Photo by: Ohio State Athletics
No. 9/10 Buckeyes Set for B1G Quarterfinal Series vs. the Badgers
3/5/2025 5:41:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
No. 3 seed Ohio State will face No. 6 Wisconsin in Nationwide Arena
The Basics
Buckeyes vs. Badgers
- The postseason begins for the No. 9/10 Ohio State men's hockey team this week with a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal series.
- The No. 3 seed Buckeyes will take on No. 6 Wisconsin in a best-of-three series Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if necessary) at 7 p.m. in Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
- The series will be streamed through B1G+. Ohio State Radio will carry the games (1460 AM, Ohio State Buckeyes app and website) and live stats will be available through OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
- Ohio State is 21-11-2 this season and was 14-9-1 3-2-0 in conference play. Wisconsin is 12-19-3 overall and had a 7-16-1 1-6-0 mark in B1G games.
- The Buckeyes captured the regular season series against the Badgers, with two 2-1 wins (the first in overtime) in Madison, Wis., Oct. 18-19 and then a sweep with 4-1 and 4-2 victories in Columbus Feb. 14-15.Â
- This is the second year in a row the Buckeyes and Badgers are facing off in the first round of the B1G Tournament. Last season, No. 7 seed Ohio State won the series, two games to one, over No. 2 Wisconsin in Madison.Â
- The series winner will advance to the single-game semifinals, which will be hosted by the highest remaining seed among the first-round winners. No. 1 seed Michigan State will host the other semifinal. Â
- Tickets for the games this weekend can be purchased online: go.osu.edu/MHKYQuarterfinals.
- Admission is free for Ohio State students with a BuckID.
- Entry to the arena will be through the McConnell Entrance.
- Paid fan parking will be available in garages by Nationwide Arena, including the McConnell, Arena and Front Street garages. There is no pre-paid parking for the Buckeye games at the arena; all parking can be paid upon arrival on gameday.
- Fans are encouraged to park in the McConnell Garage, which provides the closest access to the arena entrance for the Ohio State games.Â
- Ohio State is No. 9 in the USCHO poll and No. 10 in the USA Hockey/The Rink Live rankings this week, its 19th-straight week in the Top 20.
- The Buckeyes are in the Top 16 in the NCAA in scoring defense (2.44 goals allowed per game), scoring offense (3.24 gpg), scoring margin (.79) and winning percentage (.647).
- 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 34, followed by Riley Thompson and Davis Burnside (30), Aiden Hansen-Bukata (24), and Damien Carfagna and Max Montes (23).Â
- Fontaine, who has 13 goals and 21 assists, has a point in 15 of the last 20 games. He is fourth among current NCAA players with 131 career points.
- Hansen-Bukata hit the 100-point mark for his collegiate career against Wisconsin Feb. 15 and is the only current NCAA blueliner with 100 or more points with 102. He leads the Buckeyes with 22 assists.
- The Buckeyes are 15-13 all-time in Big Ten Tournament action.
- In the quarterfinals, Ohio State is 13-5, with four wins when the tournament was single elimination at neutral sites, home sweeps of Michigan State (2018) and Wisconsin (2020), wins in three games against Penn State in Columbus (2023) and at Wisconsin (2024) and a loss in three games to Penn State in Columbus (2022).
- 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
- As the No. 3 seed, Ohio State is 2-2 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 2023 Ohio State team was the first to lose a B1G Tournament quarterfinal series at home, while in 2024 the Buckeyes were the first No. 7 seed to advance out of a quarterfinal series.Â
- The program has two conference postseason tournament titles, winning the CCHA in 1972 and 2004.Â
- Ohio State is 9-2-3 all-time in games played in Nationwide Arena, home of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets.Â
- The series this week vs. Wisconsin is the second B1G Tournament matchup the Buckeyes will play in Nationwide Arena. The squad downed Michigan in a semifinal in 2018. The Buckeyes and Wolverines were set to play a semifinal game in NWA in 2020 before the remainder of the tournament was canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.Â
- In 2002-03 Ohio State swept Omaha in a CCHA first round series in Nationwide (4-1, 3-1) in the other postseason contests in downtown Columbus.
Buckeyes vs. Badgers
- Ohio State is 34-27-5 all-time vs. Wisconsin and leads the regular season series since the start of Big Ten play, 29-14-5, with a 33-16-6 mark overall since 2013-14 (including postseason play).Â
- In Columbus, Ohio State leads all-time, 18-8-2.
- The teams faced off to open Big Ten play this year, with a series in Madison Oct. 18-19. Ohio State posted a 2-1 overtime win and a 2-1 win for a sweep. Feb. 14-15, the squads met in Columbus. The Buckeyes posted a sweep with 4-1 and 4-2 victories.
- In the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes and Badgers have met seven times, with three of the games going to overtime. The first was a 5-4 UW overtime win in the inaugural Big Ten Tournament final in 2014 in Saint Paul, Minn. In 2017 Wisconsin won in the semifinals, 2-1, in Detroit. In Columbus in 2020, Ohio State posted a sweep with 9-1 and 2-1 OT wins in the quarterfinals. Â
- Last year, the squads met in  a quarterfinal series, with Wisconsin the No. 2 seed and Ohio State the No. 7. The Buckeyes claimed game one 3-1 before a 4-2 UW win in game two. Ohio State advanced with a 3-1 game three win.
- Patrick Guzzo leads the current Buckeyes with 21 games played vs. Wisconsin, followed by Joe Dunlap with 16 and Davis Burnside with 15. Burnside and Max Montes (11 games played) pace the current Buckeyes with six goals against the Badgers and Damien Carfagna (11 gp) has a team-best six assists vs. UW. Montes and Burnside lead the current Buckeyes with nine career points vs. the Badgers, followed by Carfagna with seven.
- Ohio State head coach Steve Rohlik is a 1990 graduate of Wisconsin, where he was a captain on the Badgers' national championship team.
- Buckeye sophomore forward Thomas Weis is a native of Madison, Wis., and his classmate Max Montes is from Hartland, Wis.Â
Players Mentioned
Forward
/ Men's Ice Hockey
Defenseman
/ Men's Ice Hockey
Forward
/ Men's Ice Hockey
Forward
/ Men's Ice Hockey
Forward
/ Men's Ice Hockey
Defenseman
/ Men's Ice Hockey
Forward
/ Men's Ice Hockey
Forward
/ Men's Ice Hockey
Forward
/ Men's Ice Hockey No videos available.
