The Ohio State Women’s Hockey team swept Minnesota State in the WCHA tournament first round, effectively locking up an NCAA tournament bid. The Buckeyes would have been pretty confident in the bid coming into the weekend, but avoiding a loss to Minnesota State removed any doubt.
As they have for a while, the Buckeyes sit at fifth in the PairWise Rankings, which always accurately predict the NCAA tournament. With four at-large bids available in an eight-team tournament, the Buckeyes are solidly in the second at-large position. Since they are currently ahead of two conference leaders, no amount of bid thieves can keep the Buckeyes out of the tournament.
This weekend’s games were both safe wins, though Saturday’s game was a close affair. The Buckeyes never trailed in Friday’s win, though Minnesota State tied it at 2-2 with two second-period goals. Ohio State got two third-period goals, including from Saturday’s hero Liz Schepers, and never worried.
Saturday’s game was a more tense affair, even though the Buckeyes led for the final 55 minutes. It was a much closer and tighter game, but Ohio State held on to a 1-0 shutout after a quirky early goal by Schepers.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" – Liz Schepers pic.twitter.com/1LxhGDAOLs
— Ohio State Women's Hockey (@OhioStateWHKY) February 29, 2020
Ohio State will now face Minnesota in the WCHA semifinals (the final two rounds are referred to as the “Final Faceoff”). The Goophers are also safely in the NCAA Tournament, and are a near-lock to host the first round. (The first round is held at the campus sites of the top four seeds, before the Frozen Four in Boston.)
The Buckeyes have a very slight chance of hosting the NCAA first round, but that would require beating both Minnesota and Wisconsin to win the WCHA Tournament title. That alone might not be enough, as the Buckeyes would also need some help from Northeastern, who needs to lose (preferably to Maine next Saturday) for the Buckeyes to even have a real chance.
Since the first round is mostly set up geographically, the Buckeyes will likely face Minnesota or Wisconsin in the first round if everything holds as expected next weekend. There’s a chance the NCAA wants to avoid the conference matchup, but it’s hard to imagine they’d prioritize that enough to send a New England team out to either Minnesota or Wisconsin.