Buckeyes Begin B1G Play vs. No. 1 Wolverines

Saturday, October 31

Columbus, Ohio

5 p.m.

Ohio State

Michigan

Men's Hockey vs Augustana - Oct. 23, 2026

Photo by: Ohio State Athletics

10/29/2026 4:51:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey

Teams will meet Saturday and Sunday in Columbus

The Basics

Big Ten Conference play starts this week, as the Ohio State men's hockey team welcomes No. 1 Michigan for a two-game series.
The teams will meet at 5 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Sunday in the Schottenstein Center in Columbus.
Game one will be streamed through B1G+ and game two will be televised by BTN and available on the Fox Sports app.
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 OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
Buckeye fans are encouraged to Wear Black at game one. There will be a Brutus trick or treat bag giveaway to the first 800 fans and pregame trick or treating on the concourse.
For game two, it is a Scarlet Out with fans encouraged to wear scarlet. There will be a scarlet THE towel giveaway to the first 2,000 fans and an Ohio State scarlet shirt giveaway to the first 500 Ohio State students.
Ohio State dropped two games at home to then-No. 13/15 Augustana last weekend (3-2 OT, 4-3) and is 2-4 on the year. Michigan is 7-0 and posted a 3-2 win over then-No. 5 Western Michigan at home last Friday.

The Schedule Ahead

Ohio State will be off next weekend before its first B1G road series at No. 2 Wisconsin Nov. 13-14.
The Buckeyes will return home to host Notre Dame Nov. 20-21 and then step out of conference play for two games at Union over Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 27-28).
The first half concludes with two home series, as the Buckeyes host No. 4 Michigan State Dec. 3-4 and No. 17 UConn Dec. 11-12.

Last Time Out

Ohio State dropped two one-goal games to then-No. 13/15 Augustana last weekend in Columbus.
In the first game, the Buckeyes led 1-0 after the first period on a Bryce Ingles goal. Augustana tallied the only two goals of the second for a 2-1 advantage. Buckeye freshman Evan Jardine deadlocked the game at 16:51 of the third with a power play tally. In overtime, the Vikings scored at 2:11 on a 4x3 power play for the victory. Ohio State outshot Augustana, 31-22, in the game and was 5-for-6 on the penalty kill, going 1-for-3 on the power play. Jardine led Ohio State with two points on a goal and an assist.
In game two, Augustana opened the scoring at 7:10 and scored a power play goal at 10:21. Two goals in a 24-second span stretched the lead to 4-0 at the end of the first period. A Buckeye power play goal from Ryan Rucinski was the only goal of the second. Ohio State notched two extra attacker goals – by Rucinski at 15:52 and Benjamin Wilmott at 19:05 – for a one-goal game, but was unable to net the equalizer. Ohio State, which shut out the Vikings for the final 44:39, had the advantage in shots, 24-20, in the game, including 22-10 over the final two periods.

Buckeyes vs. Wolverines

This marks the fourth time Ohio State is opening its Big Ten schedule vs. Michigan. The teams played the first B1G game in history Nov. 29, 2013, a 4-3 UM win in overtime in Ann Arbor, with a 5-4 Michigan victory in Columbus Dec. 2, 2013.
In 2019-20, the Buckeyes swept the Wolverines in Columbus Nov. 1-2, 2019 (3-2, 2-1) to start their league slate. In 2023-24, Ohio State started B1G action in Ann Arbor, with a 7-1 loss and 2-2 overtime tie (shootout win) Oct. 20-21, 2023.
Ohio State and Michigan faced off for the first time in 1964 and after games in 1969-70, 1974-75 and 1978-79, have met at least once each season since 1981-82 when Michigan joined Ohio State in the CCHA.
The Wolverines lead the all-time series, 103-53-16, including 44-28-8 in Columbus.
The teams met in the Big Ten Tournament championship game last March, a 7-3 home victory for the Wolverines.
In the regular season last year, the squads faced off in Ann Arbor Nov. 21-22, 2025, with the Wolverines winning 5-2 and 8-1. In Columbus Jan. 30-31, Michigan won the opener 6-4 and took game two in overtime, 3-2.
Max Montes leads the current Buckeyes with five goals, four assists and nine points vs. Michigan. Montes and Thomas Weis are first with 13 games played vs. UM, with Ryan Gordon, Nathan McBrayer and William Smith each skating in 12 games vs. the Wolverines.
Michigan is 7-0-0 on the year and has series sweeps of Bowling Green (home and home), Alaska Anchorage in Ann Arbor and Denver on the road, along with a home victory over Western Michigan last week.
The Wolverines are first in the nation in scoring offense (5.57 goals per game) and are second in scoring margin (+3.57). The team is 11th in scoring defense (2.0 goals allowed per game). The power play has converted 18.5 percent of its chances and the penalty kill has stopped 82.1 percent of the chances against.
Michigan's Michael Hage leads the NCAA in assists per game (1.57) and Jayden Perron is first nationally in goals (1.43) and points (2.29) per game.

Buckeye This and That
As a team ...

The Buckeyes are fourth in the NCAA in faceoff winning percentage (.578). Jake Karabela leads Ohio State with 52 wins, Max Montes has 50 and Ryan Gordon has 46 victories.
Ohio State is outshooting opponents 188-120 on the year, averaging 31.33 per night and allowing 20.0 per contest.
On the power play, Ohio State is 5-for-22 (.227) this season, ranking 19th in the NCAA. Evan Jardine and Ryan Rucinski each have two power play goals and Felix Caron has also tallied with the man advantage.
Ryan Gordon scored shorthanded goal at Sacred Heart Oct. 17, the Buckeyes' first shorty of the year and the first of his career.
Eleven Buckeyes have at least one goal this year and 14 have at least one assist. Overall, 15 Buckeyes have posted a point.

Individually ...

Freshman Evan Jardine leads the Buckeyes points with seven. Jardine and classmate Ryan Rucinski are tied for first with three goals each and rookie Benjamin Wilmott has two scores.
Jardine and sophomore Jake Karabela are first on the squad with four assists each. Max Montes, Sascha Boumedienne and William Smith have each posted three helpers.
Jardine had a three-game point streak (3g, 4a, 7p) stopped in game two vs. Augustana. He had multiple points in each of the three previous outings.
Jardine was named B1G Second Star of the Week after five points at Sacred Heart. His three-assist night against the Pioneers was the first for a Buckeye since Aiden Hansen-Bukata had three helpers March 22, 2025 at Penn State.
Karabela and Rucinski are tied for second on the team with five points each.
Karabela posted two assists in two of his last three games. He has nine career games with two points and seven two-assist nights, with 12 multiple-point outings overall.
Rucinski notched his first career two-goal game last Saturday vs. Augustana. He has a point in four of the last five outings.
Rucinski is the second Buckeye rookie with a two-goal game this year, joining Jardine who tallied twice at Sacred Heart Oct. 17.
After posting an assist in game one vs. Augustana for his first Buckeye point, junior transfer Boumedienne had his first two-assist game at Ohio State in game two vs. the Vikings.
Montes notched the seventh gamewinning goal of his Buckeye career at RPI Oct. 10. He is tied for 13th among current NCAA skaters in gwg. Montes is tied for ninth among current NCAA players in games played with 120.