game two, Michigan State opened the scoring in the second period and the Buckeyes' James Hong answered less than two minutes later for a tie game, but the Spartans tallied twice before the end of the second for a 3-1 lead. MSU added an empty net goal in the third for the 4-1 final.
The NCAA Tournament field will be announced at 3 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU.
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Players Mentioned
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