After winning two of the last three national championships in NCAA women’s hockey, Nadine Muzerall knows her team has a target on its back.
Ohio State women’s hockey is expected to contend for a national title once again this season. Ahead of this weekend’s season opener against Minnesota Duluth, the Buckeyes are ranked No. 1 in the USCHO preseason poll. But Muzerall knows the Buckeyes’ past success won’t make it any easier for Ohio State to win another championship this year.
“I always thought of it as like in NASCAR, the lead rider, everyone is drafting off of you. So it's a lot harder to stay in the front, right?” Muzerall said this week during her preseason press conference. “And that's how I feel sometimes is that we're in this NASCAR race and we're the lead driver. People continue to pursue us and we gotta keep up.”
Muzerall had to replace a lot of talent on her roster this offseason after the Buckeyes had eight players selected in the PWHL draft from last year’s team, which Muzerall – who also won four national championships as an assistant coach at Minnesota – described as the most skilled team she’s ever coached. Much like a year ago, though, Muzerall was active in the transfer portal again this offseason, adding three defensemen, a forward and a goalie – four of whom joined the Buckeyes from other teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season.
Key returners from last season include leading goal scorer Joy Dunne, who scored the lone goal in last season’s national championship win over Wisconsin; fifth-year senior forward Kiara Zanon, who tied for the team lead with 27 assists last season; fellow fifth-year senior forward Jenna Buglioni, a veteran of 132 games for the Buckeyes; and another fifth-year senior forward, Makenna Webster, a two-sport star who is also the leading scorer for Ohio State’s field hockey team.
While this year’s team might not be quite as deep as last year’s team, on which 14 different players scored at least 23 points, Muzerall still believes she has another roster that’s capable of greatness.
“That was a phenomenal team that we had (last year), but I look at it as we've just reloaded,” Muzerall said. “We don't have as much quantity on the team, our bench is smaller, but the quality is still very good. We were just putting together our power play, and we had hard times deciding who should be where because there is a lot of offensive talent. It's gonna require some coaching because we've got a couple transfers, and their style of how they played is very different from our style, being very aggressive and relentless.”
Being the hunted team in NCAA women’s hockey is a phenomenon that was foreign to Ohio State before Muzerall became its coach in 2016. The Buckeyes had never even made the NCAA Tournament before her tenure; they’ve now made the Frozen Four five times in the last seven years, including three straight appearances in the national championship game.
That’s certainly made it easier for Muzerall to attract top talent to Ohio State than it was when she arrived. But the blue-collar mentality Muzerall wants her players to have hasn’t changed, and she’s built her team with an emphasis on that once again.
“Three things we look for, I'd say, when we're out recruiting: Your skating ability, your IQ, and your relentless personality,” Muzerall said. “You have to have two of those three, but one of those two has to be that relentless pursuit. Because we're not gonna coach you up from a five to a 10 every day. I'll coach you down from a 10 to a seven, but you gotta be ready to go.
“It's very sexy to wanna come here to Ohio State. It's bedazzling, the brand speaks for itself, and winning national championships and having jewelry is something that kids wanna be a part of. But when you get on the inside, it's hard as hell.”
“We don't have as much quantity on the team, our bench is smaller, but the quality is still very good.”– Nadine Muzerall on this year’s team vs. last year’s national championship-winning team
Ohio State starts the 2024-25 season with a pair of games against Minnesota Duluth at the OSU Ice Rink on Saturday (3 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.)
Muzerall optimistic about program’s future despite ice rink delay
Ohio State’s success under Muzerall has come despite the Buckeyes continuing to play an outdated facility. The OSU Ice Rink was built in 1961, holds only 1,415 people and lacks the modern amenities that most of Ohio State’s other athletic facilities offer.
Construction of a new facility for the OSU hockey programs was supposed to begin earlier this year with a targeted opening of 2026, but that project has been delayed as Ohio State prepares for the additional expenses coming next year when colleges begin sharing revenue with athletes. Muzerall said she hasn’t yet received any updates on when a new arena for the program could be built, though new OSU athletic director Ross Bjork has assured her that the program will still get a new rink.
“He told me straight up, ’Nadine, I don't know when it will be built,’ which I appreciate because I felt like I was being told ‘It's happening, it's happening,’ and I just don't want to give that false hope to recruits anymore,” Muzerall said. “I can work with, ‘I don't know.’ I can't work with ’Maybe two, three years.’ It will be built, he said. He just is uncertain at this time.”
Muzerall says the Buckeyes need a new rink, particularly for recruiting purposes, and feels like her team deserves one after winning two national championships. She also believes an upgraded facility can be a revenue-generator for Ohio State – and not just because it would enable the Buckeyes to sell more tickets for games.
“There's a lot of kids that are playing hockey, so the demand is high, but the supply (of ice rinks) is very low. And you can make money, $350 an hour, on renting out ice. So I think it could be profitable for the institution,” Muzerall said. “So I think it's just something that's earned and deserved to show that the institution is supporting our hockey program, but also to grow hockey here in Columbus that we know we have with our Blue Jackets and our men's program here.”
Knowing it’s out of her hands when the program will get a new facility, though, Muzerall says her focus is on continuing to win in the team’s current rink.
“We do need one. We want one. But we've had a lot of success without one,” Muzerall said. “So when we recruit, I continue to recruit that blue-collar kid. That shouldn't be the reason you choose a school.”
The other big question looming over the future of Ohio State women’s hockey – and just about every other sports team at Ohio State that isn’t football or basketball – is where it will fit into the new model of college athletics that’s expected to begin next year. While Bjork has said repeatedly that Ohio State has no plans to eliminate any of its 36 varsity sports, he has said Ohio State will likely need to reduce the number of scholarships it funds for at least some of its sports to offset the increased expenses Ohio State will incur when it begins sharing revenue with athletes.
Because the NCAA’s settlement to create that model hasn’t yet been finalized, Muzerall said she doesn’t know yet how that will impact her program.
“We're in our preliminary stages in the House case and we're gonna learn more on the 26th (when the next hearing for House v. NCAA is scheduled),” Muzerall said. “And I'm learning as I think our administration is learning, but at the end of the day, we want our sport to be competitive all-around.”
That said, Muzerall is optimistic her program is in good hands with Bjork leading the athletic department and Ted Carter, a former Navy hockey player who remains a huge fan of the sport, presiding over the university.
“I do trust in Ross a lot. I think he is a businessman. I think he always comes across as he has a plan,” Muzerall said. “We do have a president that is very supportive in our project and in the game of hockey. And I think the two of them collaborating, they both seem very wise. And I trust in them and their process. And I'm focused right now on winning hockey games.”
