Last Saturday Buckeye goaltender Tommy Nappier made his fourth career start. Wisconsin fired 31 shots at him. He faced the steady barrage of Badger shots with aplomb and stopped them all to record his first collegiate shutout. Today Big Ten Hockey rewarded Nappier’s superb effort with the conference’s First Star of the Week. It is his first career conference accolade.
| Men's Hockey | Star of the Week Honors |
|---|---|
| Mason Jobst, Jr. F | B1G First (1x) |
| Tanner Laczynski, So. F | NCAA First (1x), B1G Second (3x) |
| Tommy Nappier, Fr. G | B1G First (1x) |
| Sean Romeo, RS-Jr. G | B1G First (1x), B1G Second (2x), B1G Third (1x) |
| Matt Weis, Sr. F | B1G Second (1x) |
The St. Louis native’s stellar performance did not surprise head coach Steve Rohlik at all. “The thing about Tommy is, every time we've called upon him, he's been phenomenal. He's in there every day, working hard, and we see where he's at. He's capable. I've got very good goaltenders right now, but Tommy deserved a chance to get in there, and he proved it again today.”
Nappier is 4-0-0 on the season with four starts and six appearances. He owns a sparkling 1.33 GAA and .956 save percentage. Collectively Nappier and Sean Romeo have represented the Buckeye goaltending corps in four of the last five editions of B1G Stars of the Week.
Weekend rewind - look back at the Buckeyes' two wins over the Badgers to close out the regular season.
— Ohio State M Hockey (@OhioState_MHKY) February 26, 2018
In the series, 14 Buckeyes got on the scoresheet, OSU limited UW to just 2 goals and Romeo and Nappier each backstopped a win. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/Rixtj1JqrD
On Tap This Week
After wrapping up a fine regular season, Ohio State (21-8-5) now sets its sights on the B1G tournament. Under the new tourney format, regular season champ Notre Dame gets a first round bye. So the second-seeded Buckeyes kick things off by hosting last place Michigan State. The best-of-three series will take place at the Schott this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (if necessary). Opening faceoff for each game is 7pm ET.
Poll Watch
The Buckeyes remain at No. 6 in both national polls this week. They stand at No. 6 in the PairWise, which mimics the selection formula used by the NCAA tournament committee. The Bucks appear solidly positioned to earn a berth in the big tourney for the second consecutive year.
