Ohio State men’s ice hockey’s fifth-year defenseman Scooter Brickey looking for a pass against a Wisconsin defender in Friday’s contest at Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center. The Buckeyes won 3-2 in overtime. Credit: Lantern Photographers
The Buckeyes shocked the collegiate hockey world Friday night when they defeated the No. 4 Badgers in an overtime thriller.
But 24 hours later, they did it again. This time no extra time was needed.
Ohio State (11-15-4, 3-15-2 Big Ten) earned its first series sweep in Big Ten play this season as it handled the No. 4 Wisconsin Badgers (22-8-2, 13-6-1 Big Ten) 3-1 Saturday evening in Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center.
The Buckeyes came into the weekend only winning one conference game in 18 tries, but they came out victorious twice against the highest-ranked team in the Big Ten.
Head coach Steve Rohlik said he wanted to see his team step up with postseason play around the corner and they did. Rohlik said he is proud once again of how they responded, especially against one of the top teams in the nation.
“It was playoff time for us, we kept knocking on the door,” Rohlik said. “Another good opportunity for us to continue to get better, to get the two wins. I am just happy for these guys, I feel really good for our group.”
Junior forward Cam Thiesing said the win means a lot for the team. He said they’ve waited all season long to get a result like this weekend.
“It is huge, we have been itching for something like this all year long, we came together as a team,” Thiesing said. “I could not even describe the stuff we went through this week.”
Wisconsin seemed to have opened up the scoring just six minutes into the first period with a rebound goal from freshman forward William Whitelaw. However, a challenge from Rohlik ruled the shot no good due to the play being offsides.
Ohio State finished the period on fire with two goals from two players within 48 seconds.
The first came from a passing play in the offensive zone that led to a cross-crease pass by senior forward Joe Dunlap to the goalscorer, Thiesing.
Thiesing’s goal was followed up immediately by sophomore forward Davis Burnside, who found the puck at the right hash mark and shot it past senior goaltender Kyle McClellan to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.
Wisconsin cut the Buckeye lead in half midway through the second period with a power-play goal from senior forward David Silye. Freshman…
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