The 2024–25 Ohio State Buckeyes men's ice hockey season was the 62nd season for the program and 12th season in the Big Ten Conference. The Buckeyes represented the Ohio State University in the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at Value City Arena and were coached by Steve Rohlik in his 12th season.
Season
Looking to recover from a forgettable '24, Ohio State began the season with a relatively stable lineup. While that was not necessarily a good thing from a team that finished last in the standings the year before, the Buckeyes were hoping to get a better performance from their returning players, particularly on the back end. To bolster their chances, the team brought in a pair of young NHL prospects as well as a trio of transfers. While the freshmen would not contribute much to the team this season, several other newcomers would provide a spark for Ohio State's offense.
The team began the year alternating between their two goaltenders, Kristoffer Eberly and Logan Terness. The results could not have been more encouraging as the Buckeyes averaged less than 2 goals against for the first month of the season. The solid goaltending allowed the offense time to find its footing and, by early November, Gunnarwolfe Fontaine was beginning to take over as the leader up front. The graduate was combined with Davis Burnside and fellow transfer Riley Thompson on the top line and the three provided a consistent attack that Ohio State was able to employ for the entire season. The Buckeyes went undefeated in their first eight games of the season and rocketed up the polls. Despite being swept by Michigan State in early November, Ohio State entered the Thanksgiving weekend in prime position for a return to the NCAA tournament.
After taking a week off, the team travelled to face Princeton and were stunned by the Tigers. Both the offense and defense failed, perhaps having yet to recover from their turkey dinner, and the Buckeyes limped home to nurse their wounds. In the aftermath of the losses, Eberly gained control of the net and led to the team to four consecutive wins to finish off the first half of the season. Even with the Princeton blemish, Ohio State was still 9 games above .500 by this point. While the team was not helped by the weakness of their non-conference opponents, the Buckeyes would have plenty of opportunity to demonstrate that they were worthy of a tournament bid when they ran through a gauntlet of Big Ten teams after new year's.
Ohio State kicked off the second half of its season by defeating Michigan at Wrigley Field. Unfortunately, for the entire month of January, Ohio State was unable to find any level of consistency and followed every one of their wins with a loss. While the defeats were primarily caused by the suddenly hit-or-miss offense, Eberly played poorly in a few games and convinced coach Rohlik to give Terness a turn as the No. 1 in goal. After a decent stretch against weak opposition in February, the results turned pear-shaped over the final two weeks and Ohio State limped into the playoffs. Despite effectively playing even over the second half of their schedule, Ohio State was able to rise in the polls thanks to the overall strength of the Big Ten. By the time they were getting ready to begin their postseason run, Ohio State was in the top 10 for both the polls and the PairWise rankings and it would take an utter catastrophe to miss out on the tournament.
Conference tournament In spite of their all-but-guaranteed berth, Ohio State still needed to rectify some issues that had cropped up during the latter part of the season. With neither goaltender playing particularly well, Terness was allowed to carry the club into the playoffs. He played admirably against Wisconsin, however, it was the intermittent scoring woes that cost the club the opening game of the series. The rematch was going similarly with the Buckeyes down 1–2 in the final minutes when Terness was pulled for an extra attacker. With less than 90 seconds left in the game, Fontaine tied the match and saved the club from an ignominious upset. After trading chances with the Badgers, the three transfers, Fontaine, Aiden Hansen-Bukata and Thompson, all combined to score the winning goal and force a deciding game three. The rubber match was tightly contested through the first two periods with both teams only managing a single goal. Wisconsin got into penalty trouble in the third, handing Ohio State four separate power plays in the final frame. While the offense continued to struggle, Burnside was able to break through on the team's fifth man-advantage of the evening and the Buckeyes never looked back. The Badgers pushed hard over the final 10 minutes but Terness managed to hold on for a 3–2 victory and send the team to the semifinals.
Against a surging Penn State, Ohio State's offense returned and the team needed every bit of scoring they could get. After taking an early lead on Fontaine's 15th of the season, Ohio State surrendered a pair in the second and were trailing after 40 minutes. Two Buckeye goals in the middle of the third gave them their second lead but it didn't even last for 3 minutes before the Nittany Lions tied the game for the fourth time. Ohio State looked the better of the two in overtime, allowing just 1 shot to each Terness in more than 14 minutes of ice time. The team's outstanding checking was evident on the winning goal when they turned the puck over at center ice, giving the Buckeyes a 2-on-1 break. Thompson's pass sent Fontaine in alone and he slid the puck five-hole to send Ohio State to their first conference title game in eight years.
