No. 14 Buckeyes Set for Home-and-Home Series with BG Falcons

The Basics

The No. 14-ranked Ohio State men’s hockey team closes out the first part of its season with a home-and-home series against Bowling Green this weekend.
The teams will meet at 7:07 p.m. Friday in Slater Family Ice Arena in Bowling Green, Ohio, and at 7 p.m. Saturday in Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
The Friday game will be streamed through FloHockey.tv, with Saturday’s game on Big Ten Plus.
Both contests will be on Ohio State Radio and live statistics will be available.
The Buckeyes, coming off a bye week, enter the series 10-7-1 overall (5-5-0 B1G). Bowling Green is 8-10-0 on the year (7-7-0 CCHA).
Ohio State will hold a Teddy Bear Toss Saturday. Fans are encouraged to bring a new stuffed animal to throw on the ice after the first period. All stuffed animals will be delivered to Ronald McDonald House in Columbus.
A buy one, get one ticket offer is available for Saturday’s game HERE.
Single-game and group tickets and mini plans are all on sale now, with more information on OhioStateBuckeyes.com/tickets. Parking is free for all home games in VCA.

Buckeye Notes to Know

This season, 22 Buckeyes have posted at least one point. Fifteen have scored a goal, with 21 notching at least one assist.
Jake Wise is first with 18 points, followed by Stephen Halliday and Mason Lohrei with 13 each.
Wise has a team-best seven goals, with Davis Burnside, Patrick Guzzo and Cam Thiesing tied for second with six goals. Lohrei paces the team with 13 assists and Wise has 11.
Burnside is tied for fourth nationally with two shorthanded goals.
Travis Treloar and Wise are tied for 18th in the NCAA and second in the B1G with four power play tallies apiece.

A Look Ahead

The Buckeyes will return to action with a home series against Michigan State Jan. 6-7 in Columbus.

Buckeyes vs. Falcons

Ohio State and Bowling Green have met 186 times, with the series beginning in 1966.
The Falcons lead the overall series between Ohio State and Bowling Green, 98-78-10, including 58-30-7 in Bowling Green. In Columbus, the Buckeyes have the edge, 45-38-3.
Ohio State and Bowling Green were founding members of the CCHA in 1971-72. The Buckeyes left and skated as an independent in 1973-74 and 1974-75, but rejoined the Falcons in the CCHA in 1975-76 and remained in the league until it disbanded in that form in 2012-13.
Since becoming nonconference foes starting in 2013-14, the Buckeyes and Falcons have met in six of nine seasons. Ohio State leads in those contests, 6-5-1.
Last season, the teams faced off to close out the first half, with two one-goal games. Ohio State rallied for a 4-3 overtime win in Columbus and then posted a 3-2 road victory.
Bowling Green is 8-10-0 overall this year and is 7-7-0 in the CCHA. The team is scoring 3.11 goals a game and allowing 3.06 a contest. The power play has converted 24.6 percent of its chances and the penalty kill has stopped 83.6 percent of its opponents’ opportunities

In the Rankings

Ohio State started the year No. 16 in the DCU/USCHO.com preseason poll and was No. 18 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine preseason rankings.
This week, the Buckeyes are No. 14 in both the DCU/USCHO ranking and in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
The Buckeyes have been ranked as high as ninth this season.
Ohio State is one of six Big Ten teams in the USCHO Top 20 this week, joining No. 3 Minnesota, No. 5 Penn State, No. 7 Michigan, No. 11 Michigan State and No. 19 Notre Dame.

Special Teams

The Buckeyes were 9-for-10 on the penalty kill against Penn State and are now 67-for-73 (.918) this season, ranking first in the NCAA.
Ohio State is tied with St. Cloud for first in the NCAA with six shorthanded goals, with two from Davis Burnside, along with shorthanded tallies from Dominic Vidoli, Patrick Guzzo, Tate Singleton and Kamil Sadlocha.
The six shorthanded goals are the most for the Buckeyes since the 2015-16 squad had five. Ohio State had just one shorty each of the last two seasons and scored two in 2020.
The squad has allowed four shorthanded goals – vs. Wisconsin Oct.8, Bentley Oct. 20, LIU Nov. 26 and Penn State Dec. 3.
Ohio State was scoreless on five power play chances vs. Penn State.
Overall, the squad is 15-for-72 (.208) with the man advantage and has put 129 shots on goals while a man up.
Travis Treloar and Jake Wise are tied for 18th nationally with four power play goals, while Stephen Halliday has three. Cam Thiesing has two goals with the man advantage and Tyler Duke and Michael Gildon have also scored on the power play.

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