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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. − The Ohio State women’s hockey team advanced to its fifth straight national championship game on March 20, defeating Northeastern 5-0.
The Buckeyes will face the No. 2 Wisconsin in the championship, scheduled for 4 p.m. March 22. The game will air live on ESPNU. Wisconsin beat Penn State 4-3 in overtime in the other semifinal March 20.
It took Ohio State half of the first period to settle in and find its rhythm as the teams felt each other out. But once they did, the Buckeyes played some of the best hockey of their season to close out the frame. Captain Joy Dunne opened the scoring, tapping the puck in at the back post after Jocelyn Amos’ shot was kick-saved right onto her stick.
Kaia Malachino doubled the lead six minutes later on a spectacular individual effort. After losing the puck deep in the zone, Malachino chased down a Northeastern forward into the neutral zone, stole the puck and raced to the net. She unleashed a shot from the center of the faceoff circle, beating Lisa Jönsson to make it a 2-0 game.
Just 63 seconds later, recently named National Rookie of the Year Hilda Svensson and Sanni Vanhanen took off down the ice on a short-handed break. Svensson centered the puck and Vanhanen tapped it in from the slot to extend OSU’s lead to 3-0.
The Buckeyes added one more with 0.6 seconds left in the first frame thanks to a poor clearance by Northeastern. Sloane Matthews fed Dunne behind the net and Dunne dropped the puck to the net front, where Emma Peschel sniped the puck to the far top corner, beating the buzzer to give Ohio State a 4-0 lead.
Northeastern coach Dave Flint said after the game everyone he’d talked to about facing OSU told him that he had to weather the first 10 minutes. When his team reached the midpoint of the period and the game was 0-0, he took a breath. Ohio State scored 15 seconds later. But the game was still 1-0 as the period wound down.
“We got to the media timeout at just under five minutes and it was 1-0," Flint said. "And then before I blinked it was 4-0. That’s the skill, the speed, the power of [Ohio State]. You let your guard down for a second and that’s what’s going to happen,”
OSU coach Nadine Muzerall had nothing but praise for the work ethic of the Huskies, but Flint said his team tried to do too much with the puck through the neutral zone and when they had chances on net.
“When they hemmed us in the defensive zone, we competed and battled and worked to get pucks out,” Flint said. "I think where we struggled was the neutral zone, not moving the puck quickly enough."
Northeastern kept OSU off the board in the second period and held them to just nine shots. Muzerall did not like what she saw from her team in the middle frame and said she spoke to them during the second intermission about not getting complacent.
“Maturity is a big piece in games like this,” Muzerall said. "We have veterans that are in their fourth semifinals. We talked before the game about our creed and our motto and how we define ourselves and our beliefs and our behaviors and our outcomes. And we weren’t doing that. I was holding them accountable to being dialed in not just physically, not just mentally."
Things got chippy in the third period as the teams traded penalties. Neither was able to capitalize on an extra attacker chance all game. Sara Swiderski’s slapshot from the blue line was the only goal of the period, but it closed out a complete game win for Ohio State.
Ohio State outshot the Huskies 42-15. Northeastern had more blocks (16) than shots on goal in the game. It was a slow night in net for goalie Hailey MacLeod, but Muzerall has been talking up her goalie since the playoffs started. MacLeod stayed locked in even when she wasn’t seeing much action in front of her.
“The biggest thing is that I face some of the best players at practices,” MacLeod said. "To have that in my back pocket is huge. My defense helped me big time, covering passes and allowing me to face the shot. It could be easy to check out when you’re only facing single shots and your team is helping take care of rebounds. That makes your job quite easy in the end. It’s huge to have that help from the team and the support."
The Buckeyes won their first national championship four years ago in this building when Penn State last hosted. They’ll be looking to win their third title in five years on March 22.
