Last week Tanner Laczynski was a key contributor in Ohio State’s sweep at No. 13/12 Penn State. This week the junior forward is Big Ten Hockey’s Third Star of the Week. It is the fifth career weekly honor for Laczynski and his first since last January.
| Men's Hockey | Week | 2018-19 Awards and Accolades |
|---|---|---|
| Sean Romeo, RS-Sr. G | No. 5 | B1G Second Star of the Week |
| Tommy Nappier, So. G | No. 6 | B1G Third Star of the Week |
| Sean Romeo, RS-Sr. G | No. 7 | B1G Third Star of the Week |
| Sasha Larocque, Sr. D | No. 12 | B1G Second Star of the Week |
| Mason Jobst, Sr. F | No. 13 | NCAA First Star of the Week |
| Mason Jobst, Sr. F | No. 13 | B1G First Star of the Week |
| Tommy Nappier, So. G | No. 13 | B1G Third Star of the Week |
| Tanner Laczynski, Jr. F | No. 15 | B1G Third Star of the Week |
The Philadelphia Flyers prospect tallied five points in back-to-back wins over the Nittany Lions. He netted the game-winning goal in Friday’s contest and chipped in two assists to boot. His first helper that night was career point No. 100.
Laczynski is only the third Buckeye since 2003 to join the century club as a junior. He ranks twelfth in career scoring among all active players with 104 points in 96 games. The playmaking wizard recorded another pair of assists in Saturday’s sweep-clinching win.
Notre Dame’s Michael Graham (4-1--5 in a win and shootout win vs. Wisconsin) is the conference's First Star of the Week. Michigan State’s Mitch Lewandowski (4-0--4 in a sweep of Minnesota) is its Second Star.
Laczynski and the Bucks have a bye this week. They’re back in action on Feb. 1-2 hosting No. 11/12 Notre Dame.
A Peek at the Polls and PairWise Rankings
The men’s hockey Bucks rise to No. 3 in the latest USCHO rankings and No. 4 in the USA Today/USA Hockey poll. They hold steady at No. 5 in the PairWise (a dead-on simulation of the selection formula for the NCAA tournament).
The Buckeye women’s two-loss weekend at Duluth was costly. They dropped two spots to No. 7 in both national polls. More crucially, they fell to No. 8 in the Pairwise.
No. 8 is actually No. 7 if you disregard the presence of D-II St. Anselm in the rankings (as the NCAA does). Barring conference tourney upsets and taking into account the CHA’s auto-bid, that is the very last at-large berth for the eight-team NCAA field. In one bad series, Ohio State went from making the tournament as a top seed to being in serious danger of missing it altogether.
There is still time to bolster the team’s faltering postseason hopes. A victory or two against No. 2 Minnesota this week would be a good start. The Bucks host the Gophers on Friday at 6pm ET and Saturday at 3pm ET.
