The No. 7-ranked Ohio State men’s hockey team hosts No. 9 Penn State this weekend in a two-game Big Ten series.
The teams will meet at 7 p.m. Friday and 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Value City Arena in Columbus.
The Friday game will be streamed through Big Ten Plus, with Saturday’s televised by BTN and available on the Fox Sports app. Both can be heard on Ohio State Radio and live statistics will be available.
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.
Friday is Buckeye Inclusion Night and there will be an Ohio State trucker hat giveaway for students. Saturday is First Responders and Frontline Workers Night.
Ohio State is 16-9-1 on the year, with a 9-7-0-0-0-0 mark in Big Ten play, while Penn State is 18-9-1 and has an 8-9-1-0-2-0 Big Ten record. The teams enter the weekend tied for second in the B1G.
The Buckeyes were off last weekend and last played Jan. 20-21, splitting a series at Wisconsin (L 0-4, W 2-0). Penn State dropped two games at Michigan last weekend (3-7, 4-5).
Buckeye Notes to Know
Ohio State is 4-2 in 2023 and 7-3 in its last 10 outings.
The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions met in State College in December, splitting two one-goal contests (PSU 2-1, OSU 4-3).
Ohio State is tied for first nationally on the penalty kill (85/95, .895) and first in shorthanded goals (9).
The Buckeyes will be on the road at Notre Dame next weekend before hosting Michigan Feb. 16 in their regular season home finale. Ohio State and the Wolverines will close the series with an outdoor game in Cleveland Feb. 18. Two games at Minnesota wrap up the regular season slate for Ohio State.
A Look Ahead
The Buckeyes will head to Notre Dame for a series Feb. 10-11. Peacock will stream the games, with a 7:30 p.m. game one start and 6 p.m. puck drop for game two.
Ohio State will then host Michigan at 7 p.m. Feb. 16, with the Buckeye seniors honored pregame, before the teams meet outdoors in the Faceoff on the Lake at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.
Single-game and group tickets are all on sale now, with more information on OhioStateBuckeyes.com/tickets. Parking is free for all home games in VCA.
Buckeyes vs. Nittany Lions
Ohio State leads the all-time series with Penn State, 22-16-4, including an 11-9-2 record in Columbus.
The teams met five times on Buckeye home ice last season. Ohio State swept a series in Columbus in November (5-2, 4-1). In a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal series in March, Ohio State won game one, 4-3. Penn State prevailed in the next two, 3-2 and 2-1, to advance.
In University Park Dec. 2-3, the squads split their matchup. Penn State took game one, 2-1, before a 4-3 Ohio State victory.
Among current Buckeyes, Gustaf Westlund is first with six goals, seven assists and 13 points vs. Penn State (in a team-high 15 games). Jake Wise has a 4-5-9 line in nine games vs. the Nittany Lions and Mason Lohrei and Cole McWard each have seven points, with two goals and five assists, vs. PSU.
Penn State is ninth nationally in scoring offense (3.54 goals per game) and is allowing 2.68 goals a night. The power play has converted 17.2 percent of its chances and the penalty kill has stopped 77.3 percent of its opponents’ opportunities. The Nittany Lions are third in the NCAA in faceoff winning percentage (.546) and lead the country in shots per game (41.0).
In the Rankings
This week, the Buckeyes are seventh in both the DCU/USCHO and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls.
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. The squad has been ranked in the Top 20 all season and in the Top 10 since Jan. 9.
Ohio State is one of six Big Ten teams in the USCHO Top 20 this week, joining No. 1 Minnesota, No. 6 Michigan, No. 9 Penn State, No. 17 Michigan State and No. 20 Notre Dame.
Special Teams
The Buckeyes were 7-for-9 on the penalty kill against Wisconsin and are now 92-for-104 (.885) this season, tying with Michigan Tech for the NCAA lead.
Ohio State is first nationally with nine shorthanded goals, ahead of Bowling Green, St. Cloud and Providence with six each. Davis Burnside and Patrick Guzzo each have two shorthanded goals to lead the Buckeyes and tie for fifth in the NCAA. Ohio State also has man-down tallies from Cam Thiesing, Dominic Vidoli, Tate Singleton, Kamil Sadlocha and Joe Dunlap.
The nine shorthanded goals are the most for the Buckeyes since the 2006-07 squad had 11. The previous best since that year was five in 2012-13 and 2015-16.
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 0-for-5 on the power play against Wisconsin, just the second time this season the team did not convert on the power play in a series (at Penn State).
Overall, Ohio State is 24-for-111 (.216) with the man advantage and has put 195 shots on goals while a man up.
Stephen Halliday and Travis Treloar share the team lead and are tied for ninth in the NCAA with six power play goals each, with Treloar scoring two in the opener at Michigan. Jake Wise has five, while Cam Thiesing has three and Michael Gildon has two. Scooter Brickey and Tyler Duke have also scored on the power play.
Halliday has a team-best 16 power play points, ranking second with 10 assists, and Mason Lohrei is first with 12 assists with the man advantage, ranking second in points with 12.
In the B1G
The Buckeyes are tied for second in the Big Ten with 27 points, matching Penn State and behind Minnesota (43 points). Notre Dame (26) is one point back of OSU and PSU in fourth, Michigan and Michigan State are tied for fifth with 24 points each and Wisconsin follows with nine.
Minnesota, Penn State, Notre Dame and Michigan State have each played 18 games, while the Buckeyes, Wolverines and Badgers have each skated in 16 B1G contests.
The No. 1 seed will have a first-round bye in the Big Ten Tournament, while Nos. 2-4 host Nos. 5-7 in best-of-three quarterfinal series. The No. 1 seed and highest remaining seed will host semifinal contests and the final will be played at the highest remaining seed.
