MADISON — The Ohio State Buckeyes took a one point lead on Wisconsin in the WCHA standings and moved into the number one spot in the NPI, 0.491 points ahead of the Badgers with a decisive 4-1 win.
Both Ohio State and Wisconsin are missing five players in their regular lineup who are in Milan representing their countries at the Olympics. On Saturday, it was apparent that the Buckeyes have adapted to those losses better.
“At the end of the day, they just said, ‘Hey, this is our circle, and no one’s coming to save us. We just got each other and leaning on each other. This is the event. We don’t have five people with this, so we have to create the response that will equal the outcome that we want,'” said Ohio State coach Nadine Muzerall.
OSU always attacks hard on the forecheck and puts pressure on their opponent. That proved more difficult for Wisconsin in the first game of the series. The Badgers looked overwhelmed and off kilter for much of the first half of the game as they made mistakes and struggled to keep up with the pace of play. They misplaced passes, turned the puck over and threw the puck around instead of moving it with purpose.
The Buckeyes overwhelmed Wisconsin in the first period, outshooting them 18-7. Ohio State had 35 shot attempts in the first – or nearly a shot attempt every 30 seconds of play. Two late power plays certainly helped – they had six shots on goal in the first advantage alone.
“It seemed like we weren’t ready for the aggressiveness and the speed that was thrown at us,” said Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson.
Jocelyn Amos has already made an even bigger impact for Ohio State in the Olympians’ absence – she scored four of her 16 goals last weekend against Minnesota Duluth in the first series they missed. She added to that on Sunday, scoring her fifth goal in three games to get the Buckeyes on the board first. She took advantage of some open ice at the top of the zone as she entered from the bench and picked up a loose puck. Her wrister from the top of the circle beat Rhyah Stewart clean to make it 1-0.
A slashing penalty on Charlotte Pieckenhagen with 1:05 left in the first proved to be the opportunity OSU needed to extend their lead. Maxine Cimoroni’s shot was stopped by Stewart and redirected to her right, but Sloane Matthews was there unmarked to pick up the loose puck and put it back at the back post to extend the lead to 2-0.
Muzerall said the team’s strategy shifted as the game went on, but that puck possession – starting with winning faceoffs – was a focus. Fitness is one of the things Muzerall stresses from the moment her players step on the ice and that has never been as important for the team as they ran with nine forwards and five defenders. With their short bench, she didn’t want to see her skaters expending extra energy chasing the puck.
“They played well together and kept it simple. I think we stayed calm under pressure. It’s really hard to score first, especially here against a good team. And it’s hard to keep the lead,” said Muzerall.
The Badgers did push back in the second, making up the shot discrepancy by out-shooting Ohio State 17-7. But they could not get the puck past Hailey MacLeod. Two of the Badgers’ best offensive opportunities came short-handed. The Buckeye defense clogged up the middle, blocked shots, lifted sticks and kept Wisconsin from getting easy or clean looks.
Lacey Eden led the Badgers with eight shots on goal while Maggie Scannell added six. But OSU’s forecheck and pressure kept Wisconsin looking off-center and unsettled all game. That combined with players not usually running point on the offense meant that UW never seemed to find their rhythm.
The Buckeyes put the game out of reach with two opportunistic goals in the third. Just three minutes into the frame Brooke Disher took a shot from the top of the zone into traffic. Cimoroni tipped the puck and redirected it past Stewart to make it 3-0. Later in the frame, Kassidy Carmichael took advantage of a Stewart rebound and a wide open back door to extend the lead to 4-0.
“When you play someone that’s as aggressive as they are, they’re going to hem you in at times. The big thing is to try to eliminate some of the scoring chances that we gave up. That’ll be the big thing tomorrow because we can’t get in a game where we’re gonna give up 38, 39, 40 shots and expect to survive it,” said Johnson.
The Badgers did manage to spoil the shutout in the final three minutes as Ava Murphy picked up a bouncing puck and put it back on MacLeod from a tight angle to make it a 4-1 game.
Muzerall was happy to see her team score on the power play and keep Wisconsin 0-for-4 on the player advantage, but said she would have liked to see them bury a few more of the chances they had.
“There was a point where I think we were like out shooting them 17-7. I want to see us win those battles in front of the net, because I think we could have gotten up by two or three earlier in the first period,” she said.
The two teams will meet again on Sunday at 2 p.m.