The Ohio State men’s hockey team stared down an elimination game on Sunday and took care of business to advance to the semifinals of the Big Ten Hockey Tournament. The No. 3 seed Buckeyes beat No. 6 seed Penn State 3-1 and will now move on to the semifinals against No. 2 seed Michigan.
Oh, how fun.
Buy Buckeyes TicketsPenn State actually started the scoring, but it took a while. The Nittany Lions drew first blood on the power play with 13:32 left in the second period to put the Buckeyes on their heels at 1-0.
OSU evened things not long after however. At the 7:52 mark of the period, Cam McWard lasered a one-timer from the slot into the back of the net. Stephen Halliday and Jake Wise were credited with the assists.
🎯 Cole McWard tied the game with his seventh goal of the season.
Assists to Stephen Halliday (his 30th) and Jake Wise (his 21st). #GoBucks @Mcward_Cole12 @S_Halliday77 @wisey871 pic.twitter.com/3CQ2gm9cw3
— Ohio State Men's Hockey (@OhioStateMHKY) March 5, 2023
The Buckeyes would strike again to take the lead just a little over three minutes later on an odd-man rush when Scooter Brickey was able to roof one over the shoulder of Penn State goaltender Liam Souliere. Suddenly, Ohio State was in position to advance if it could just seal the deal on defense.
🚨 Blueliner goal put the Buckeyes in the lead, Vidoli to Brickey. #GoBucks @ScooterBrickey @dominicvido63 pic.twitter.com/e5SCP6UzIg
— Ohio State Men's Hockey (@OhioStateMHKY) March 5, 2023
Penn State started the third period on the power play but couldn’t convert and things stayed that way with back-and-forth play until the Nittany Lions pulled the goalie to get an advantage late in the game. The OSU defense stood tall and the Buckeyes were able to tack on an empty net goal to finish off the 3-1 victory.
✔️ Game three win
➡️Movin' on to the B1G Tournament semis! #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/b9tXt7aJXe
— Ohio State Men's Hockey (@OhioStateMHKY) March 6, 2023
Ohio State will now head into the single-elimination rounds and travel to Ann Arbor to take on the ugliest color combination in all of college sports — maize and blue. That game is set for 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
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