Saturday, March 21
Ann Arbor, Mich.
8 p.m.
Ohio State
at
Michigan (Final)
Photo by: Ohio State Athletics
No. 19 Buckeyes vs. No. 1 Wolverines in B1G Tourney Final Saturday
3/19/2026 2:55:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
Ohio State is playing in the championship game for the second straight year
The Basics
- The No. 19 Ohio State men's hockey team will face No. 1 Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament final Saturday.
- The Buckeyes and Wolverines will meet at 8 p.m. in Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich.
- The game will be televised by BTN and 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 the schedule page on OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
- Ohio State is the tournament's No. 5 seed and advanced with a 7-1 road win in the quarterfinals at No. 4 seed Wisconsin and a 3-2 overtime win at No. 1 Michigan State. No. 2 seed Michigan downed No. 7 Notre Dame in the quarterfinals 6-1 and defeated No. 3 Penn State in the semifinals, 5-2, with both games at home.
- Ohio State is 14-20-2 on the year (8-15-1 B1G) and Michigan is 28-7-1 (17-6-1 B1G).
- Ohio State is making its fourth appearance, and second in a row, in the Big Ten Tournament final and is looking for its first title. Ohio State lost the first three all in overtime.
- The Buckeyes are 1-2 vs. Michigan in B1G Tournament play. Ohio State won in the semifinals in overtime in 2018 and Michigan won in the quarterfinals in 2021 and in the semis in 2023.
- The Buckeyes and Wolverines met in the CCHC Super Six championship game twice, with a 4-2 Ohio State win in 2004 and a 4-2 Wolverine victory in 2005. Both games were at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
- Four of the last five, and five of the last seven, games for the Buckeyes have gone to overtime.
- The Buckeyes are scoring 3.22 goals per game, ranking 20th in the NCAA, allowing 3.53 a contest.
- The power play is 12th nationally, converting 24.1 percent of its chances. The penalty kill has stopped 72.2 percent of its opponents' opportunities. Ohio State averages 11.28 penalty minutes a game. The Buckeyes have won 50.9 percent of their faceoffs.
- Freshman Jake Karabela leads the team with 36 points, followed by Davis Burnside (32), Felix Caron (29), Max Montes (27) and Riley Thompson (27).
- Montes has a team-high 15 goals, with Karabela and Caron each scoring 14 times and Thompson tallying 13 goals.
- Karabela is first with 22 helpers. Burnside is next with 20, followed by Broten Sabo with 19.
- Burnside leads the Buckeye squad with 112 career points (49g, 63a), ranking eighth among current NCAA skaters. He is third nationally with 154 games played.
- 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, 102-53-16, including 52-20-9 in Ann Arbor.
- This year, the squads met in Ann Arbor Nov. 21-22, 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.
- Ohio State is 3-12 all-time vs. Michigan in the postseason, with a 1-2 mark since the start of Big Ten play. The Buckeyes won in the semifinals in Nationwide Arena in Columbus in 2018, 3-2 in overtime. In 2021, the Wolverines were 4-0 winners in a quarterfinal single elimination game in South Bend, Ind. In 2023, Michigan was a 7-3 winner in the semifinals in Ann Arbor. The squads were set to meet in Columbus in the 2020 semifinal round before the remainder of the season was canceled because of Covid-19.
- The teams met twice in the CCHA Super Six championship game. In 2004, Ohio State posted a 4-2 win and the Wolverines defeated the Buckeyes by the same score the next year, with both games at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
- Davis Burnside leads the current Buckeyes with 17 games played against Michigan, ranking first with seven assists and nine points vs. the Wolverines. Max Montes has scored five goals and posted three assists for eight points vs. UM while playing in 12 games. Riley Thompson has a 2-3-5 line in eight games vs. the Wolverines. In 11 games, Nathan McBrayer has three assists and four points. Thomas Weis has also played 12 games against Michigan and has two goals and three points, while Felix Caron has a 2-1-3 line in four games.
