Senior goaltender Amanda Thiele celebrates a shutout win against No. 7 Minnesota Duluth with her teammates. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics
Ohio State completed its second season sweep against a top-10 team, defeating No. 7 Minnesota Duluth 1-0 at the Ohio State Ice Rink Saturday.
The win was Ohio State’s fourth of the season against the Bulldogs, and it came one week after sweeping No. 4 Minnesota in Minneapolis. The No. 1 Buckeyes (20-2-0, 17-1-0 WCHA) have defeated Minnesota Duluth (13-9-2, 10-8-0 WCHA) by scores of 5-2, 2-0, 3-0 and 1-0.
Ohio State took longer than normal to get on the scoreboard, going over 55 minutes without scoring. At the end of the second period, the Buckeyes led the Bulldogs in shots on goal 26-9, but the two teams were even in goals at 0-0.
“When I went in after the second period, I didn’t draw up X’s and O’s,” head coach Nadine Muzerall said. “I just simply said, ‘The puck is 3 inches. We’ve got to find a way to get it around them. You are dominating. We’re all such elite players, so which one’s going to be the hero and bury the puck? Because we are not tying or losing this hockey game.’”
Eventually, the Buckeyes broke through on the power play with 4:18 left in regulation, when graduate forward Hannah Bilka connected on a pass from graduate forward Jennifer Gardiner, to send a one-timer past Bulldog goalie Ève Gascon.
Bilka said it was important to stay level-headed when searching for the winning goal after taking over 30 shots without scoring.
“I think it’s just finding a way,” Bilka said. “It’s just not too high, not too low. Keeping positive energy on the bench and just not getting down on yourself. I thought we did a really good job as a unit sticking to the goal.”
Gardiner, who typically plays left wing, was lined up at the left point as a defenseman on the power play. Bilka said Gardiner’s superb vision was what allowed her to score.
“It was a great pass,” Bilka said. “I really had an empty net so, all credit to [Gardiner] for that pass.”
Gardiner said throughout the game, Minnesota Duluth took away the option to pass across the ice in the offensive zone, but once it finally opened, she capitalized.
“A lot of the game, that cross-ice pass that I was trying to make to Bilka just wasn’t there,” Gardiner said. “We had a timeout, drew up some looks, playing it down low a little bit more and Coach Muz said don’t force a cross-ice pass. But of course, I saw the lane, so I forced it right across the ice, and I’m really glad I did.”
Going into the game, Muzerall said she was looking for her team to score a power play goal against the Bulldogs’ highly touted penalty kill, which ranks third in the country.
“We’ve got to score on special teams,” Muzerall said. “So I just called that timeout on purpose to say, ‘This is the moment.’ Someone’s got to be your hero and bury that against such a really good penalty-kill team. So I was proud of them to stay focused and keep a clear head and not quit.”
For the second straight game, Ohio State posted a shutout, this time from senior goaltender Amanda Thiele. This was Thiele’s first game since a 4-1 home win against Minnesota State, and the 18-save outing against the Bulldogs was her second shutout of the season.
Muzerall said Thiele and senior goaltender Raygan Kirk — who recorded a shutout Friday — have been the most crucial performers in the series against Minnesota Duluth.
“We talk about goalies making key saves at key moments, and [Thiele] did that,” Muzerall said. “I think they’ve done a great job of standing up and being, I would say, the players of the game this weekend.”
