Tag: WCHA Final Faceoff

Ohio State women’s hockey drops WCHA Final Faceoff final to Minnesota

Still a lot to play for! #GoBucks

It looked like the Ohio State women’s hockey team was well on its way to completing the double of winning the regular season and tournament title in the WCHA, but the Minnesota Golden Gophers had other plans.

The two did battle in the WCHA Final Faceoff final on Saturday and the Buckeyes came up on the short end of the hockey stick, losing by a score of 3-1 inside Ridder arena in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Ohio State had an issue getting the puck into the back of the net despite some significant pressure early on against the defense and goaltending of the Golden Gophers. As a result, the Buckeyes fell behind 2-0 before finally getting a tally with just under four minutes left in the second period to make it 2-1. Gabby Rosenthal hustled down the ice to put a rebound back to make things interesting.

Minnesota would answer just 60 seconds later however and took a 3-1 lead into the last period.

Ohio State would sustain pressure multiple times in the third period but Minnesota continued to defend and dump, closing out the game and finishing as WCHA tournament champions.

The Buckeyes will now await their path in the upcoming NCAA Tournament Sunday when the pairings are announced. They will without a doubt be a No. 1 seed and start out their national title defense.

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Ohio State women’s hockey advances to WCHA Final Faceoff final

The OSU women’s ice hockey team will be playing for the WCHA tournament championship Saturday! #GoBucks

The Ohio State women’s ice hockey team is looking to double down and add a WCHA Final Faceoff tournament title to its first-ever regular season conference championship. And … after a 2-1 win over Minnesota-Duluth on Friday, the Buckeyes are still on schedule and will advance to the final on Saturday.

It was a hard-fought, tight affair that didn’t see a goal until the second period, with that seal being broken by Ohio State after the Bulldogs’ defense had an attempted clear go off of Brooke Bink’s leg and into the net for a power play goal at 9:11 of the second period. In these types of games when the stakes get higher, it’s the type of goal and bounce that a team sometimes needs. In this case, it resulted in a much-needed 1-0 lead for OSU.

Ohio State would extend the lead to 2-0 when Emma Maltais found the back of the net on another attempted clear right in the slot just over a minute later at 8:08 of the second period.

And that would be enough for the Buckeyes. The defense and goaltending were solid from there on out, giving up just a lone goal with just 2:48 left in the game to make the final score 2-1.

Ohio State will be back at it Saturday night when it faces Minnesota for the WCHA conference title. Game time is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET.

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Ohio State Women’s Hockey locks up NCAA Tournament bid with sweep of Minnesota State

The Ohio State Women’s Hockey team swept Minnesota State in the WCHA tournament first round, effectively locking up an NCAA tournament bid.

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.

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.