Wisconsin Badgers
21-12-2
Ohio State (Big Ten Quarterfinal)
13-20-2
Wisconsin bested by Ohio State
March 11, 2026 | Men's Hockey
Wisconsin knocked out by Ohio State in quarterfinals of Big Ten tournament
MADISON, Wis. – Finn Brink scored the lone goal for the No. 10/11 Wisconsin men's hockey team, the fourth-seed for the 2026 Big Ten Tournament, as it fell, 7-1, to fifth-seed Ohio State in the quarterfinals on Wednesday night at the Kohl Center.
Ohio State (13-20-2, 9-15-1 Big Ten) scored once early in the first period and twice in the second to take a 3-0 lead heading into the third. The Buckeyes made it 4-0 early in the third with a power-play goal, before adding another even strength to take a 5-0 lead. They scored twice on a major power play in the third to extend their lead to seven goals, but Finn Brink got Wisconsin (21-12-2, 14-11-0 Big Ten) on the board with a short-handed goal to make the final score 7-1.
How it Happened
First Period
The Buckeyes opened the scoring, 5:01 into the first, with a goal from Nathan Lewis.
Second Period
Felix Caron made it 2-0, Ohio State, at 2:06.
Wisconsin got the first power play of the night at 2:13, but the Buckeyes got the kill.
Each team took a penalty at 14:57, but no one found the back of the net during four-on-four play.
At 17:30, Jake Karabela extended OSU's lead to three goals.
The Buckeyes got their first power play of the game at 18:57, before UW took another penalty at the end of the period to give Ohio State 53 seconds of five-on-three time to open the final frame.
Third Period
OSU capitalized on the five-on-three just 25 seconds into the third period with a goal from Broten Sabo.
Adam Eisele scored the Buckeyes' fifth goal at 6:42.
At 8:02, OSU got a major power play. Max Montes and Riley Thompson both scored on the five-minute man-advantage at 9:38 and 10:23, respectively.
Freshman forward Brink got Wisconsin on the board with a short-handed goal at 12:29.
Brinker gets us on the board 🚨
— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerMHockey) March 12, 2026
🍎: Gavin Morrissey & Joe Palodichuk pic.twitter.com/oaEogkNVHQ
At 15:44, Ohio State had another power-play opportunity, before a penalty was called on the Buckeyes at 17:04 to start 40 seconds of four-on-four play. Neither team scored on the four-on-four.
The Badgers still had 1:20 of power-play time remaining, but were unable to add a second tally to their total as they fell, 7-1.
Wisconsin went 0-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-6 on the penalty kill. UW finished the contest with a 34-20 advantage in shots on goal.
Notes to know
- Tonight's attendance of over 2,700 Crease Creatures marks a season high number of students in the crowd, and the largest student crowd since at least 2013-14
Straight from the rink
Head Coach Mike Hastings
On moving forward
"We're going to take a day. To me, you get away from it for 24 hours, and then you get right back to work with the assumption that we're going to prepare for what our next opportunity is going to be."
On the team's defense
"It's not the turnover, it's what happens after the turnover. Very seldom does a mistake end up in the back of your net. It's usually a culmination of at least three things, and I thought tonight was different from last weekend. When we did turn it over, there was a collective effort as a group of four or five to make sure that didn't get to our goaltender. Tonight, we left him on an island."
Senior defenseman Ben Dexheimer
On the team's mentality over the next week
"I think we just need to stick together and kind of see how the next few days play out. Stay on our dailies and get back to work whenever that is, tomorrow or the next day."
Sophomore forward Gavin Morrissey
On Ohio State's defense
"They defend well. They're well coached, and they're well organized in the way they play in the neutral zone and their D zone. So, it's not easy to break through that, and it's on us – we didn't do a good enough job of it tonight."
Up Next: The 2026 NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament Selection Show is scheduled for Sunday, March 22.
UW awaits its fate. It currently sits 12th in the NCAA Percentage Index, or NPI, the official system for selecting and seeding teams for the NCAA tournament. Sixteen teams will make the national tournament, with all conference tournament winners receiving automatic bids, and the rest of the field determined by NPI placement.
