Josh Ess – (Photo by David Stluka)
The Wisconsin Badger men’s hockey team dominated No. 19 Penn State from start-to-finish on Saturday night at Pegula Ice Arena, knocking off the Nittany Lions, 7-3, to earn a weekend split in its final road series of the regular season.
Looking to bounce back from Friday’s 8-2 loss, the Badgers got off to a quick start with first period goals from sophomore defenseman Josh Ess and freshman winger Jack Gorniak.
The Badgers added three more goals in the second period, including a short-handed tally from sophomore Tarek Baker and a second goal from Ess.
Penn State scored twice to make it a 5-2 game heading to the third period, but senior forwards Matthew Freytag and Seamus Malone notched the Badgers’ sixth and seventh goals of the night to seal a 7-3 victory over the Nittany Lions.
Freshman goaltender Daniel Lebedeff made 38 saves in the win.
Sophomores Josh Ess and Linus Weissbach each tallied three points in the win. Ess’ two goals marked the defenseman’s first multi-goal performance of his career.
Senior center Seamus Malone tallied his 99th career point in the victory. Malone has 32 goals and 67 assists in 138 games and needs just one point to become the 74th Badger in school history to reach 100 points.
The Badgers jumped into sixth place in the Big Ten standings after Saturday’s win. the Badgers are just four points behind fifth-place Penn State with two regular-season games to play.
The Badgers host Michigan next weekend at the Kohl Center in their final regular season series of the year. Puck drop for both games is set for 8 p.m. and Saturday’s contest will honor UW’s six seniors.
Ohio State clinches Big Ten Championship
With a 3-3 tie and 3-on-3 overtime victory against Michigan on Saturday, Ohio State clinched the outright Big Ten Championship in men’s hockey. In addition to their first Big Ten regular season crown, the Buckeyes (19-8-5, 12-6-4-3 Big Ten) secured the No. 1 seed and accompanying first round bye in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament.
The 2019 Big Ten Tournament will feature a three-weekend format with all games taking place on the campus of the higher-seeded teams. The tournament will open March 8-10 with three best-of-three quarterfinal series, as the second, third and fourth-seeded teams will each host a series.
As the top seeded team, Ohio State will have a bye to the single-elimination semifinals, which will take place the weekend of March 16-17. The highest-seeded team remaining after the semifinals will host a single-elimination championship game the weekend of March 23-24.