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Recap: Buckeyes Win Wrigley Field Game Over Wolverines, Nearly Sweep Series

By January 6, 2025 (11:01 am)Men's Hockey

Ohio State was less than 20 minutes away from a perfect weekend before settling for taking four of six points in the series with No. 9 Michigan.

The No. 13 Buckeyes (14-5-1, 7-3-0-2-1-0 Big Ten) had a lot of eyeballs on them when they played their rival at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Friday and produced a dramatic 4-3 victory on Riley Thompson’s second goal of the third period with 38 seconds left.

Two days later in Ann Arbor, OSU jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first 11 minutes on goals by Gunnarwolfe Fontaine but the Wolverines (12-7-1, 6-4-3-0-0) rallied to tie it in the third period and snapped the Buckeyes’ five-game winning streak on a goal by Jackson Hallum 20 seconds into overtime.

“We got off to a good start, just what you want to do on the road,” Ohio State coach Steve Rohlik said postgame Sunday. “We got into some penalty trouble and that allowed them to climb back into the game. It could have gone either way at the end.”

It was also a mixed weekend for the OSU women as well. The second-ranked Buckeyes were routed 6-0 at No. 1 Wisconsin on Thursday but at Wrigley Field on Saturday they went seven rounds of the shootout, winning it 1-0 after a 3-3 tie through regulation and overtime.

Amanda Thiele stopped all seven Badgers shooters before Jenna Buglioni scored the deciding goal.

 Friendly Confines

The temperature was 24 degrees with a wind chill in the teens for the late afternoon drop of the puck on Friday at the historic baseball venue with an announced crowd of 25,709 for the OSU-Michigan game as well as the Notre Dame vs. Penn State matchup that followed.

It was an ominous start for the Buckeyes when Michael Hage late in the first period and T.J Hughes at 4:42 of the second on the power play staked the Wolverines to a 2-0 lead.

Sam Deckhut made it 2-1 at 15:26 on a pass from Noah Powell with Brent Johnson getting the second assist.

The freshman Powell, who grew up in the Chicago area, scored with a long shot at 18:37 off a set up by Chris Able to tie it.

The Wolverines made it 2 for 2 on the power play with a marker by Will Horcoff at 9:15 of the third period for a 3-2 lead but Thompson responded with a pair of man-up goals to pull out the victory.

He scored 17 seconds into a power play at 12:05, putting in a rebound of a shot by Aiden Hansen-Bukata. Fontaine also assisted.

Thompson netted the winner on a redirect of a pass by Fontaine. The Wolverines then pulled their goalie but could not find an answer.

“I just tried to make space for myself in front of the net, but a lot of credit goes to the guys around me, kind of zipping the puck around, getting a shot on net,” Thompson said. “(Fontaine) made a pretty slick pass to me back door.

“It was a pretty surreal experience for all of us. It’s definitely something that we’re going to remember forever.”

Kristoffer Eberly saved 13 of 14 Michigan shots in the third period and 31 for the game. Cameron Korpi made 30 saves for the Wolverines.

“We talked a lot about it, to experience something like this, playing an outdoor game, iconic Wrigley Field, and the best way to enjoy it is to get a win,” Rohlik said. “We’re fortunate tonight to get the win. Really happy for my guys, one, to get the win, but two, to experience something like this.”

Eberly, a sophomore, was named the national goalie of the month for December by the Hockey Commissioners Association on Friday. He has a 1.50 goals-against average and .937 save percentage, with a 10-1-0 record.

 

So Close

Senior Logan Terness made his first start in six games (Nov. 30 at Princeton) in the rematch at Yost Ice Arena and was not tested early, making six saves in the first as the Buckeyes took a 2-0 lead.

Fontaine made it 1-0 at 7:29 on the power play when Thompson passed to him on the rush. Hansen-Bukata also had a helper.

At 10:17, Fontaine doubled the lead when he converted a pass from Davis Burnside. Able got the second assist.

Terness was busier the rest of the way, making 13 saves in the second period and 14 in the third for a total of 33. Evan Werner made it 2-1 at 8:46 of the middle stanza and William Whitelaw, a Columbus Blue Jackets draftee, tied it 2-2 at 3:15 of the third before Michigan got the winner before 5,800 fans.

Notes

Fontaine leads the Buckeyes with 22 points and nine goals and is on a six-game scoring streak (five goals, five assists, 10 points). … Thompson (eight goals, 11 assists) and Hansen-Bukata (goal, 18 assists) are second with 19 points each. … Hansen-Bukata has eight assists in a six-game point streak and Burnside also has a six-game streak with a goal and five helpers. … OSU has at least one power-play goal in seven straight games.

 Next

The Buckeyes host No. 3 Minnesota on Friday at 5 p.m. The start is two hours earlier than originally scheduled due to the Ohio State-Texas football game.

OSU plays the Golden Gophers at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

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