MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin men's hockey team, the sixth seed for the 2025 Big Ten Tournament, travels to third-seed Ohio State for a best-of-three quarterfinal series running Friday, Saturday and if necessary, Sunday, March 7-9.
Each game begins at 6 p.m. CT and will take place at Nationwide Arena, home of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets. All contests stream on B1G+.
Here are six quick things to know before tuning in:
Rosters: Wisconsin || Ohio State
Game Notes: Wisconsin
1 - POSTSEASON HISTORY: Wisconsin owns 13 postseason conference championships all-time, earning 12 WCHA tournament championships before winning the inaugural Big Ten tournament in 2014 with a title game triumph over Ohio State. UW also reached Big Ten title games in 2021 and 2017.
The Badgers and Buckeyes have met seven times in Big Ten tournament history with UW winning in the 2014 finals at XCel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in the 2017 semifinals at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. UW was swept in the 2020 quarterfinals in Columbus, Ohio, and fell 2-games-to-1 to OSU last season at the Kohl Center.
With wins over Ohio State at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota (Minnesota Wild) and Joe Louis Arena in Detroit (Detroit Red Wings), to go along with a victory at Madison Square Garden in New York (New York Rangers), the Badgers sit 3-0-0 all-time against the Buckeyes in NHL arenas as they head to Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, for the quarterfinals.
2 - SETTING THE BIG TEN TOURNEY STAGE: Michigan State and Minnesota tied for the Big Ten regular-season title with 50 points each, but Michigan State earned the No. 1 seed the bye into next week's semifinals due to head-to-head results against the Golden Gophers. Second-seeded Minnesota plays host to seventh-seeded Notre Dame and fourth-seed Michigan welcomes fifth-seed Penn State in the third and final quarterfinal.
Winners of each quarterfinal best-of-three series advance to next week's semifinal games at Michigan State and the highest other remaining seed. The semifinal is a one-game round with the winners advancing to the Big Ten championship game at the highest remaining seed.
3 - REGULAR SEASON RECAP: In 34 regular season games played, the Badgers finished with a 12-19-3 record, going 7-16-1 (27 points) in Big Ten play.
After a slow start to the season, the Badgers rose to as high as No. 16 in the pairwise rankings and 17 in the USCHO.com Poll in late January before sliding to their current record.
Sophomore forward Quinn Finley led the Badgers with 20 points in 24 Big Ten games (eight goals, 12 assists). Graduate student forward Ryland Mosley led the team with 11 goals in Big Ten action.
The pair, along with freshman linemate Gavin Morrissey, also led the team in total points, with Finley tallying 37 points (19g, 18a), Mosley racking up 35 (16g, 19a) and Morrissey earning 31 (9g, 22a).
The Badgers are one of 11 teams in the nation with at least three skaters who have 30+ points. The last time UW had three people with at least 30 points was during the 2020-21 season when Cole Caufield (52), Linus Weissbach (41), Dylan Holloway (35) and Ty Pelton-Byce (31) all finished with over 30 points.
4 - LAST TIME OUT: The Badgers enter the postseason after playing an exhibition game against the U.S. Under-18 Team on Sunday, March 2.
Despite a furious comeback scoring four unanswered goals, including two in the final minute of the contest, the Badgers fell just short, losing 6-5.
"We wanted to utilize some things from tonight's game for us to be the best version that we can for the University of Wisconsin on Friday, that's still there," Head Coach
Mike Hastings said after the contest. "Will we take some things out of this? Yes.
Adam Pietila is going in a good direction, we're keeping him out of the box, which is a positive and he's starting to play with a bit more confidence."
5 - SCOUTING OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes finished their regular season with a 21-11-2 record, including a 14-9-1 record in Big Ten play (42 points). They head into the postseason after splitting a home series against Michigan on Feb. 27-28. OSU won game one in overtime, 2-1, and lost game two, 4-3.
Graduate student forward Gunnarwolfe Fontaine leads the roster with 34 points (13g, 21a) while sophomore forward Riley Thompson leads with 16 goals (30 total points). OSU has split its goaltending duties between senior Logan Terness and sophomore Kristoffer Eberly. Terness has nine wins in 17 starts, accumulating a .925 save percentage and a 2.24 goals-allowed on average. Eberly has 12 wins in 17 starts with a .915 save percentage and a 2.28 goals-allowed on average.
The two teams played at Ohio State on Feb. 14-15, with OSU winning 4-1 and 4-2. The Badgers and Buckeyes also met on Oct. 18-19, 2024, in Madison, with OSU picking up a pair of 2-1 victories, including one in overtime.
OSU is coached by former Badger captain Steve Rohlik, who led UW to the 1990 NCAA title. Assistant coach JB Bittner also connects to the Badgers, having spent the 2015-16 season as an assistant coach for Wisconsin.
6 - HOW TO WATCH: All contests begin at 6 p.m. CT and stream on B1G+. Friday and Sunday games will have Ben Holden and Fred Pletsch on the call. Saturday will have Dylan Tyrer and Pletch calling the action. Audio play-by-play can be found on 1310 WIBA or on the Badgers app and the Varsity Network app. You can also follow along on X/Twitter and Instagram at @BadgerMHockey.
