What a season. Less than 24 hours after knocking off No. 1 Wisconsin, the women's hockey Bucks did it again. Ohio State's top line provided all the offense. The Buckeye D slammed the door on a late Badger rally. OSU posted a series sweep of the Badgers. It is the first series sweep suffered by Wisconsin since February 2014.
| Scoring by Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 1 Wisconsin | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| No. 6 Ohio State | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
The Badgers jumped out to an early lead. Alexis Mauermann forced a Buckeye turnover and beat Kassidy Sauve at the 4:30 mark of the first period. No other rubber found the back of the net in a spirited frame which saw Wisconsin edge Ohio State in shots, 13-7.
| Buckeye Goal Scorers (Assists) | Pd | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Emma Maltais (Jincy Dunne, Tatum Skaggs) | 2 | 13:09 |
| Charly Dahlquist (Emma Maltais, Tatum Skaggs) | 3 | 2:49 |
| EN - Tatum Skaggs (unassisted) | 3 | 19:57 |
The back-and-forth action continued in the second period. Halfway through the Bucks cracked Badger goalie Kristen Campbell. Emma Maltais lit up the scoreboard and the hometown fans with an equalizing goal.
And the Bucks’ young scoring leader didn’t stop there. Maltais kept driving the comeback train. Early in the third period, she teed up Charly Dahlquist for the go-ahead goal.
With the Buckeyes in the lead, securing the victory came down to Sauve and the OSU defense. They proved more than capable. Buckeye defenders blocked shot after shot. The rubber that did make it as far as the goal crease was gobbled up by the stellar, stingy Sauve.
The Badgers pulled Campbell for the extra attacker with about a minute to play. But freshman forward Tatum Skaggs was having none of Wisconsin's rally attempt. She blocked a pair of Badger shots and then iced the victory with an empty net goal.
Today's win completes a regular season series sweep of Wisconsin. It is the first time in program history that the Buckeyes have accomplished the feat and only the second time the team has defeated the Badgers in back-to-back games (2010 WCHA playoffs).
“The girls absolutely earned and deserved this win,” head coach Nadine Muzerall said. “These girls were going to play through anything today, you could tell they wanted this sweep more than anything. The women played with a lot of heart, and showed how relentless they can be. This is a huge moment for us as a team, and as a program. We’re going to enjoy this tonight, and we’re going to hit the ice for practice on Monday knowing that we can play with anyone in the country.”
OSU improves to 19-7-4 overall and 12-4-4-3 in the WCHA. The Bucks remain in second place in the conference. They head out to Minnesota State next week before closing out the regular season at home against Bemidji State. One more victory will tie the program record for single season victories.
- Here are the boxscore and highlights from the game.
- Wisconsin outshot Ohio State 35-20. Emma Maltais (5) and Tatum Skaggs (4) led the Bucks.
- The Buckeyes blocked 21 shots. Skaggs (5) topped the charts with Jincy Dunne and Dani Sadek (4).
- OSU was slightly under .500 on the faceoff dot as a team but Charly Dahlquist was a dominant 17-9.
- Special teams weren't much of a factor in this one. Each side was 0-for-1 on the power play.
- Updated WCHA standings: Wisconsin 53 points, Ohio State 43, Minnesota 42, Bemidji State 30, Minnesota-Duluth 28, St. Cloud State 17, Minnesota State 6.
