Years ago, almost five to be exact, Penn State men’s hockey found itself ranked No. 1 in the nation for a fleeting moment. The Nittany Lions had just one loss on the year and the surrounding landscape slowly but surely picked up their own defeats.
Penn State’s only loss at the time was to Ohio State on the road, and yet again the Buckeyes found themselves on the opposing bench, this time at Pegula Ice Arena in front of nearly 6,200 fans.
On the first night of the series the game ended in a 3-3 tie. On the second night it was 6-3 loss to Ohio State that slapped the No. 1 ranking right out of the Nittany Lions’ grasp nearly as quickly as it arrived. After the game, an Ohio State player would throw a broom on the ice, marking a sweep that wasn’t quite a sweep but certainly felt like one. Nevertheless, a series that had already inherited much of its presumed hatred from football was already bubbling over on the ice. Some of Penn State’s most penalized games over the past several seasons have come against the Buckeyes and two programs not afraid to throw a hit before or after the whistle.
Penn State would go on to make the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history that season, beating Union 10-3 in the first round before falling to an NHL-loaded Denver team in the second. 6-3.
The very next season Penn State beat Ohio State in three of their four meetings, eventually making the NCAA Tournament again, once again falling to Denver.
Years later the dramatics aren’t quite the same, but as Penn State welcomes to Buckeyes to Pegula on Friday and Saturday nights there’s still no shortage of physicality and urgency between these two teams. Ohio State finds itself tied with Michigan atop the Big Ten standings while Penn State looks to try and backdoor its way into the postseason over the final eight games of the regular season.
“They’re a tough, great team,” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said earlier this week. “It’s something you’ve got to be prepared for. I think a little bit differently of some other teams.”
Penn State currently sits at No. 24 in the PairWise rankings, the top 16 teams making the postseason all things being equal. The Nittany Lions will have to do a lot of winning over the final few weeks of the regular season to drag their numbers high enough — and get a bit of help in the process — to make a true run into the conversation. Then again according College Hockey Ranked, if Penn State went 8-0 over that span it would finish No. 11 in the nation in the PairWise. Unlikely but technically not impossible.
In either case the great thing about rivalries is that they transcend everything else going on throughout the season. Penn State might be finding its stride a little bit too late in the year, but knocking the Buckeyes down a peg or two has never made a Penn State team unhappy.
