Head coach Nadine Muzerall waves to the crowd as alternate captain Jenna Buglioni (10) and captain Jennifer Gardiner (12) carry the Julianne Bye Cup. Ohio State clinched its second-straight WCHA regular-season championship with a 4-1 win against St. Thomas at the Ohio State Ice Rink Saturday. Credit: Reid Murray | Design Editor
Nadine Muzerall is no stranger to success.
As an assistant and head coach, her teams have won regular season titles, conference tournaments and national championships.
But she thinks this year’s Ohio State squad is different.
“This is the most skilled team that I’ve coached,” Muzerall said after clinching the Western Collegiate Hockey Association regular season championship Saturday. “I also coached the [Minnesota] Gophers a few years back when we went undefeated, and I think that this team is the most skilled team with the most depth.”
With 28 wins two weeks before the postseason begins, the 2023-24 Buckeyes are on their way to breaking the program record of 33 wins. Muzerall said what separates this year’s team from other elite groups is its culture.
“A lot of people think, ‘Oh, we have so many good individual athletes that you got out of the portal [six players],’” Muzerall said. “We did, for sure, but now you have to have them all play together, and they’ve been playing in different systems and they’ve been coached differently. You’ve got to have them all enjoy each other and want to play for one another, so you’re coaching an entirely different team. We can take some credit as coaches, but it’s really them. They really have a healthy locker room, and there is no individual cockiness on the team, they just want to play and win.”
Saturday’s Julianne Bye Cup win was graduate transfer defenseman Cayla Barnes’ first collegiate trophy, but with a gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics with Team USA, she, too, knows success. Barnes said the Buckeyes’ off-ice camaraderie is what separates Ohio State from other teams.
“It truly is a family here,” Barnes said. “We would do literally anything for each other, so I think that is something that really translates into our play.”
Beyond the culture of togetherness, Muzerall credits her team’s achievements to Ohio State’s success in previous women’s hockey seasons. Over the past two seasons, the Buckeyes have found themselves in the national championship games, winning it in 2022 and finishing runners-up in 2023.
“When you want to be an elite athlete, you have to take all the good and the heavy that comes with it,” Muzerall said. “Especially when you’re at a school such as The Ohio State [University], it’s the pinnacle of athletics, and you know what you sign up for when you come here. Pressure is a privilege and they eat it up.”
As Ohio State prepares for a road series against No. 2 Wisconsin to close out the regular season, Muzerall said the Buckeyes’ depth will make them one of the most difficult teams to defeat in the postseason.
“Who are you going to shut down to beat us?” Muzerall said. “We can look at other teams to try to shut down one or two players, and I think we could control the game. It’s really hard when you have the depth of four great lines and great goaltending too.”
