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MILAN, ITALY - FEBRUARY 19: Joy Dunne #24 of Team United States celebrates winning the gold medals after the team's 2-1 overtime victory in the Women's Gold Medal match between the United States and Canada on day 13 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 19, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) | Getty Images
After closing out their regular season schedule last weekend, Ohio State’s women’s hockey team will host St. Thomas this weekend in the best-of-three WCHA first round matchup in Columbus.
The Buckeyes will receive some reinforcements ahead of what they hope is another lengthy postseason run, as the five players on the roster who played in the Winter Olympics will return to the team now that the games have concluded.
The big winner for Ohio State from the Winter Olympics excursion was Joy Dunne, who won gold along former Buckeyes Cayla Barnes and Hannah Bilka. The United States beat Canada 2-1 in overtime on Thursday to earn their third gold medal.
Former Ohio State players Sophie Jaques, Jenn Gardiner, Emma Maltais, and Natalie Spooner earned silver medals for the Canadians. Dunne finished her run in the Olympics with five points.
Andrea Braendli and Switzerland beat Sweden in the bronze medal game on Thursday, sending current Buckeyes Hilda Svensson, Jenna Raunio, and Mira Jungåker back to Columbus without a medal.
Much like the gold medal game, the bronze medal game also went to overtime. Braendli impressed when she was in goal for Switzerland, finishing second in the tournament with 161 saves.
With four of their teammates still having not yet rejoined the team following their time at the Olympics, Ohio State finished up the regular season on the road with two games against Bemidji State. In the series opener on Friday, the Buckeyes struck first when Kala Malachino scored 2:48 into the game on the power play.
The goal would be the start of a career night for Malachino, who added goals in the second and third period to record the first hat trick of her career. The junior finished the game with four points.
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Ohio State ended up winning the first game against Bemidji State 7-1. Along with Malachino’s outstanding performance, Emma Peschel also notched four points in the game, finishing with a goal and three assists. Sloane Matthews added two goals and an assist, while Sanni Vanhanen was credited with an assist in her first game back from the Olympics after representing Finland. Hailey MacLeod had 20 saves in goal in the victory.
Bemidji State hung around early in Saturday’s game, scoring just over four minutes into the game to take a 1-0 lead before Sloane Matthews and Kala Malachino scored a minute apart towards the end of the period to give the Buckeyes a 2-1 lead at the first intermission. Bemidji State would tie the game back up 14 seconds into the second period.
Ohio State took the lead for good when Sara Swiderski, Maxine Cimoroni, and Emma Peschel scored within a two-minute span in the middle of the second period. Malachino would added a empty net goal with less than a minute to go in the game.
The victory was Ohio State’s 30th of the season, marking the fourth time in the last five years where they have hit that mark.
With seven points across the two games against Bemidji State, Emma Peschel was named WCHA Defender of the Week. Peschel now has nine goals on the season, leaving her one shy of becoming the eighth Buckeye this year with at least 10 goals.
Despite missing the last few weeks because of playing in the Olympics, Joy Dunne and Hilda Svensson are tied for the team lead with 44 points each. Jocelyn Amos, Sloane Matthews, and Maxine Cimoroni are the other Ohio State skaters with at least 30 points on the season.
The first round opponent for the Buckeyes will be St. Thomas, who was beaten in all four regular season meetings by Ohio State. Despite being swept by the Buckeyes, the Tommies took Ohio State to overtime in two of those meetings.
In their first meeting of the season back on Halloween, Hilda Svensson’s goal with less than three minutes left in the third period tied the game before Sanni Vanhanen scored the game-winner 1:37 into overtime.
In the following game, Ohio State dominated the action, with Joy Dunne scoring four goals and recording six points. Svensson and Vanhanen would add three points each in the rout of the Tommies. Taylor Kressin registered 20 saves to record her first shutout of the season.
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The two teams met back up in Columbus in late January, and the script was eerily similar to when the teams played in Minnesota earlier in the season. Jocelyn Amos’ third period goal tied the opener 1-1 to send the game to overtime, where she netted the game-winner 38 seconds into the extra session.
Saturday’s game saw the Buckeyes shutout St. Thomas 5-0 with five different Buckeyes scoring goals. Hilary MacLeod had 10 saves in one of her four shutouts during the regular season.
Ohio State enters this week’s first round series ranked second in the country, with only Wisconsin ahead of them in the rankings. If neither the Buckeyes or the Tommies can sweep their meetings on Friday and Saturday, they will play on Sunday with the winner advancing to the WCHA Final Faceoff in St. Paul.
The semifinals of the Final Faceoff will take place on Thursday, March 5, and the championship game will be contested on Saturday, March 7.
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