The No. 7 Ohio State women's hockey Buckeyes came into Friday's contest undefeated against No. 5/6 Minnesota. They exited the game that way too. Newcomers (two freshmen and a transfer) led the way with three goals. The Bucks' defense thwarted a late charge from the Gophers as OSU edged the visitors in an exciting contest.
| Scoring by Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 5/6 Minnesota | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| No. 7 Ohio State | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
The Buckeyes hit the scoreboard almost as soon as they hit the ice. Emma Maltais dinged Gopher goalie Sidney Peters just over a minute into the game. OSU held that 1-0 advantage through an even, back-and-forth opening period.
| Buckeye Goal Scorers (Assists) | Pd | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Emma Maltais (Lauren Spring, Lauren Boyle) | 1 | 1:20 |
| PP - Charly Dahlquist (Jincy Dunne, Kassidy Sauve) | 3 | 10:48 |
| Liz Schepers (Julianna Iafallo) | 3 | 16:04 |
Minnesota took over in the middle frame. The Gophers’ command of the game began on the faceoff dot where they won 18 of the period’s 25 draws. They drew the Bucks into a penalty, scored on the ensuing power play, and added a go-ahead goal a few minutes later.
But Ohio State began to recover late in the second period. Although they headed to the break down 2-1 the Bucks had their feet back under them. When the third period got underway they were ready to punch back.
An opportunity presented itself midway through the stanza. Minnesota’s Katie Robinson was whistled for roughing. Charly Dahlquist delivered a game tying power play goal. And the Buckeyes didn’t stop there. With less than four minutes left on the clock freshman Liz Schepers finished a feed from senior Julianna Iafallo to give Ohio State a 3-2 lead.
The Gophers played two of the game’s final three minutes on the power play. They also swapped Peters for the extra attacker. But the Buckeye defenders did an excellent job of disrupting Minnesota’s attack. The visitors only put two shots on goal down the stretch and Kassidy Sauve gobbled those up without incident. Ohio State collected a 3-2 win.
With the victory the Buckeyes improve to 16-5-4 overall and 9-2-4-3 in the WCHA. They leap frog Minnesota and now sit in second place in the conference standings. The teams conclude their season series tomorrow afternoon at 3pm ET. Whatever the outcome of that game, the Scarlet and Gray, already leading 2-0-1-1, will win the season series.
- Ohio State outshot Minnesota 38-33. Maddy Field led the Bucks with seven shots.
- The Gophers controlled the faceoff circle, winning 61% of the game’s draws.
- Nine different Buckeyes blocked shots in the contest. Jincy Dunne and Dani Sadek topped the list with two each.
- Kassidy Sauve posted 31 saves in her fourteenth win of the season.
- The updated WCHA standings are as follows: Wisconsin 42 points, Ohio State 34, Minnesota 32, Bemidji State 22, Minnesota-Duluth 20, St. Cloud State 14, Minnesota State 3.
