It's March 28, 1998.

Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

It is the NCAA West Regional final, in the 12-team national tournament.

The day before, Ohio State had defeated Yale 4-0 to get to a matchup with the Spartans.

That season, Michigan State was CCHA regular season champions, besting Michigan by one point with a 33-5-5 overall record. They finished the season No. 1 or No. 2 across the three different national polls used at the time, and were led by Mike York as a senior forward with 61 points, and in net by Chad Alban, who won the national GAA standings by a full half a goal.

The Spartans had gone 2-1 against the Buckeyes that season, and 60 minutes of play separated them from a Frozen Four berth.

Playing in the home rink of each team's archrival, the Buckeyes instead were the team celebrating after a 4-3 OT victory. It shocked the college hockey landscape and was the first ever Frozen Four berth in the Ohio State program history. Reports say there was a small, 8-year old Jeremy in the Yost parking lot despondent, after crying his eyes out behind the MSU end in overtime, watching Brutus the Buckeye wave an OSU flag waiting for the OSU players to come out to the team bus.

Those reports did not reference the healing and moving on in the 27 years of my life since.

Today, these two programs play in the Big Ten Hockey Conference, they play more often per season, and the heat in their matchups has picked up a bit.

Two years ago, an Ohio State player was ejected for using a racial slur towards Spartans forward Jagger Joshua. He was subsequently "suspended" and then quietly reinstated by Buckeyes coach Steve Rohlik.

As I haven't forgotten that parking lot moment in Ann Arbor all those years ago, I also know how I felt seeing an OSU line chart that included Kamil Sadlocha back, as his eight points in 26 games was just too much to keep out of the lineup, I guess.

When the puck drops at what should be an electric Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing tonight -- with possibly the best regular season team since the 1998-99 roster that followed the team that lost to those Buckeyes in Ann Arbor looking for a double repeat as Big Ten regular season and tournament champions -- you can bet the 90s alums in attendance (and the guys who played with Joshua as a teammate) will have more than just a championship on their mind.

Shadow Gunnarwolfe Fontaine

This Ohio State team has shocked everyone, a team who was picked to finish last in the Big Ten pre-season, took third, has locked up an NCAA Tournament at-Large bid, and is now playing for a trophy on the last day of the league season.

The Buckeyes were active in the portal last off-season, looking to turn things around quickly -- and perhaps none of their additions have paid off as well as the highly regarded forward Gunnarwolfe Fontaine, formerly of Northeastern.

Personally I have loved Fontaine's play (and name) since his junior seasons with the USHL's Chicago Steel, and he has acclimated to Big Ten play more than fine.

Fontaine has 16 goals and 23 assists in 38 games this season, and scored the winning goal for the Buckeyes in overtime of the Big Ten semifinal last weekend against Penn State.

Fontaine is the most dangerous player for the Buckeyes, a team that plays an extremely safe defensive game, and I expect the Spartans to match the Shoudy-Mannisto-Kelly line with him while trying to keep their strongest defensemen in coverage, Patrick Geary, out with Fontaine most of the night.