The Drought is Over
Caleb Downs has Ohio State’s first punt return touchdown since 2014.
Ohio State women’s hockey is advancing to its fourth straight Frozen Four.
The Buckeyes were dominant in their first game of NCAA Tournament play, rolling to a 9-0 victory over Minnesota Duluth to defend home ice at the OSU Ice Rink on Saturday and advance to the NCAA semifinals for the fourth year in a row.
Coming off of a 6-3 loss to Wisconsin in their most recent game in the WCHA Final Faceoff championship game, Ohio State coach Nadine Muzerall felt her team made a statement with its play on Saturday.
“I think it was a character win,” Muzerall said. “I wasn’t ever worried about them physically, it was mentally. And so I wanted to really work them hard this week in practice, but also did a lot more film on key areas that we knew we needed to tighten up. And so we focused on those and I think they were brilliant (against Minnesota Duluth), because they did get an earful about how Saturday (against Wisconsin) went. And us as coaches, we gotta take ownership, too. And I think that it just showed a lot of their resilience that they have in themselves to fight back and make a big statement in this win today.”
The Buckeyes took the lead just 22 seconds into the game when Jocelyn Amos put Ohio State’s first shot of the game past Minnesota Duluth goalie Éve Gascon on an assist from Stephanie Markowski.
Olivia Mobley extended Ohio State’s lead to 2-0 later in the first period when she collected a loose puck in front of the net and sent it past the right side of Gascon for a goal. Lauren Bernard and Riley Brengman were both credited with assists.
Hannah Bilka made it a 3-0 game less than three minutes later when she snuck a wraparound goal into the right side of the net past Gascon. Bilka – a Boston College transfer who earned her first NCAA Tournament win on Saturday – scored another goal just 29 seconds into the second period to extend Ohio State’s lead to 4-0, receiving assists from Amos and Joy Dunne on her second score.
Ohio State defenseman Hadley Hartmetz increased the Buckeyes’ lead to 5-0 with 8:03 still to play in the second quarter when she fired a power-play goal past Hailey MacLeod, who replaced Gascon at the start of the second period. Kiara Zanon and Makenna Webster assisted Hartmetz on the goal.
Jordan Baxter continued the rout by scoring Ohio State’s sixth goal of the game less than a minute later off of an assist from Mobley. Baxter returned the favor less than four minutes later when she assisted Mobley on her second goal of the game, which made the score 7-0 with over three minutes still to play in the second period.
Dunne made the score 8-0 for the home team less than five minutes into the third period when she scored a power-play goal off of assists from Zanon and Webster following a scramble in front of the net.
Kelsey King scored the Buckeyes’ ninth and final goal of the game off a feed from Cayla Barnes with 5:14 left on the clock.
While both Minnesota Duluth goalies struggled to stop the Buckeyes’ attack – Gascon gave up six goals and MacLeod surrendered three – Ohio State goalie Raygan Kirk stopped all 16 shots on goal that she faced, a bounceback performance for her after she gave up six goals in the loss to Wisconsin.
“It was definitely a nice bounceback after last weekend, but I think it worked for the whole team, too,” Kirk said. “We all kind of needed that bounceback and just really get the feel of the puck and get under our feet a little bit. And really great offense, too. I think today was huge.”
Ohio State, the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row, is now 33-4 overall this season. Saturday’s win was the Buckeyes’ sixth victory over Minnesota Duluth in six games between the two WCHA rivals this season.
The Buckeyes have now made the Frozen Four five times, all since 2018.
Ticket = punched #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/GkcK27htfo
— Ohio State Women's Hockey (@OhioStateWHKY) March 16, 2024
Ohio State will now travel to Durham, New Hampshire, where the Buckeyes will face No. 4 seed Clarkson in next Friday’s Frozen Four semifinals. The game will begin at 4 p.m. and will be broadcast by ESPN+.
If Ohio State can win its semifinal, the Buckeyes – who are seeking their second national championship in program history after previously winning it all in 2022 – will advance to their third straight national championship game. No. 2 seed Wisconsin, the team that beat Ohio State in the national championship last year, will face No. 3 seed Colgate in the semifinals for the other spot in the NCAA final.
“I’m looking forward to some redemption,” Muzerall said after Saturday’s win.
The national championship game, which will also be played in Durham, is set for a 4 p.m. puck drop on Sunday, March 24 and will be televised on ESPNU.
