The No. 1 Ohio State women’s ice hockey team defeated St. Cloud State 5-2 in its home opener Oct. 7. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
In a highly contested rematch, the No. 1 Ohio State women’s ice hockey team prevailed over the No. 2 Minnesota Golden Gophers in a shootout Saturday at the Ohio State Ice Rink, ending in a 4-4 tie for the game.
Both sides picked up where they left off Friday after Minnesota (7-1-0) earned a 4-2 win, including a handful of early missed opportunities on offense. However, a body checking penalty on graduate forward Paetyn Levis put Ohio State (8-1-1) in the penalty box less than two minutes into the game.
With 43 seconds left on the Golden Gophers’ early power play, Minnesota redshirt sophomore forward Abbey Murphy tallied the first goal of the day, beating senior goaltender Raygan Kirk on a rebound and giving the Golden Gophers an early 1-0 lead.
Less than a minute later, Minnesota freshman forward Josefin Bouveng extended the Golden Gophers lead to 2-0, beating Kirk on a goal from the slot on Minnesota’s fourth shot of the night. Head coach Nadine Muzerall said the team needs to do a better job in crucial moments defensively moving forward.
“One thing that we have to really work on and we talk about all the time is key moments in games,” Muzerall said. “We gave up two in the first four minutes, and we gave up another one in the first minute of the third period, and we can not do that.”
The Buckeyes were almost quick to answer, as a would-be goal from graduate forward Gabby Rosenthal just 3:30 later was waived off due to a whistle.
A slashing penalty on graduate defenseman Sophie Jaques put the Buckeyes in the penalty box once again, and Ohio State found itself playing a largely defensive first period.
With 5:18 left in the opening period, the Buckeyes climbed back and found their first goal of the night, as junior forward Makenna Webster logged the first goal of her Buckeye career. Muzerall said Webster’s performance was crucial in Saturday’s game.
“Makenna just bought a lot of energy and spunk,” Muzerall said. “She created a lot of backcheck pressure and created turnovers in the neutral zone that ended up being offensive opportunities.”
The ensuing minutes of the first period consisted of “OH-IO” chants around the Ohio State Ice Rink as the Buckeyes found their physicality and ended the period with nine shots on goal.
The second period was largely back and forth and remained quiet on the scoreboard. The Buckeyes managed to kill off a penalty on Rosenthal, leaving the Minnesota power play just 1-5 on the night. Ohio State finished the scoreless second period with 20 shots on net to the Gophers’ 17.
But the scoring was quick to return in the final period, as less than a minute into the third, a breakaway opportunity for Murphy led to her second goal of the night, beating Kirk and extending the Gophers’ lead to 3-1.
A penalty on Minnesota for too many players on the ice led to Ohio State’s first power play opportunity of the afternoon, which the Golden Gophers effectively killed off. Another Minnesota penalty on fifth-year defenseman Lizi Norton gave the Buckeyes power play another chance, but they failed to convert.
Just 30 seconds after returning to even strength, Webster raced down the far side of the ice and as her breakaway shot was stopped, senior forward Jennifer Gardiner was there to bang in the rebound and close the gap to 3-2.
Following the goal, Minnesota graduate defenseman Crystalyn Hengler was sent to the box for a slashing penalty, giving the Buckeyes’ power play another chance.
With just 1 second remaining in the Buckeye power play, Jaques logged her ninth goal of the season and tied the game at 3-3. Rosenthal said the Buckeyes trust Jaques with the puck on her stick in big moments.
“It’s not everyday that you get someone who can shoot like that,” Rosenthal said. “I always know that she’s got a bullet and it’s probably going in the net.”
A Golden Gophers penalty was called less than a minute after the Buckeyes’ game-tying goal, giving Ohio State another chance to convert on special teams.
However, it was Minnesota who managed to capitalize off its own penalty, as fifth-year forward Taylor Heise found the back of the net on a back-handed breakaway goal and extended the Gopher lead to 4-3.
Only 30 seconds later, Jaques fired a slap-shot from the point. The Ohio State Ice Rink erupted as it flew past Minnesota sophomore goaltender Skylar Vetter to tie up the game at four in the final minutes of regulation.
Sixty minutes weren’t enough to settle the battle between top-ranked teams, as the game headed to overtime following the third period fireworks.
Five minutes of back and forth 3-on-3 play ensued throughout the extra time, but a shootout was needed to decide this matchup in Columbus.
After a Jaques shootout goal and back-to-back stops for Kirk, junior forward Jenna Buglioni put the game away for Ohio State, beating Vetter’s glove side and immediately skating to Kirk and her teammates to celebrate. Buglioni said it was rewarding to have her teammates’ support in a key moment.
“Honestly, like that’s kind of my move,” Buglioni said. “Muzzy kind of tapped me and said, ‘Are you ready?’ And you know, it was nice to have the support and my teammates believing in me. Props to Kirky for getting those big saves for us because without her it wouldn’t have gone that far.”
The Buckeyes travel to St. Thomas for an away series Friday at 7 p.m. and Nov. 5 at 3 p.m.
