OSU men’s hockey misses out on Frozen Four, falls in regional final

Ohio State men’s hockey will not play in the Frozen Four.

In their 10th NCAA tournament appearance in program history, the Buckeyes lost their chance at returning to the Frozen Four for the third time, losing to Quinnipiac 4-1 in a regional final Sunday in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

While Ohio State struck first with a fast-break, unassisted score by junior forward Joe Dunlap, Quinnipiac flipped momentum with two goals in 15 seconds in the first period before Cristophe Tellier and Jayden Lee scored two third-period goals to secure the win.

Despite the Buckeyes’ consistent offensive pressure in the final two periods — holding a 26-9 shot advantage after matching Quinnipiac’s nine attempts in the first period — Tellier flipped the puck over the head of Ohio State goalkeeper Jakub Dobes with less than five minutes left in the game before tucking it in for the Bobcats’ third goal.

Lee iced the regional final with an empty-net goal late in the third period.

Dobes finished with 13 saves.

Bobcats goalkeeper Yaniv Perets finished with 34 saves on Ohio State’s 35 shots, coming in allowing 1.47 goals per game with a .930 save percentage.

Jake Wise, Tyler Duke, Stephen Halliday and Patrick Guzzo Ohio State with four shots-on-goal.

Midway through the third period trailing by a goal, Ohio State found its best opportunity for a comeback.

Quinnipiac forward Sam Lipkin was called for cross-checking against Ohio State’s Travis Treolar, giving the Buckeyes a two-minute power play.

The Bobcats, though, killed Ohio State’s only power-play chance of the third period, silencing the Buckeyes special teams on each of their four chances with a man advantage Saturday.

Quinnipiac will play either Michigan or Penn State in the Frozen Four semifinal April 6.

Ohio State ends its season with a record of 21-16-3 — the team’s sixth 20-win season under coach Steve Rohlik.