Hello, hockey fans! Welcome to a special Big Ten tournament edition of puck previews. Let’s get right down to the brass tacks. You want to know whether the Buckeyes have a shot at hoisting some hardware this week. The short answer: Yes.
| day | time | big ten tourney schedule |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday | 5:00 p.m. ET | Wisconsin vs Penn State |
| 8:30 p.m. ET | Michigan State vs Ohio State | |
| Friday | 5:00 p.m. ET | WIS/PSU vs Michigan |
| 8:30 p.m. ET | MSU/OSU vs Minnesota | |
| Saturday | 8:00 p.m. ET | Big Ten championship game |
No team comes into the Big Ten tournament on a bigger roll than Ohio State. The Bucks are unbeaten in seven games with a 5-0-2 record stretching back to mid-February. There’s not a shadow of a doubt that OSU has the offensive skill to blaze a scarlet path of destruction through the B1G tourney.
Defense and goaltending are less of a sure thing, although so far the team’s scoring has been sufficient to erase any mistakes that wind up in the back of the net. The scales are tipping in the Buckeyes' favor, but their margin for error at this point is still too slim to be truly comfortable.
As the fourth seed, Ohio State begins the tourney with a season finale rematch against fifth seed Michigan State. The Spartans were more successful than another other opponent this year at bottling up the potent Buckeye offense. In three of the teams’ four meetings, MSU held the Bucks to two or fewer goals.
Heading into the tilt Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik doesn’t see much of an advantage for one team over the other:
Almost every game we’ve played has been a one goal game. They play hard. They’ve got a great goaltender. It’s been very close. There hasn’t been much difference between the teams. Pretty evenly matched.
Michigan State coach Tom Anastos thinks the game will be decided in the “key moments.”
You’ve got to win those key moments in games to win the game…I think both teams have played pretty well in the four games that we’ve played. In every single game. So it’s those key moments that will probably determine who wins the game Thursday.
Anastos did not elaborate on what exactly he considers “key moments” but one has to think they include the small but crucial ways in which the Spartans gained the upper hand on the Buckeyes in previous contests: faceoff wins, responsible defensive coverage, shot blocking, etc.
The match-up is indeed a close one. OSU absolutely cannot look past Sparty. We, however, can take a quick look at the path the team must travel to achieve ultimate tournament victory.
Should the Bucks advance to the semifinal they’ll face top seed Minnesota. The Gophers are the only team Ohio State did not defeat in the regular season, though they did push three out of their four games to overtime. It would be a righteous bit of redemption if the Buckeyes could finally get the win and put an end to the Gophers’ season.
Beyond Minnesota lies the Big Ten tournament final and Michigan, Penn State, or Wisconsin. If the Bucks make it that far - no matter who they’re up against - I don’t think I’d bet against them.
Around the Conference
It looks as though Michigan is the only Big Ten team to secure an at large bid to the NCAA tournament this year. That means it is do-or-die time for the rest of B1G. Whichever team is left standing when the dust settles on Saturday night wins not only the conference tourney but an autobid to the NCAA’s.
The bottom half of the Big Ten bracket is an intriguing one. Penn State limps into the postseason. A shorthanded, banged up Nittany Lion squad was swept convincingly by the Wolverines in the season finale. Wisconsin, on the other hand, upset Minnesota last Friday and nearly pulled off a tremendous series sweep on Saturday.
It wouldn’t surprise me overmuch to see the Badgers upset PSU. That would set up an tilt with Michigan who repeatedly struggled to dispose of Wisconsin during the regular season. Two of the teams’ battles went all the way to a shootout. Another was, for all intents and purposes, only a one-goal game.
Following Along
Every game of the tournament will air live on BTN. You can watch online or on mobile devices via the BTN2Go app. Local radio 1460 AM will have coverage of Ohio State’s game(s).
