It has been a rough season for the Ohio State men’s hockey team, but the Buckeyes are playing some of their best hockey of the year when it matters most. Last weekend in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals, Ohio State went into Madison and upset the Wisconsin Badgers, the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.

The Buckeyes won two of three games in the best-of-three series to advance in the conference tournament, setting up a semifinal meeting with the Michigan State Spartans.

Prior to their meeting last weekend, Ohio State and Wisconsin had split the four games they played during the regular season. Back in early December, the Buckeyes made the trip to Madison and were smashed by the home team, falling by a combined score of 9-1 over two games. Ohio State was able to earn some revenge, sweeping Wisconsin in the two games the teams played in Columbus in the middle of February. The 3-2 win in overtime on Feb. 16 by the Buckeyes halted a seven-game losing streak.

In the opening game of the quarterfinal series, Brent Johnson gave Ohio State an early lead, scoring 9:08 into the first period. Wisconsin quickly responded, knotting the score at one just over two minutes later when William Whitelaw found the back of the net. After a scoreless second period, Max Montes scored what would end up being the game-winning-goal 2:21 into the third period as the Buckeyes were on the power play. Montes would add an insurance goal late in the period when Wisconsin pulled their goal to put an extra attacker on the ice.

Game two on Saturday night didn’t go quite as smoothly for Ohio State. This time the Badgers got on the scoreboard first when Christian Fitzgerald scored on the power play 13 minutes into the opening period. Late in the first period the Buckeyes responded with a power play goal of their own with a minute left in the period courtesy of Thomas Weis.

Unfortunately for Ohio State, Wisconsin took control of the game in the next period with two goals, and while Patrick Guzzo closed the deficit to one in the middle of the third period, the Badgers added an empty net goal late in the period to tie the series up.

In the deciding game, Ohio State jumped out on the Badgers early when Davis Burnside scored on the power play at the 6:16 mark of the first period. Scooter Brickley doubled the lead halfway through the second period, and Burnside iced the game with an empty net goal with three minutes left in the game. Wisconsin pulled one back to ruin the shutout but that would be the only goal they would score in the game.

Not only was the win by Ohio State the 1,000th victory in school history, the Buckeyes became the first seven-seed to win a quarterfinal series in the Big Ten Tournament.

With their victories in Madison, Ohio State will now hit the road again this weekend, this time traveling to East Lansing for a semifinal showdown with the Michigan State Spartans. Despite losing three of four games to the Spartans during the regular season, the lone win for the Buckeyes this year between the teams did come in East Lansing.

After Gavin O’Connell opened the scoring for the Spartans in the contest on Feb. 23, Ohio State reeled off four-straight goals, with two of them coming off the stick of Sam Deckhut. The Buckeyes would go on to win the game 6-2 before falling to the Spartans 5-2 the next night.

Michigan State enters the semifinal with a 22-9-3 record on the season. While Ohio State battled Wisconsin last week, the Spartans were able to relax at home, as they were the recipient of a bye in the Big Ten Tournament since they were the top team in the conference during the regular season. The last time Michigan State took the ice, they split a pair of games at Wisconsin at the beginning of the month.

Leading the charge for Michigan State is freshman defenseman Artyom Levshunov. The Belarusian is a finalist for Big Ten Player of the Year, Big Ten Defenseman of the Year, and Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Levshunov has scored nine goals and dished out 23 assists so far this season in 36 games.

Along with Levshunov, head coach Adam Nightingale is also in the running for conference honors, as the second-year head coach is a finalist for Big Ten Coach of the Year.

One player Ohio State is going to have to keep tabs on in the semifinal is Gavin O’Connell. The freshman from Minnesota played his best hockey of the season against Ohio State, scoring two goals in three of the four matchups between the teams, finishing with seven goals over the four games. O’Connell is tied with Karsen Dorwat for the team-lead with 14 goals so far this season.

Dorwat is tied with Levshunov for the most overall points on the squad, with both players have recorded 32 points in Michigan State’s 34 games. Joey Larson and Issac Howard sit just a point behind Dowat and Levshunov, tallying 31 points on the year.

Along with a potent offense, Michigan State also has a strong defense. Starting between the pipes for the Spartans will be Trey Augustiine, who is a finalist for Big Ten Goaltender of the Year. Augustine is 20-8-2 this season, recording three shutouts, a 2.92 goals against average, and a .918 save percentage.

The Buckeyes will have to hope they catch Augustine on a bad night, much like they did in the first matchup in East Lansing when they were able to put six pucks past the freshman goaltender.

The winner of the semifinal between the Buckeyes and Spartans will go on to meet the winner of the other semifinal between Michigan and Minnesota, which will also be played on Saturday. The Big Ten Tournament Championship Game will be played on March 23 at the campus of the higher-seeded team.

If Ohio State is able to upset Michigan State, it will mark the third time the Buckeyes have advanced to the conference title game.

Time: 6:30 p.m. ET
TV: Big Ten Network