Ohio State (3-9-0 overall, 0-0-0 Big Ten) vs. Minnesota (4-7-0 overall, 0-0-0 Big Ten)
Date: Friday, Dec. 4
Location: Mariucci Arena | Minneapolis, Minn.
Puck Drop: 7:05 p.m. CT
TV: FOX Sports North
Stream: BTN2Go, FOX Sports Go
Radio: 1500 ESPN, Gopher Radio Network
Date: Saturday, Dec. 5
Location: Mariucci Arena | Minneapolis, Minn.
Puck Drop: 7:02 p.m. CT
TV: ESPNews
Stream: WatchESPN
Radio: 1500 ESPN, Gopher Radio Network
Inside the Matchup
Minnesota has dominated the Buckeyes, posting a 19-3-1 all-time record against Ohio State including an 11-1-0 record on home ice.
The only Buckeye win at Mariucci Arena came on Dec. 28, 1998, when OSU topped the Gophers, 6-5, in the Mariucci Classic.
Ohio State has fired 40-plus shots on goal in five of its last six games.
Senior forward Anthony Greco has notched points in five straight games, including three goals and four assists.
Leon Bristedt was named Big Ten Third Star of the Week for his five-point weekend (2g, 3a) against St. Cloud State. The sophomore forward leads the Gophers with seven goals and 12 points this season.
Don Lucia needs just one victory to reach 400 career wins. He will be the first coach in program history to reach that plateau.
Storyline Central
Miles McQuinn of The Lantern has a touching feature about Ohio State freshman forward Freddy Gerard and the inspiration from his late teammate.
Al Daniel of Along the Boards ranks and provides commentary on the Big Ten heading into conference play.
Chris Dilks of SB Nation has a brief story on defenseman Nick Seeler’s one-game suspension following a dirty flying-elbow hit against St. Cloud State.
Notes and Quotes
Don Lucia
On playing better at home:
“Obviously disappointing losing two games at home, and three in a row. We’ve been so good at home over the years. With our home record that we have right now, it’s obviously disappointing. It’s starts with winning at home and that’s something we’ve done a lot of the last couple of years within the Big Ten. Hopefully that will continue this weekend.”
On being more effective in the third period:
“For the most part, it’s the offensive end of things. We have to start scoring some goals in the third period. That’s the difference in so many of our games. We have to have a push. For me, there are two things. We have to start out better. We’re only averaging seven shots. We talked about wanting to get at least 10 every period. With the way goalies are today, you’re not going to score many goals getting 20-something shots a night. We’ve always been a good volume-shooting team so we have to get those totals up.”
Ryan Collins
On opening up conference play:
“We’re excited to have a clean slate. We learned a lot in the non-conference play. It’s exciting to get into conference play. Ohio State is a good team. It’ll be a good start to conference play for us.”
On if it feels different heading into conference play:
“It definitely does, especially for the returning guys who remember last season and the torch that was passed from the senior class—they had four conference championship in their four years here. We know heading into the Big Ten season, expectations are high for ourselves.”