The march to the WCHA Tournament Championship continues for the Ohio State women’s hockey team thanks to a 4-3 overtime win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers Saturday.
It didn’t start well for the Buckeyes. Minnesota opened the scoring at the 15:27 of the 1st period on just the fifth shot of the game. Nothing else lit the lamp from either side the rest of the first twenty minutes and things went to the break with the Gophers up 1-0. Had it not been for goalie Andrea Braendli and a whopping sixteen saves in the period, it could have been worse too.
Minnesota struck again in the 2nd period at the 16:56 mark, and Ohio State would have to face a tall task of coming from two goals down the rest of the way with not much going right up until that point.
But Tatum Skaggs answered shortly after for the Buckeyes to cut the deficit in half at 2-1 and it was suddenly game on. Ohio State’s Jennifer Gardiner would get the equalizer late in the second period, and it looked like things were headed towards a 2-2 tie as the second intermission approached.
WE'RE GOING TO THE SHIP!!!! #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/CorlymWLmL
— Ohio State Women's Hockey (@OhioStateWHKY) March 8, 2020
The Gophers would get a power-play goal with just 2:16 left in the period however, and took a 3-2 lead into the break.
Things would stay that way into the 3rd period until Jennifer Gardiner struck again with 7:27 left in the game to tie the score 3-3. Both teams would get some chances the remainder of the way in regulation, but couldn’t hammer anything home, and off to overtime things went.
That’s when Tatum Skaggs became the hero. She struck again shortly into sudden death to punch OSU’s ticket to the league championship game with a 4-3 win.
Ohio State will face Wisconsin for all the marbles on Sunday in Minneapolis, MN.
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