Ohio State freshman forward Jordan Baxter battles with Bemidji State’s Genevieve Hendrickson at the faceoff dot during Ohio State’s 11-1 win Feb. 2. Ohio State will face Bemidji State in the first round of the WCHA tournament Friday-Sunday. Credit: Aiden Ridgway | Lantern Photographer
After falling short in last season’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association tournament as the top seed, the No. 1 Buckeyes are looking to right the postseason ship.
Their conference tournament run will begin with a best-of-three quarterfinal series against Bemidji State (4-28-2, 3-24-1 WCHA) at the Ohio State Ice Rink. The series will take place Friday and Saturday, with game three slated for Sunday if necessary.
“It’s a different mindset once we hit playoffs,” senior goaltender Raygan Kirk said. “You’re putting everything on the line. You might not have a Monday to reset and look forward anymore, so you have to put it all out there on the ice and play like it’s your last game.”
The Bemidji State series will be a rematch of last season’s quarterfinals, where the Buckeyes defeated the Beavers 4-1 and 2-1. Ohio State has won four consecutive games against Bemidji State this season, but Kirk said facing the Beavers in the postseason presents a new challenge.
“A lot of times you’re ending people’s careers,” Kirk said. “If you lose, for a lot of teams, you’re done. We played them just a few weekends ago, so we’re building off of that, but also knowing it’s going to be a totally different game.”
Buglioni said adjusting to Bemidji State’s defensive style was a challenge in their most recent series, where Ohio State won 11-1 and 9-1 on Feb. 2 and 3.
“They’re hard to play against,” Buglioni said. “They pack it in in the defensive zone and they block a lot of shots. They’re gonna play us really hard, they’re physical and they work hard, so we’re gonna have to be ready for that.”
In the early February series, Ohio State scored three shorthanded goals — two from Buglioni — in its 9-1 win Feb. 3. Buglioni said staying strong on the penalty kill was an important factor in the Buckeyes’ success that weekend.
“We’ve been really focusing on our little details in our defensive zone and that leads us into how effective we can be in the offensive zone,” Buglioni said. “You saw our [penalty kill] putting up some goals that weekend, and that’s exciting to be able to still be that aggressive and be a threat even…
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