Ohio State junior forwards Emma Maltais (17) and Liz Schepers (21) celebrate after taking the lead and winning goal during the third period of the game against Minnesota Oct. 25. Ohio State won 4-3. Credit: John Huether | For The Lantern
The score was tied 1-1 between No. 7 Ohio State women’s hockey and No. 9 Minnesota Duluth as the final seconds of the third period ticked down.
With one second left in the game, Ohio State sophomore defenseman Madison Bizal sent the puck off the right goal post, coming within an inch of winning the game.
But it wasn’t enough.
The game went into overtime, and when neither team scored, the second matchup of the weekend between Ohio State (8-3-3, 6-3-3 WCHA) and Minnesota Duluth (7-4-1, 4-3-1) ended in an official tie. However, the Buckeyes picked up an extra league point by winning a shootout at the end.
Minnesota Duluth outplayed the Buckeyes for one period. In the second, it outshot Ohio State 21-9, but in the first and third periods, the Buckeyes outshot the Bulldogs 12-6 and 9-3, respectively.
“I’m proud of how they finished the game,” Ohio State head coach Nadine Muzerall said. “We came out better in the first than we did yesterday and then— even though we scored — we didn’t play well in the second. Then we challenged them in the locker room, and then we totally dominated them.”
The teams played a second sudden-death overtime to decide which would claim an extra league point. When still no goals were scored, the extra point was decided by shootout.
In the shootout, junior forward Emma Maltais and Bizal were both denied by Bulldogs gold-medalist senior goaltender Maddie Rooney. Ohio State sophomore goaltender Andrea Braendli also made two saves.
Then it was up to Ohio State freshman forward Jennifer Gardiner, who slipped the puck into the left corner of the net for the go-ahead goal. Braendli made the final save, and the Buckeyes won the shootout to earn extra league point.
“It’s a pretty exciting feeling to score on her,” Gardiner said. “Rooney is a well-respected goalie all around the nation.”
Like the teams’ game Friday night, there was no scoring until the second period, and it was Minnesota Duluth who struck first. Junior forward Anna Klein found the back of the net off a tricky bounce in front of the goal, and the Bulldogs went up 1-0.
With just more than eight minutes left in the second, the Bulldogs got another golden opportunity when they were awarded a penalty shot after Ohio State interfered on a Bulldogs breakaway, but Braendli made the save to keep her team within a goal.
The Buckeyes answered with a goal of their own. With 3:30 left in the second, sophomore defenseman Sophie Jaques sent a rocket from just inside the blue line, over the right shoulder of Rooney, to knot the game up at 1-1. Freshman forward Brooke Bink and sophomore forward Sara Saekkinen assisted.
“It was a great knuckle puck she scored on,” Muzerall said. “Sophie was doing her thing. What she’s good at is some offensive threat, and that’s what we needed.”
The battle would continue for another period, two overtimes and a shootout.
“It was a really fun game and a battle of back-and-forth hockey with some very good players and goaltenders,” Muzerall said.
The Buckeyes go on the road for an out-of-conference matchup against Colgate Nov. 22 and 23.
