Senior goaltender Raygan Kirk and graduate forward Kelsey King hug after Ohio State’s WCHA regular season title-clinching win on Feb. 17. Thirty-six days later, Kirk recorded a shutout in the Buckeyes’ 1-0 national championship win against Wisconsin. Credit: Aiden Ridgway | Lantern Photographer
Revenge is a dish best served cold — and the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes got theirs on the ice on Sunday.
The Buckeyes women’s ice hockey team became national champions for the second time in three years with a 1-0 victory against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Whittemore Center in Durham, New Hampshire. It was a rematch of last season’s national championship and this year’s conference title game, both of which Wisconsin won.
“You have these visions throughout the year, but when it really happens, it seems so surreal,” Ohio State head coach Nadine Muzerall said. “I was very proud of how they punched back after a tough loss the last time we played against Wisconsin. I think it showed a lot of character of not letting that get to them on the high stage.”
In a game between the two highest-scoring teams in the NCAA, there were 52 straight minutes of goalless action.
Then, Joy Dunne stepped up.
The freshman forward and national Rookie of the Year scored the decisive goal by ripping a wrist shot into the top-left corner of Wisconsin’s net. It was her sixth goal in the postseason and second at the Frozen Four.
“I’ve been working on that shot forever,” Dunne said. “Great linemates set me up for a great pass to just take a shot. It took so much work to get there, but I think having my team and my coaches and my family and Jesus believe in me, I think that’s really what gave me the confidence to just go out and play.”
Dunne’s goal came seconds after a potential disaster for the Buckeyes. Wisconsin won a defensive zone faceoff after calling timeout, and sent a stretch pass to an open Britta Curl on the other end of the ice.
Graduate defenseman and second team All-American Cayla Barnes tracked Curl down to make a steal that prevented a Badger breakaway. She then sent a pass to graduate forward Hannah Bilka, who carried the puck into the offensive zone and found Dunne open on the right wing.
“She desperately was so thirsty for a national championship and for her to want that so bad and when you itch for something so much, sometimes you can be not composed and little rattled, but she was so responsible back there,” Muzerall said about…
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