Ohio State junior forward Liz Schepers (21) battles for the puck during the third period of the game against Minnesota on Oct. 25. Ohio State won 4-3. Credit: John Huether | For The Lantern
Ohio State women’s hockey stands one win away from the Western College Hockey Association conference championship game.
The No. 5 Buckeyes (22-8-6, 13-6-5 WCHA) travel to Minneapolis to take on No. 3 Minnesota (27-5-3, 17-5-2) Saturday in the WCHA Final Faceoff, with a win delivering them to the conference championship game Sunday.
“It’s a really special week going back to Minnesota. We, as a team, know we have something special and we can bring that on the ice,” Ohio State sophomore goaltender Andrea Braendli said.
The Buckeyes and Golden Gophers have met in two prior series this season, splitting both for a 2-2 record against each other.
The difference this time around is what’s at stake.
Both teams will compete in the WCHA Final Faceoff to determine which will have its ticket punched for the eight-team NCAA women’s hockey tournament as WCHA champion.
But standing in the Buckeyes’ way is 2019’s NCAA runner-up and a team that has won seven national championships since 2000.
“They’re really a strong team top to bottom,” junior forward Liz Schepers said. “It’s about taking advantage of the opportunities you get because against a team like that, you may not get too many.”
Minnesota has three of the conference’s top 10 point scorers. Junior forward Grace Zumwinkle and redshirt senior forward Sarah Potomak each have 45 points –– tied for No. 6 in the WCHA –– and Zumwinkle’s 25 goals on the season are tied for No. 2 in the conference.
Zumwinkle scored four goals against the Buckeyes in four games this season.
Right behind them at No. 8 on the conference leaderboard is sophomore forward Taylor Heise, who has 42 points.
“They have some really good goal scorers, but if we keep doing our Buckeye hockey, we can control them,” Braendli said. “We have to pay attention to them, but we also have to focus on ourselves and keep playing.”
Minnesota senior goalie Syndey Scobee’s 1.61 goals against average is the sixth best in the nation.
In its Jan. 17-18 series, Ohio State took Game 1 4-1, but the Gophers clapped back with a 2-1 win the next day.
Ohio State’s Jan. 17 win was its largest winning margin against Minnesota since the 2017-18 season.
After going 2-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill in its two-game conference quarterfinals victory against Minnesota State, Schepers said the Buckeyes are honing in on their advantage in those two areas.
“A huge focus of ours is just making sure we’re solid in all three zones, and hopefully get the result we’re looking for,” Schepers said. “We’re focusing on our special teams this week. It was the difference for us last weekend and that’s what’s going to make the difference again.”
As Ohio State looks to face the most decorated team in NCAA women’s ice hockey history, it hopes the third series will be the charm.
“We feel like this tournament is wide open for anybody to take and we’re trying to take advantage of that,” Schepers said.
Ohio State skates onto the ice at 5:07 p.m. Saturday at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis.The semifinal winners of both Final Faceoff games will meet in Sunday’s league championship game at 1 p.m.
