In the push to keep their season going a little bit longer, the Spartans were swept by the Ohio State Buckeyes in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament at Value City Arena at the Jerome Schottenstein Center.
The tournament kicked off on Friday night with a loss of 6-2 to the Buckeyes with sophomore goaltender John Lethemon making a total of 25 saves and giving up four goals before being replaced in the third period by fellow senior goaltender Ed Minney.
Ohio State's Tanner Laczynski would strike first in the game towards the end of the first period on a power play after senior defenseman Carson Gatt was called for roughing. The Buckeyes would get two more power play goals later in the game.
Sophomore forward Patrick Khodorenko would get the Spartans' first goal of the game to tie it up three minutes into the second period, but would not be enough to get the win. Sophomore defenseman Damian Chrcek would get his first goal of the season to make it the second goal of the night.
Saturday night, the Spartans finished their season in an 4-3 overtime loss to the Buckeyes. Lethemon would play the entire night making a total of 38 saves.
The Buckeyes got on the board first for the second night in a row from Mason Jobst on the power play after junior defenseman Zach Osburn got called for cross-checking. Jobst would also score another goal in the second period to tie the game up.
Junior forward Cody Milan on the power play after Jobst would get called for tripping. Khodorenko would also add another goal making it his 13th goal of the season. Freshman forward Tommy Apap would get the lead for the Spartans in the second period.
The Spartans end the season with a record of 12-21-2 and 6-16-2 in the Big Ten Conference under Danton Cole's first season as the team's new head coach.
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