The Buckeyes completed the season sweep of Notre Dame this weekend. This was their first series sweep since they beat Notre Dame twice on December 13th and 14th. The Irish are having a down year. They’re last in the Big Ten; the Buckeyes should beat them. Ohio State clobbered them, though. The December wins over Notre Dame were 4-0 and 4-2 in Ohio State’s favor, and this weekend’s games were both 5-1 Buckeye victories.
The Buckeyes were led in South Bend by senior goalie Logan Terness. Terness had 68 saves and allowed only two goals, racking up a 97.1% save percentage. With this series win, the Buckeyes improved to 18-8-2 (11-6-1 in the Big Ten). Ohio State started both wins over Notre Dame down 1-0 before scoring five unanswered goals. The Ohio State offense was led by Davis Burnside, who had a goal in each game, and Ryan Gordon, who had two goals in Friday night's win.
The Hockey Bucks had split or lost their last four series of games this season, all of them since they beat Notre Dame in December. Hopefully, winning this series gets them back to getting an advantage greater than splitting every series and climbing the standings in the conference and the rankings nationally.
Ohio State is ranked 9th in the nation and is in 3rd place in the Big Ten standings as of right now. Next, they will take on 19th-ranked and 5th-place Wisconsin at home, where the Bucks are 10-2-1 this season. The Buckeyes and Badgers opened Big Ten play back in October in Madison, and the Buckeyes won both games 2-1, one of them in overtime.
Ohio State will need these quality wins to build their resume and strengthen their case to make the NCAA Tournament in March, regardless of the Big Ten Tournament results.