DULUTH, Minn. — It has been 179 days since Wisconsin opened the women’s hockey season with a surprising 4-1 defeat by Penn State. They’d go on to add nine more games to the loss column – their worst record in 10 years. In that season, the Badgers lost in the WCHA semifinals and did not qualify for the NCAA tournament.
On Sunday, they ended their season in a very different way, defeating defending title-holders Ohio State 1-0 to earn an NCAA-record seventh National Championship for Wisconsin. It is their third championship win in the last four tournaments.
Ohio State came out firing, out-shooting the Badgers 16-5 in the first period, but it was Wisconsin that would carry a lead into the intermission.
A failed clearance by OSU was kept in the zone by Claire Enright, who threw the puck behind her with her back to the net. Luckily for Wisconsin, it ended up on Kirsten Simms’ stick. She made use of some space at the top of the circles and the picked her spot in the far right corner. It would prove to be all the Badgers would need to win the title.
Ohio State had more shots (31), more blocks (18) and won more faceoffs (29) than the Badgers, but Wisconsin was able to withstand the pressure.
“We expected them to come out super strong. We knew that they weren’t going to give up and we knew we had to weather the storm,” said Simms.
Badger goalie Cami Kronish earned her ninth shutout of the season, holding off the second-best offense in the country. Ohio State averaged more than four goals a game this season. Not only were they never held scoreless, but they never scored fewer than two goals in any game this season.
“If you’re going to win these types of games you goaltender has played well. I’m just really happy for Cami. She spent a lot of time watching, improving, getting better. When she got on the big stage, she showed everybody that through hard work and determination, waiting for my opportunity, good things can happen,” said Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson.
A redshirt senior, Kronish had appeared in just 11 games before this season. She shared goaltending duties with Jane Gervais for half the season. And injury to Gervais made Kronish the full time starter and she said it was a late January series against Mankato when she realized she could handle the role.
“I think I can do this. I know I can do this. I feel confident in myself,” Kronish said she told herself.
It’s probably not a coincidence that those were the first wins after the losing streak that had a lot of people writing the Badgers off this season. Despite the losses, Kronish said neither she nor the team felt discouraged. They just kept working with a bigger end goal in mind.
“That middle patch, nobody loved it. Nobody wants to lose. But I think that made us better, stronger and that made us really close as a team,” said graduate student Jesse Compher, who transferred to Wisconsin for her final year of eligibility after a career at Boston University.
“People saw that we lost five games in the middle of the year and everybody counted us out. That’s the best part about this. We don’t want people to count us out ever, but the fact that people slept on us and we got it done, it just shows how hard we wanted to work and how bad we wanted it.”
Throughout the on-ice struggles, Johnson said team chemistry and open communication helped the Badgers weather the storm. With a team that had a large freshman class, Olympic year returners and transfers, getting the group on the same page was crucial.
“The best chance you can give yourself to win these things is to get everybody on the same page… We’re capable of playing at a real high level. We just had to figure it out in the locker room, what you want to do? You want to be in the same boat, pushing in the same direction. If you’re willing to do that, you have a chance. There’s no guarantees at the end that you’re going to win it, but you give yourself the best opportunity,” he said.
Kronish was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Compher, Simms, KK Harvey, Laila Edwards and Ohio State’s Sophie Jaques.
As the clock wound down and the Badgers could start to feel the title in their grasp, Ohio State took a slashing penalty, pausing the clock with 2.5 seconds left. During the stoppage, Kronish stood in her net with her hands on top of her head, taking it all in and feeling disbelief that it was actually happening, she said.
“It doesn’t feel like real life. Looking back at the start of the season, seeing how far we’ve come as a group, it means everything to me and all my teammates. We stuck together through the hard times and we knew that we could do great things. I think we’re all on top of the world right now. It just shows the true strength of our character,” Kronish said.
Compher took the faceoff, so was farthest away from the celebration, but said it was the easiest skate of her life to go back and join her teammates and while she did, she had one of the best vantage points of everyone leaping over the bench and starting to celebrate.
Part of what made the season so special to her was getting to be a part of a team through all the ups and downs, on the ice and off. The fight and determination of the group is part of what makes the win so special.
“It was just nice to watch everyone so happy. I can’t say it enough, but I loved every part of this year. To win with teammates that you see how hard they work every single day, to be able to watch them succeed after you’ve seen everything they’ve gone through all year, that makes this special,” said Compher.
With the expanded tournament field, they became the first team to need to win four games to earn the title and are the lowest seed to ever take the championship.
The Buckeyes were responsible for some of the worst moments in the Badgers’ season, which made the win on Sunday that much more meaningful. The final loss in the January streak was a 5-0 loss in Columbus. Wisconsin’s senior night celebration on the final day of the regular season was spoiled by the Buckeyes. The Badgers had a 1-0 lead with under five minutes to play and OSU took a 3-1 win thanks to two goals in the final minute. The win game Ohio State their first WCHA regular season title.
“As hard as it was that Saturday afternoon in Madison watching them take a trophy on our ice, it paid dividends this afternoon,” said Johnson.
“I like the trophy we got.”
