Women's college ice hockey: No. 3 Ohio State sweeps No. 4 Minnesota after Saturday's 4-1 victory

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The No. 3 Ohio State women’s hockey team broke out the brooms for the second weekend in a row, sweeping No. 4 Minnesota with a 4-1 win over the Gophers on Saturday. The team won the first game of the series, and its first top-five matchup of the season, on Friday, 4-2.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Penalties proved to be costly yet again for Minnesota as Ohio State scored its first goal of the night the same way it did on Friday: on the power play. This time, it was Sophie Jaques who ripped one top shelf to give Ohio State a 1-0 lead at 9:08 in the first period.

Jenn Gardiner gave the Buckeyes their second goal of the period, taking advantage of a rebounded shot from Lauren Bernard at 11:00. Bernard’s shot went wide but bounced off the wall to a wide-open Gardiner on the back post who tapped it past the Gopher goaltender.

HISTORY: Here's every women's hockey national champion since 2001

The second period looked like it was going to be a scoreless 20 minutes, but Jaques decided to change that by recording her second goal of the day with 22 seconds left to play. A late Minnesota penalty put the Buckeyes on the power play with under two minutes in the period and the senior defender capitalized off great puck movement from the Scarlet and Gray in the extra player situation.

Minnesota’s Amy Potomak snuck one past Andrea Braendli 11:20 into the third period, but Braendli and the Buckeyes recovered quickly. Braendli and the Ohio State blue line denied the Gophers seven chances to close the game and Jenna Buglioni brought the Ohio State advantage back to two points with a goal of her own with 5:56 to play.

NOTES

• Sophie Jaques scored a career-high two goals and three points against the Gophers. Scoring on both Buckeye power plays of the night, Jaques becomes the first Ohio State player to score two power play goals in a single game since Tatum Skaggs scored two against Robert Morris on Nov. 24, 2017.
• The sweep of the Gophers improves the Buckeyes record to 21-78-5 in the all-time series. The team is now 13-11-2 in the series under the direction of Nadine Muzerall. Ohio State has now swept the Gophers three times in series history.
• Jenna Buglioni extends her point streak to four games, having scored a goal in every Buckeye contest on the year. She has recorded two points on one goal and one helper in three of the team’s four games this season.
• Andrea Braendli recorded her 50th career win with 28 saves against Minnesota to improve to 3-0-0 on the season. She is now 31 saves shy of 2,000 for her career (1,969).
• Madison Bizal recorded her first point of the 2021-22 campaign, adding an assist on the Buckeyes’ third goal of the game.
• Ohio State opens the season with four wins for the fifth time in program history. The program-best season-opening streak is 5-0-0 to start the 2010-11 and 2012-13 campaigns.
• The Buckeyes handed the Gophers their first ever 0-2-0 start to the season.
• Freshman Jamie Grinder made her Buckeye debut in Saturday’s win over the Gophers.
• Muzerall is one win away from 100 victories in her career and as head coach of the Buckeyes.