Nate Guenin knows his way around a penalty box. During his four-year hockey career at Ohio State, the defenseman known as “Nastyman” racked up 400 penalty minutes, fifth-most in program history.

Guenin has one 10-minute stint that has stuck with him. As the Buckeyes took on Wisconsin at Lambeau Field in Green Bay on Feb. 13, 2006, Guenin was saddled with a 10-minute misconduct after being whistled for hooking during the first period.

“It was a slow rise of noise because the fans were so far away,” said Guenin, currently a member of the American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch. “I had a good view. Coldest game I’ve ever played, and I’m sitting in the penalty box for more than 10 minutes. That wasn’t very much fun.”

In what was only the third outdoor hockey game in North America since 2001, the Buckeyes lost 4-2 to a Badgers team that would go on to win the national championship. Now, nearly six years removed from the game, former Buckeyes from around the world continue to list it as a career highlight.

“Winning the (Central Collegiate Hockey Association) championship (in 2004) was No. 1, and this would be a close second,” said goalie Dave Caruso, now playing for the Trenton Titans of the East Coast Hockey League. “We got dressed in the visitors’ locker room, and you came down around the corner, and the 40,000 fans see you, and they just boo. They booed us so hard. I’ve never been booed so hard. It still gives me goose bumps to think of how awesome that was.”

Today, the second-ranked Buckeyes will return to the outdoors with a game against Michigan at Progressive Field in Cleveland. As both teams attempt to adjust to the new conditions, they could take pointers from OSU’s first goal against the Badgers when a shot taken by Dave Barton from beyond the blue line somehow eluded the Wisconsin goalie.

OSU forward Andrew Schembri, a junior that season, said the goal took him back to his childhood.

“The ice surface was a lot like playing on an outdoor rink or pond,” said Schembri, now playing in Germany. “It had lots of snow and was kind of rigid, so it was hard to control the puck, which would show how Barton’s goal was scored. I do remember that — it was pretty cool how far it traveled and skipped over the goalie.”

Rod Pelley, now a forward with the Anaheim Ducks, mentioned needing to wear eye black for one of the few times in his career.

“The game itself was slower than a normal game in a normal rink,” he said. “Everyone felt like we were a pro football team, pulling into the rink to play against the home team.”

That feeling was echoed by current OSU coach Mark Osiecki, then in his second year as an assistant for the Badgers. The night before the game, Osiecki and other members of the team stayed on the ice until past midnight soaking in the atmosphere.

Things only got better the next day.

“Our players, they don’t get the feel of a college big-time football game where you’re going to walk or ride to the stadium on the bus and see the tailgate that’s going on and the excitement and enthusiasm for the game,” he said. “These outdoor games, they create that. On the bus, they were all standing up looking out the windows at the tailgaters.”

ajardy@dispatch.com