MADISON – The #1 Ohio State Buckeyes dug out of a 4-0 hole after the first period to force overtime, but #6 Wisconsin pulled out a 6-5 win thanks to a made penalty shot by freshman Kirsten Simms midway through the extra frame.
The penalty shot was called after an extended scrum in the Ohio State crease when Jenn Gardiner was called for handling the puck. Lacey Eden, Nicole LaMantia and Simms were on the ice and one had to take the shot. Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson said he went with a gut feeling and called for Simms to take it, saying her performance in the teams’ shootout win over Minnesota last weekend in Minneapolis made him believe she’d be up to the challenge.
“[In Minnesota] the goalie made a nice poke check on her and she was not able to score because of it. I just felt, a young freshman had been through it once in front of a full house last weekend, let’s see what she can do with it.”
Grad student Jesse Compher said she was confident in Simms in that situation, despite her youth.
“We’ve seen those moves every day in practice. That kid works on her hands nonstop, so to see her hard work pay off, obviously we’re all super excited for her,” she said.
For her part, Simms said the fact that there was no time to think about the shot as there would be in a shootout following overtime made her rely on her instincts and just choose one of a handful of favored moves she has.
While the loss was obviously disappointing for the Buckeyes, coach Nadine Muzerall said she was incredibly proud of her team for staging a comeback and forcing the Badgers to overtime. In the short intermission between regulation and the extra frame, she said she made sure to let her team know that.
“I sat in front of them so that they could all see them and said, ‘I just want you to know, regardless of what happens here, that was unbelievable. I am proud of you.’”
The frustration with the scoring woes was palpable in the media room after Wisconsin lost a 1-0 game to St. Cloud State two weeks ago. It was a starkly different mood on Saturday after back to back, high-scoring wins over their rivals.
The outing was another massive performance for a Wisconsin team that has struggled to find their rhythm this season, particularly with scoring. When these two met back in early January, the Badgers managed just one goal in the two game series. Now they’ve scored 13 goals in the past two games against the #1 and #3 teams in the country.
“I think that we’ve known all year on paper how good of a team we can be, but we haven’t shown that. I think that we’re just starting playing our best hockey and I think that we’re coming together as a group and we’re all buying into this and we all want the same thing. And that’s to walk out of here with the National Championship,” said Compher.
Wisconsin charged out to a four goal lead thanks to goals from Casey O’Brien, Britta Curl and two from Compher. Curl and Compher each scored power play goals. Wisconsin had scored two extra attacker goals just one other time this season – September 30 against Lindenwood. They now have 15 power play goals on the year.
In the locker room at intermission, Muzerall told her team the staff believed in them. She said she reminded them that the regular season conference title is on the line in this series and told her team that they need three points and by getting this far, they’d earned one of them. But she also made clear to them that if they let this opportunity slip away, they’d think about the lost opportunity for a long time to come.
“You had the conference title, which is the hardest because it shows your body of work, sitting on your lap, you didn’t take it, you’re gonna forever regret it. They’re not going to give it to you, you have to take it. You have to take it and work for it. Dictate your future,” Muzerall said she told her team.
The speech worked. Ohio State are the top team in the country and defending national champions for a reason and they immediately started chipping away. Gardiner put OSU on the board just 1:38 into the second period.
The Badgers looked like they might be able to slow the Buckeye momentum with a goal just a few minutes later, but the goal was overturned for too many players on the ice by the Badgers. Ohio State gathered momentum from there, dominating play in the second period and outshooting Wisconsin 11-5 in the frame. Former Badger Makenna Webster fed Emma Maltais in the slot on a breakaway later in the second to make it a 4-2 game.
Brooke Bink cut the lead to one in the opening minutes of the third and it looked like there was simply too much time left in the game for Wisconsin to hold on to their lead. But the Badgers kept fighting and Sophie Shirley extended the lead to 5-3 as she crashed the net and tipped in an O’Brien pass. It was Shirley’s first goal in 14 games.
Coach Mark Johnson said no one’s smile was bigger than Shirley’s after the game, noting that she’d been playing well, but wasn’t finding the back of the net.
A Curl body-checking penalty led to a power play goal from Gardiner that slid through traffic straight into the net to make it 5-4 and in the final three minutes, Maltais pounced on a rebound UW goalie Cami Kronish left sitting right in front of her crease to tie the game at 5 and force overtime.
For his part, Johnson said he sees his team’s confidence growing over the past few weeks and sees how that has affected how they take the ice.
“You can’t play going on the ice not wanting to lose. You have to go on the ice wanting to win and there is a big difference in that.”
The two teams face off again on Sunday at 2 pm central. The game will be streamed on BTN+. Ohio State needs two points to clinch the WCHA regular season title.