“We just knocked off a really good team,” Muzerall said. “We’re going to enjoy this moment and then get ready for Sunday.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State women's hockey tops Northeastern, advances to NCAA title game
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The Buckeyes will face the No. 2 Wisconsin in the championship, scheduled for 4 p.m. March 22. The game will air live on ESPNU. Wisconsin beat Penn State 4-3 in overtime in the other semifinal March 20.
It took Ohio State half of the first period to settle in and find its rhythm as the teams felt each other out. But once they did, the Buckeyes played some of the best hockey of their season to close out the frame. Captain Joy Dunne opened the scoring, tapping the puck in at the back post after Jocelyn Amos’ shot was kick-saved right onto her stick.
Kaia Malachino doubled the lead six minutes later on a spectacular individual effort. After losing the puck deep in the zone, Malachino chased down a Northeastern forward into the neutral zone, stole the puck and raced to the net. She unleashed a shot from the center of the faceoff circle, beating Lisa Jönsson to make it a 2-0 game.
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Just 63 seconds later, recently named National Rookie of the Year Hilda Svensson and Sanni Vanhanen took off down the ice on a short-handed break. Svensson centered the puck and Vanhanen tapped it in from the slot to extend OSU’s lead to 3-0.
The Buckeyes added one more with 0.6 seconds left in the first frame thanks to a poor clearance by Northeastern. Sloane Matthews fed Dunne behind the net and Dunne dropped the puck to the net front, where Emma Peschel sniped the puck to the far top corner, beating the buzzer to give Ohio State a 4-0 lead.
Northeastern coach Dave Flint said after the game everyone he’d talked to about facing OSU told him that he had to weather the first 10 minutes. When his team reached the midpoint of the period and the game was 0-0, he took a breath. Ohio State scored 15 seconds later. But the game was still 1-0 as the period wound down.
“We got to the media timeout at just under five minutes and it was 1-0," Flint said. "And then before I blinked it was 4-0. That’s the skill, the speed, the power of [Ohio State]. You let your guard down for a second and that’s what’s going to happen,”
OSU coach Nadine Muzerall had nothing but praise for the work ethic of the Huskies, but Flint said his team tried to do too much with the puck through the neutral zone and when they had chances on net.
“When they hemmed us in the defensive zone, we competed and battled and worked to get pucks out,” Flint said. "I think where we struggled was the neutral zone, not moving the puck quickly enough."
Northeastern kept OSU off the board in the second period and held them to just nine shots. Muzerall did not like what she saw from her team in the middle frame and said she spoke to them during the second intermission about not getting complacent.
“Maturity is a big piece in games like this,” Muzerall said. "We have veterans that are in their fourth semifinals. We talked before the game about our creed and our motto and how we define ourselves and our beliefs and our behaviors and our outcomes. And we weren’t doing that. I was holding them accountable to being dialed in not just physically, not just mentally."
Things got chippy in the third period as the teams traded penalties. Neither was able to capitalize on an extra attacker chance all game. Sara Swiderski’s slapshot from the blue line was the only goal of the period, but it closed out a complete game win for Ohio State.
Ohio State outshot the Huskies 42-15. Northeastern had more blocks (16) than shots on goal in the game. It was a slow night in net for goalie Hailey MacLeod, but Muzerall has been talking up her goalie since the playoffs started. MacLeod stayed locked in even when she wasn’t seeing much action in front of her.
“The biggest thing is that I face some of the best players at practices,” MacLeod said. "To have that in my back pocket is huge. My defense helped me big time, covering passes and allowing me to face the shot. It could be easy to check out when you’re only facing single shots and your team is helping take care of rebounds. That makes your job quite easy in the end. It’s huge to have that help from the team and the support."
The Buckeyes won their first national championship four years ago in this building when Penn State last hosted. They’ll be looking to win their third title in five years on March 22.
“We just knocked off a really good team,” Muzerall said. “We’re going to enjoy this moment and then get ready for Sunday.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State women's hockey tops Northeastern, advances to NCAA title game
Continue reading...
