The No. 3 seeded Ohio State men’s hockey team was skating on thin ice against No. 6 seed Wisconsin on Saturday night but found a way to create some magic at the end to pull out a 3-2 overtime victory in the Big Ten Men’s Hockey Tournament. The series is an important one not only for the chance of winning a Big Ten title but for the Buckeyes‘ chances of reaching the NCAA Tournament as well. The two will do battle again Sunday in Columbus for the right to move on to semifinals. A series win would almost assuredly clinch a spot in the NCAA postseason, while a loss would leave things up in the air.
The fact that Ohio State is even in this position is pretty remarkable given how things unfolded on Saturday. Wisconsin scored the first two goals of the game and was up 2-0 with 13:41 left in the second period. Jake Rozzi finally put the Buckeyes on the board with 3:03 left in the second period to give the bench some life.
The third period remained scoreless despite some chances both ways with the sands of the hourglass running out on Ohio State before Gunnarwolfe Fontaine equalized things with the goalie pulled just 1:29 left in the game to send things to overtime.
The Buckeyes completed the comeback and skated off the ice in jubilant fashion when Riley Thompson tipped it in from in front of the net to force the rubber match. The goal was reviewed for offsides but eventually stood for the winning margin.
Ohio State and Wisconsin are set to face off at 7 p.m. ET for the right to advance to the semifinals and face the winner of No. 2 seed Minnesota and No. 7 seed Notre Dame.
