Well, it wasn’t a sweep but it was pretty damn close. Ohio State women’s hockey fell just short of achieving its first ever series sweep of Minnesota this evening. However the game results were still wildly positive for the Bucks who rallied twice, picked up a shootout win, and locked up five huge WCHA points on the weekend.
| Scoring by Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | Final | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RV Ohio State | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| No. 4/5 Minnesota | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
The Gophers raced out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. The Buckeyes were not deterred by the Gophers’ quick start, though. They began a steady application of pressure to the Minnesota net. Midway through the stanza OSU’s red hot top line nicked goalie Alex Gulstene. Emma Maltais potted her second goal of the season with a swift strike off the faceoff.
A couple shifts later Maltais buzzed the net again. This time Gulstene stopped her. However the Minnesota netminder had no answer for Tatum Skaggs. The sensational freshman swooped in, collected the rebound, and knotted the game at 2-2.
| Pd | Time | Buckeye Goal Scorers (Assists) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12:01 | Emma Maltais (Charly Dahlquist) |
| 1 | 14:37 | Tatum Skaggs (Emma Maltais) |
| 2 | 10:12 | Julianna Iafallo (Maddy Field, Jincy Dunne) |
| 2 | 17:03 | Tatum Skaggs (Emma Maltais, Jincy Dunne) |
| 3 | 12:48 | PP - Dani Sadek (Charly Dahlquist, Tatum Skaggs) |
| SO | Tatum Skaggs | |
| SO | Julianna Iafallo |
The Gophers reclaimed the lead late in the frame. They regained their two goal advantage with an opening minute blitz to start the second period. Alex Woken slipped a fourth puck past Sauve just 23 seconds in.
At the 2:33 mark the officials whistled Erin Langenmeier on an interference penalty. Already down two goals, the Bucks faced a critical penalty kill. As it did in Friday’s contest, the PK unit rose to the occasion, shut down the Minnesota opportunity, and inspired an Ohio State comeback.
Once the Buckeyes returned to even strength the offense wound up and erased the Gopher’s lead. Julianna Iafallo tickled the twine with her first goal of the year. Late in the period Maltais teed up a textbook feed for Skaggs. The Bucks’ top scorer wasted no time in crushing her second lamp lighter of the game and fifth of the season.
Ohio State grabbed the lead with about seven minutes to play. Dani Sadek lasered home the go-ahead goal on the Bucks’ third power play of the day. Sadek’s score was the first power play tally allowed by Minnesota in 2017-18.
The Bucks’ advantage was short lived. The Gophers drew even less than a minute later. Neither side found the net in the final six minutes and the teams headed to overtime.
The Buckeyes hit Gulstene with everything they had in the extra session. Ohio State outshot Minnesota 9-0 in overtime. But the Bucks just could not find that sixth goal.
Officially the game resulted in a tie. The squads squared off for a shootout to determine the extra conference point. The Scarlet and Gray dispatched Minnesota in short order. Skaggs and Iafallo each scored on their attempts. Sauve denied both Gopher shooters to give the Bucks the shootout win and five big WCHA points.
Although this series wasn’t a sweep for the Buckeyes, it is still the best result the program has ever recorded against Minnesota. Even more notably, unlike previous successful outings against the Gophers, Ohio State did not just score a couple special teams goals today and then hang on for dear life like a lesser team that knows it got away with a result it really shouldn’t have. The Bucks played with grit, with resiliency and, most importantly, like an equal party that deserved everything it got.
The Buckeyes now return home to face another conference nemesis, No. 4 Minnesota-Duluth. The Bulldogs are 2-2-0 on the year after dropping a pair of games to No. 3 Boston College this week. Games are set for Friday at 6pm ET and Saturday at 3pm ET. The action takes play at the OSU Ice Rink and admission is, as always, free.