- Michigan is 28-7-1 on the year and finished second in the Big Ten with a 17-6-1 ledger, two points back of Michigan State.
- The Wolverines are first in the nation in scoring offense (4.50 goals per game), scoring margin (+2.14) and on the power play (.302). The team is 11th nationally in scoring defense (2.36 goals allowed per game). The squad has averaged 16.42 penalty minutes per game and the penalty kill has stopped 80.3 percent of its opponents' chances. T.J. Hughes, the Big Ten Player of the Year, and Michael Hage rank in the Top 10 in the NCAA in assists and points per game and Will Horcoff is sixth in goals per game.
- The Buckeyes are 20-15 all-time in Big Ten Tournament action and are looking for their first tournament title.
- In the final, Ohio State is 0-3, with the first three games all decided in overtime. The Buckeyes lost to Wisconsin 5-4 in the inaugural game in 2014 in Saint Paul, fell on the road at Notre Dame 3-2 in 2018 and lost in double overtime at Michigan State last year, 4-3.
- This is the fourth time the Buckeyes are the tournament's No. 5 seed, with a 6-4 mark as the No. 5 seed through Saturday's semifinal win.
- The Buckeyes are the first No. 5 seed and the lowest seed to reach the tournament championship game.
- The program has two conference postseason tournament titles, winning the CCHA in 1972 and 2004.
- Ohio State is averaging 3.22 goals a game, with three or more goals in 23 games, including each of the last nine. The team had a season-high seven goals in the quarterfinals at Wisconsin before three goals in the semifinal at Michigan State.
- The Buckeyes are allowing 3.53 goals per game and have allowed three or fewer in 11 of 20 games in the second half of the year.
- On the power play, the Buckeyes are 32-for-133 (.241), ranking 12th in the NCAA. At Wisconsin in the quarterfinals, the Buckeyes were 3-for-6, and they were 1-for-3 at Michigan State in the semis.
- Riley Thompson leads the Buckeyes with eight power play goals, tying for seventh in the NCAA.
- Felix Caron is next with seven PPG to tie for 12th in the nation. Jake Karabela has six power play goals. Davis Burnside and Max Montes each have three, while Adam Eisele, Nathan Lewis, Ryan Gordon, Thomas Weis and Sabo have also tallied with the man advantage.
- Burnside (3g, 12a), Caron (7g, 8a) and Karabela (6g, 9a) pace the Buckeyes with 15 power play points each. Sabo has a team-high 13 assists with the man advantage.
- Ohio State has played 11 overtime games this season and is 2-8-2 in the outings. Ohio State's overtime wins came vs. Minnesota Dec. 5 and at Michigan State last Saturday. The ties came against Bowling Green Jan. 3 and Michigan State Feb. 28. Ohio State dropped overtime games to Sacred Heart, Wisconsin, Arizona State (twice), Michigan, Penn State and Notre Dame (twice). Last year, Ohio State had 10 games go into overtime, with a 5-3-2 mark.The 12 overtime games are the most in program history, passing the 11 from the 2015-16 squad that was 3-4-4 in overtime.
- The Buckeyes have played in 16 one-goal games this campaign, with a 5-11 record in the contests.
- Ohio State has a .509 faceoff winning percentage (1152-1112). Max Montes leads the Buckeye squad with 292 wins, while Jake Karabela has 278 and Ryan Gordon has 253. Among Buckeyes with more than 40 faceoffs, Montes is first with a .532 winning percentage (292-257).
- Ohio State is 99-for-133 (.722) on the penalty kill this season and was 1-for-2 at Michigan State last Saturday.
- James Hong set up Max Montes for the Buckeyes' first shorthanded goal of the season at Penn State Feb. 22.
- The Buckeyes are averaging 32.19 shots a game this year, allowing 29.44 a contest. The squad had a streak of six games with 31 or more shots end with 20 shots on goal vs. the Badgers but rebounded with 31 against the Spartans.
- The tournament winner earns the Big Ten's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, with the bracket announced at 3 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU.
Players Mentioned
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