The Ohio State women’s ice hockey team huddles before their game against the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The Buckeyes would go on to lose 4-3 on Sep. 22. Credit: Liam Ahern | Lantern Photographer
The Buckeyes earned four of six conference points during their weekend series against the Huskies.
The No. 2 Ohio State women’s hockey team (6-2-2, 4-2-2 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) earned a 5-1 Friday victory and tied 3-3 Saturday but fell in the shootout, giving No. 11 St. Cloud State (6-1-1, 2-1-1 WCHA) a conference point.
Game 1
The Buckeyes defeated the Huskies at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, thanks to multi-goal games from freshman forward Jordyn Petrie and sophomore forward Joy Dunne.
Ohio State put two goals on the board less than three minutes into the game.
Dunne scored her fourth goal of the season at 2:18 and 32 seconds later, Petrie scored again on a slap shot.
The Huskies scored their first and only goal of the game at 13:03, cutting Ohio State’s lead to one, after a power play goal by senior defender Grace Wolfe.
Fifth-year goaltender Sanni Ahola started in net for St. Cloud State and faced eight shots in the first, while graduate goalie Amanda Thiele got the nod for the Buckeyes and faced four shots in the opening period.
The Buckeyes dominated the final two frames.
Only 3:08 into the second period, Dunne scored her second goal of the game, pushing the score to 3-1 on a power play.
The second period ended with 27 Buckeye shots on goal, compared to St. Cloud State’s one.
Graduate forward Jenna Buglioni piled onto the Ohio State lead halfway through the third period with a short-handed goal, upping its lead to 4-1.
Petrie closed out the game with her second goal of the evening and seventh of the season.
The 5-1 victory Friday gave Thiele her fourth win of the season, improving her career record to 57-10-2 and tying her with Andrea Braendli for most career wins by an Ohio State goaltender.
Game 2
Saturday’s contest against the Huskies proved to be a much closer affair.
In net for the Huskies was Emilia Kyrkkö, her third start of the season. The Buckeyes started goaltender Hailey MacLeod for her fourth of the season.
Ohio State got on the board first with a power-play goal by sophomore forward Jocelyn Amos just three minutes into the game.
The Buckeyes started the second period sophomore forward Jordan Baxter’s first goal of the season and increased their lead to 2-0.
But the St. Cloud State responded.
Huskies fifth-year forward Brieja Parent scored a power-play goal less than two minutes later to cut the lead to one, then senior forward Abby Promersberger tied it up at 7:26.
The third period remained a 2-2 tie until the final three minutes, when each team scored a power-play goal.
Buglioni scored her seventh of the season and St. Cloud State Dayle Ross senior defender tied it back up at 18:57
Scoreless after overtime, St. Cloud State sophomore forward Sofianna Sundelin scored in the first round of the shootout before MacLeod stopped the next two Husky attempts.
However, Kyrkkö held the Buckeyes scoreless on their three attempts to give the Huskies the extra point with a 1-0 shootout win.
Ohio State is back in action with three games at home next week. First, they’ll play No. 15 Mercyhurst Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the OSU Ice Rink. The Buckeyes will then host the 2024 Women’s Ice Breaker Tournament Oct. 25-26 at the Schottenstein Center.