Facing off against the #1 team in the nation, Michigan State, the Buckeyes could have hardly started worse. Ohio State took four penalties in the first period and surrendered two power play goals to the Spartans. While the team managed to claw back with goal from Joe Dunlap, MSU regained their 2-goal lead at the beginning of the third and gave the Buckeyes no room for error. The team found it difficult to break through the strong Spartan defense but, just past half-way part of the third, Damien Carfagna was able to cut the deficit back to one. About 5 minutes later, with Terness preparing to head off for an extra attacker, Fontaine came to the rescue once more with a goal off of a broken play. The two sides played mostly even in the first overtime but both goaltenders stood strong. MSU began to take over the game in the fifth period, widely outshooting the Buckeyes. On their 51st shot of the night, MSU was finally able to get the winning goal past Terness ending the longest game in Big Ten tournament history.
NCAA tournament The Buckeyes had little time to reflect on their lost opportunity because the team received an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament and headed to Toledo to face Boston University. While the Buckeyes were the lower seed, they looked far better than the Terriers at the start and outshout BU 15–2 in the first period. Despite the huge disparity in play, Ohio State was only able to score one goal through 20 minutes. The Terriers began to skate in the second and near the middle of the period were able to even the count. The two then began exchanging goals over the second half of the frame and by the time the period was over the score sat at 3-all. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, the third period turned into a complete debacle. After Terness surrendered a weak shot, the wheels came off of the team and seemingly every shot from BU found its way into the goal. Even when the Terriers took a penalty, they were the ones to score and every goal seemed to sap more and more of the Buckeyes' resolve. By the end of the game, even with Ohio State on a 6-on-3 advantage, Boston University was able to get ahold of the puck and score into the empty net, handing Ohio State one of the most embarrassing losses the team had suffered in recent memory.
Departures Scooter Brickey Defenseman Graduation (signed with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins) Matt Cassidy Forward Graduation (retired) Michael Gildon Forward Graduation (signed with Worcester Railers) Stephen Halliday Forward Signed professional contract (Ottawa Senators) Riley Hughes Forward Graduation (signed with Iowa Heartlanders) Mason Klee Defenseman Graduation (signed with Worcester Railers) Dalton Messina Forward Graduation (signed with Toledo Walleye) Noah Powell Forward Left mid-season; returned to juniors (Oshawa Generals) Cam Thiesing Forward Signed professional contract (New York Islanders)
Recruiting Chris Able Defenseman 19 Libertyville, IL Gunnarwolfe Fontaine Forward 23 East Greenwich, RI; graduate transfer from Northeastern; selected 202nd overall in 2020 Dylan Godbout Forward 20 Woodbury, MN Aiden Hansen-Bukata Defenseman 25 Vancouver, BC; graduate transfer from RIT James Hong Forward 19 Irvine, CA Nathan Lewis Forward 20 Chicago, IL Noah Powell Forward 19 Northbrook, IL; selected 148th overall in 2024 Chris Romaine Defenseman 20 Boston, MA; selected 193rd overall in 2022 Jake Rozzi Forward 20 Kirkland, QC Riley Thompson Forward 22 Orleans, ON; transfer from Alaska Anchorage
Roster As of September 2, 2024.
Standings
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular season
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NCAA tournament
Game summaryThe game began slowly with both teams trying to feel one another out. A few one-and-done chances were obtained but the first five minutes was dominated by turnovers from both sides. The first real chance of the game came when Riley Thompson skated through the BU defense at 4:20 but Mikhail Yegorov made the save. Ohio State was able to establish some zone time afterwards but they were kept to the outside and unable to generate a scoring chance. The game returned to being a sleepy affair until the middle of the period. After setting up in the Terriers' end the puck came to Aiden Hansen-Bukata at the point. The Buckeye defenseman fired a soft shot on goal that Yegorov stopped with his pad but the puck bounced right to the stick of Joe Dunlap who had a wide-open cage and did not miss for the game's opening goal. Less than a minute later, Quinn Hutson was whistled for a slashing call to give OSU a chance to increase their lead. Yegorov was called upon to make several stops during the kill but it was Gavin McCarthy who made the biggest save when he rescued a puck from the goal line after it had leaked through the BU goaltender. Ohio State remained in control of the action for several minutes after their man-advantage thanks in part to their early dominance on faceoffs. After Yegorov made another key save from in tight, Cole Hutson took his turn in the penalty box with a hooking minor. Ohio State moved the puck well on the power play but missed on a few of their passes. Yegorov was forced to make a few saves in the back half of the man-advantage but BU was able to get control of the rebounds and clear the puck out of danger. OSU kept the Terriers on their heels until they committed an icing and allowed the Terriers to get some breathing room. BU was finally able to get its second shot of the game shortly afterwards but by the end of the period they found themselves trailing Ohio State 2–15 in that department. The only bright spot in the entire period for BU was that OSU was called for a penalty at the end and the Terriers would begin the second with their first power play of the match.