College hockey series of the weekend: No. 7 Ohio State vs. No. 5 Minnesota

Two of the top ranked Big Ten hockey programs will go up against each other just a couple of weeks before the postseason begins.

The Ohio State Buckeyes will go on the road this weekend to face off against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

These teams played each other earlier this season in Columbus where they split the series.

Ohio State won the first game of the series by a score of 5 to 1. The Buckeyes scored two power play goals back-to-back after a 4 minute major. Those goals were scored by Gunnarwolfe Fontaine who leads the team in points and Nathan McBrayer who is tied with Riley Thompson for the best plus minus with +17.

Minnesota won the second game of the series by a score of 6 to 1. The Golden Gophers scored 6 straight goals with three power play goals. Two of those goals were scored by Mike Koster and one of those goals were scored by Minnesota’s top goal scorer: Jimmy Snuggerud.

Ohio State is coming off an outstanding weekend with a sweep at home over the Wisconsin Badgers.

The Buckeyes beat the Badgers on Friday 4-1 and on Saturday 4-2. They are currently on a 4 game winning streak and will have a lot of momentum when they face Minnesota.

Ohio State defenseman Damien Carfagna was awarded the Big Ten First Star of the week.

Carfagna scored the game-winning goal against Wisconsin on Saturday and had five blocked shots and totaled 3 points over the weekend.

Minnesota’s weekend was nowhere near the same as Ohio State’s. They lost in overtime and in a shootout while in Michigan. The Wolverines swept the Golden Gophers which is not what Minnesota was hoping for.

Minnesota scored the first goal in both games, but they weren’t able to finish the job and lost both games in Ann Arbor.

However, scoring the first goal might be a big advantage for the Minnesota Golden Gophers in this upcoming series against Ohio State.

Ohio State is known for giving up early goals, but if Minnesota is gonna want to win both games of the series there’s gonna have to be a lot of other factors that play into Minnesota getting those wins.

Minnesota’s record at home is way better than their record away. Minnesota is 12-2-2 at home which accounts for the majority of their wins.

This will be a major advantage for the Golden Gophers because while Ohio State’s away record is pretty decent, they haven’t won both games of a series in Minnesota ever.

They have only won one series and it was in Columbus and while they have won games against Minnesota in the past few years, it’s gonna be tough for the buckeyes to go into Minnesota and give them a run for their money.

With Big Ten play coming to a close in the next few weeks and the postseason on the horizon, these last few series for top teams may be crucial if they want to be able to accomplish greatness.

Massimo Buonagurio is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email him at mkb6750@psu.edu.