In a tight matchup for the NCAA women’s ice hockey national championship, No. 1 seed Ohio State and No. 2 seed Wisconsin Badgers played it out this past Sunday for the ultimate goal: a national title. The two college hockey powerhouses battled it out for the second year in a row, with a different outcome than the last. These two Western Collegiate Hockey Association rivals met this time last year in Duluth, Minn, when Wisconsin shut out Ohio State’s chance at winning back-to-back NCAA national championships. The Badgers earned their seventh national title on a 1-0 win last year, as Ohio State flipped the script and earned their second national title in a 1-0 win this year.
Making their third straight appearance in the final, the 34-4-0 Buckeyes have had their eyes set on a national championship once again. Ohio State Freshman, Joy Dunne broke through the scoreless first and second period with a wrist shot goal from the right dot circle. Raising hope for a national title and pressuring the Badgers with 7:12 left in regulation. “Yes, I scored the goal, but there was so much in that game.” Dunne said. “Blocks, great saves – it took a team. It took behind-the-scenes work. It took everything. This is what we worked for. I’m so thankful because this is an amazing team to win a national championship with.”
The teams were scoreless after 52 minutes of play. Ohio State’s Jocelyn Amos dung the crossbar early in the second period and missed an empty net shortly after. With pressure and time winding down, Wisconsin started to push at the end of the period, but OSU goaltender Raygan Kirk stopped Wisconsin Badger Casey O’Brien, on a breakaway and couldn’t capitalize on a loose puck in the crease. Head Coach Nadine Muzerall, said Kirk came in as the third goalie and worked to earn the starting role this season, which made it so special to not only her, but this team. Hard work and dedication do pay off, and this is a great example of it. It was an impressive 26-save shutout from Kirk in her senior season, helping contribute to the amazing win.
Both Cayla Barnes and Hannah Bilka (which were the assists of Dunne’s game winning goal), had transferred to Ohio State from Boston College in the offseason to put themselves in a better position to win a national championship. Bilka recorded her 42nd point for a career high on the assist to Dunne, and Barnes recorded her 36th. These two amazing IQ players helped contribute to the amazing success of Ohio State this year.
Although these two teams had scored the most goals in the NCAA with Ohio State scoring 200, and Wisconsin scoring 205, this championship game was run off playing defensively minded and giving little to no space for the opposing team to work with. Both teams were only held to under 30 shots (Ohio State outshot 28-26) and nearly blocking 40 shots (Wisconsin had 20 to 17). There was a record of 4,378 people who attended this game at the Whittemore Center Arena – which holds a record for the third largest crowd in NCAA women’s ice hockey history.
During the regular season, Ohio State won three of the four matchups against the Badgers. Although the Badgers also got the last laugh during the WCHA Tournament, beating the Buckeyes in the conference championship game to win the WCHA title for the 10th time in program history, Ohio State finished 35-4, setting a new record for the program for wins in a season as well as their second national championship.
