BOOM
2025 cornerback Jordyn Woods flips from Cincinnati and commits to Ohio State.
After locking up a win in the series opener at East Lansing, the No. 8 men's hockey Buckeyes looked to close with a similar result and a series sweep of Michigan State. Mission accomplished. Ohio State battled a scrappy Spartan team to a 5-3 victory and picked up three more crucial points in the battle for the Big Ten.
| Scoring by Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 8 Ohio State | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| Michigan State | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
The Buckeyes began the game well, getting some rubber on MSU starter Ed Minney and putting up a solid defense in front of Sean Romeo. Seven minutes went by before the Spartans registered their first shot on goal. Then a breakdown in the Bucks’ defense opened the door for Michigan State.
| Buckeye Goal Scorers (Assists) | Pd | Time |
|---|---|---|
| PP - Matt Weis (Tanner Laczynski) | 1 | 13:59 |
| Dakota Joshua (Brendon Kearney, Matt Joyaux) | 1 | 14:16 |
| John Wiitala (Matt Joyaux, Sasha Larocque) | 3 | 4:10 |
| Dakota Joshua (unassisted) | 3 | 11:00 |
| Freddy Gerard (Matt Weis, Tanner Laczynski) | 3 | 12:52 |
In spite of having the attention of just about every Buckeye on the ice, Patrick Khodorenko managed to float a pass to Mitch Lewandowski. The Spartans’ leading scorer was wide open in a sweet scoring spot. He didn’t miss and Michigan State took a 1-0 lead.
Later in the period a pair of quick strikes vaulted Ohio State into the lead. Matt Weis and Brendon Kearney netted goals in a 17 second span. First, Weis cleaned up the garbage left from a Tanner Laczynski shot. Ronnie Hein occupied Minney on the play, giving Weis space to score.
Weis’ marker extended two hot streaks. The first was a personal one. The senior now has points in six straight games. Weis also kept the Buckeye power play rolling. OSU’s PP unit came into tonight’s tilt at a post-holiday break mark of 4-for-12.
Seconds after Weis’ goal, Kearney gave OSU a 2-1 lead. The junior deftly redirected Matt Joyaux’s point shot for his second goal of the season. The hockey gods might have guided it a little too as a bit of payback for a goal post Kearney hit earlier in the game. [Edit: Credit for this goal was changed after the game to Dakota Joshua, so the hockey gods still owe Kearney one.]
Michigan State drew even in the second period. Sam Saliba capitalized on a power play. The goal came on a deflection with traffic. There was little the Bucks could do about it short of not taking the penalty in the first place.
The teams began the third period level on the scoreboard. MSU started on the power play, but a dizzying number of penalties to both teams soon confounded all attempts to keep track of which one had the advantage. At some point, they were skating 4-on-4. This opened up the ice for a bomb from John Wiitala.
Two goals in the first, three in the third for the Buckeyes in a 5-3 win at Michigan State. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/3kzmytOj7W
— Ohio State M Hockey (@OhioState_MHKY) January 7, 2018
The Buckeyes increased their lead with another pair of strikes. Dakota Joshua and Freddy Gerard netted goals 1:52 apart. Joshua’s tally was a solo effort. He won an offensive zone draw to himself and beat Minney. Gerard polished off his fifth goal of the season with assists from Weis and Laczynski.
Saliba would pull Michigan State a little closer with a pretty snipe at the 13:28 mark but that was as far as the Spartans would get. Ohio State skated away with a 5-3 victory. With tonight’s result the Bucks improve to 14-4-4 on the season and 7-4-1-0 in the Big Ten. They return to Columbus to prepare for next week’s clash at No. 13/14 Penn State.
- Ohio State outshot Michigan State 31-23.
- Laczynksi, Joshua, and Wiitala led the Bucks with five shots each.
- OSU’s power play went 1-for-4. The penalty kill was only slightly dinged at 4-for-5 attempts.
- Following Penn State's shootout win against Wisconsin the Big Ten Standings are as follows: Notre Dame 33 points, Ohio State 22, Penn State 19, Minnesota and Wisconsin 14, Michigan 12, Michigan State 8. The Fighting Irish and Wolverines wrap up their weekend series tomorrow. BTN airs the game live at 3pm ET.
