Ohio State junior Goaltender Tommy Nappier (37) lets a puck gets by him during the third period of Ohio State-Omaha. Ohio State lost to Omaha 2-1. Credit: John Huether | For The Lantern
Giving up a goal in overtime Saturday, Ohio State men’s hockey was unable to send its seniors out with a win in their final home series.
After a 3-3 tie in regulation, Wisconsin (14-18-1, 7-15-1-1 Big Ten) junior forward Ty Pelton-Byce scored a goal during three-on-three overtime to earn an extra league point against No. 10 Ohio State (18-11-4, 11-9-3-1) in the Schottenstein Center.
“Losing hurts, as always. You go into the weekend, you want to play your best hockey, and you want to come out with wins and give yourself the chance, and for whatever reason this weekend just was not our weekend,” Rohlik said.
Freshman forward Tate Singleton put the Buckeyes on the board less than three minutes into the first period. It was Singleton’s sixth goal of the season.
“We just gotta play our structure, be simple, play A to B, and I think if we do that we got a pretty good chance,” Singleton said.
Frustration got the best of the Badgers, a team with six first-round NHL draft picks, costing them two penalties during the 20 minutes of play.
The first penalty was called on freshman forward Dylan Holloway for cross-checking, followed by a whistle on sophomore forward Dominick Mersch for roughing Ohio State senior defenseman Gordi Meyer.
The second goal came during the second minute of the second period, as senior forward Carson Meyer converted on assists from sophomore forward Gustaf Westlund and junior forward Austin Pooley.
It was Meyer’s 12th goal of the season and the 36th of his Buckeye career.
“It was pretty nice getting to score with all my family and friends here on a special night. Obviously would have felt a lot better if we could of close the game out and won,” Meyer said.
Two minutes after Meyer’s goal, senior forward Tanner Laczynski scored on a rebound to advance the Buckeye lead to 3-0.
The goal was Laczynski’s 10th of the season and his 31st point of the year.
After 16 shot attempts, Wisconsin freshman forward Dylan Holloway put the puck past junior goaltender Tommy Nappier to put the Badgers on the board.
Senior forward Max Zimmer scored with 42.5 seconds left in the second period to make it 3-2.
Wisconsin junior defenseman Tyler Inamoto completed the comeback with three minutes left in the final period to tie the game 3-3.
The game went into overtime, where Pelton-Byce’s score earned the Badgers the extra league point.
The Buckeyes finish the regular season tied for second in the Big Ten standings.
“This year it speaks volumes for what these guys are doing, and how hard they are working and the culture that is here right now,” Rohlik said.
Ohio State will host No. 7 Wisconsin in a best-of-three series to open Big Ten Tournament play next weekend.
