With last years freshman phenom, Jakub Dobeš, as well as star defenseman Mason Lohrei both returning to the lineup, the team's only real question was who would replace the one-and-done Georgii Merkulov as the Buckeye's biggest offensive threat.

Senior center Jake Wise initially stepped to the fore but he was eventually joined by another freshman, Stephen Halliday.

Neither Wise nor Halliday had the scoring acumen to be big goal scorers but the playmaking centers helped their teammates post solid numbers, aptly replacing the lost offense.

[2] The Big Ten supported the match penalty but, due to a lack of incontrovertible evidence, would not add any additional punishment.

After the full account of the incident was reported, the Ohio State athletic department sent Sadlocha home for an indeterminate time.

When the Buckeyes entered the postseason, they were sitting 10 in the PairWise ranking and were virtually guaranteed an NCAA tournament berth if they could reach the semifinals.

While the team was outplayed by Michigan in the semifinal, losing a closer game than a 3–7 score would indicate, The Buckeyes were still in the top 10 in the national rankings and easily made the NCAA tournament.

While they had finished with a worse record than they had the year before, Ohio State had played a far more difficult schedule and weren't punished as much for those losses.