The Ohio State Buckeyes men’s hockey team begins their 2021-22 home schedule with a two -game series against UConn this weekend.

    The puck drops at 7:00 PM Friday and 3:00 PM Saturday at Value City Arena in The Schottenstein Center.

    The Buckeyes (1-1-0), coming off a split last weekend with Bentley, lead the Huskies (2-1-0) in their overall series record: 2-0-2.

     “We did a lot of good things, but you have to give Bentley credit; they did a good job” commented Ohio State Head Coach Steve Rohlik while discussing the Bentley series during a media session earlier this week.

     This is the second of seven consecutive road games for UConn and the Huskies earned a split with Boston University in their Hockey East opening games last week.

     “They (UConn) have a really good hockey team,” declared Rohlik. “They’ve already proven that. They play with a lot of pace. They are going to come at us.”

       Buckeye Junior forward Jaedon Leslie observed “We’ve got a good team (UConn) coming in here. I believe if we’re doing the right things, getting pucks to the net making sure that we are reloading on the the puck and having a guy in front of the goalie we can continue that success.”

      While the Buckeyes scored seven goals in their victory at Bentley, they will be challenged to continue that momentum as UConn goaltender Darion Hanson earned Hockey East Goaltender of the Week honor after stopping 72 of 75 shots in the two games against Boston University.

      The home-opener will mark a return of fans to The Schottenstein Center and Junior defenseman Dominic Vidoli is looking forward to the opener saying, “It’ going to be great. It will be awesome to have fans for the regular season home-opener.”