MADISON — After a disappointing outcome to their team’s senior night on Friday, the Wisconsin Badgers scored four-unanswered goals on Saturday to complete a comeback and defeat No. 1 Ohio State 4-2 to close out the regular season.
Senior Casey O’Brien and Sophomore Laila Edwards each scored twice, including one apiece 68 seconds apart midway through the third period that broke the game open and had the sold out home crowd roaring.
In a tough gritty game where both teams were fighting for every inch of ice, the game-tying and go-ahead goals were highlight reel material.
O’Brien’s second goal of the game came on a between-the-legs pass from Lacey Eden at her own blue line that found Britta Curl in stride as she started the breakout. She and O’Brien raced down the ice with one defender to beat and one hot on O’Brien’s heels, but she stayed ahead and Curl’s pass through the slot found her crashing the net, where her shot slid under Amanda Thiele’s pads to tie the game 2-2.
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Just more than a minute later, Laney Potter picked up the puck in her own zone and immediately fed Edwards along the boards at the top of the offensive zone. The Buckeyes had gone for a change and Edwards, Kirsten Simms and Maddie Wheeler were three on one towards the net. Wheeler occupied Stephanie Markowski, giving Simms and Edwards room for a give and go that Edwards buried from her knee at the back post to put UW up 3-2.
Edwards’ second of the night on a strong forecheck from O’Brien while Ohio State’s net was empty. She forced Cayla Barnes into a rushed pass, which she picked off and fed to a trailing Edwards, who buried it to secure the 4-2 win.
While the goals were pretty, O’Brien noted that both of them, as well as her goal early in the second, came from tough defensive play recovering the puck and starting the breakout from players that won’t register official assists, but who were crucial to the play coming together. Both Katie Kotlowski, a fourth line forward, and Laney Potter, a rookie second-line defender, came up big for the Badgers in these moments.
“I think the best part of each of the goals is where they started. There’s a few players who might not be on the score sheet tonight, but they made the first play. The goals wouldn’t happen without them. You have to give credit to the foundation of those plays like Yes, it’s nice to be able to be the ones to put them in, but it really all starts back in the D zone with those players who aren’t getting recognized,” said O’Brien.
Much like Friday’s game, the momentum on Saturday swung near the midpoint. The teams came out battling in the first, trading shots and setting a quick pace. But after the initial push, Ohio State began to take control, winning puck battles, holding the zone and keeping Wisconsin from establishing much of anything on offense. The Badgers did not record a shot on goal in the final 13:10 of the opening frame and had just one shot attempt over that same stretch.
“We had a great start. We challenged them to come out flying. We didn’t do that yesterday so I was proud of our first 20 minutes. It was unfortunate how we started the second period. I think we got a little comfortable which you can never really do with this team in this environment,” said Ohio State coach Nadine Muzerall.
The Buckeyes seemed to have a read on Wisconsin and their defense did a great job stepping into traffic and interrupting Wisconsin’s pass attempts. Then they quickly turned the puck the other direction and used their quick transition to put 17 shots on UW goalie Ava McNaughton.
On offense, the first period belonged to Kenzie Hauswirth, who put Ohio State up by two heading into the first intermission. Midway through the period, she stood screening McNaughton when Hadley Hartmetz let go of a shot from the blue line. Hauswirth tipped the puck before it got to the net and it was loose in the crease. Hauswirth turned and put in her own rebound to make it a 1-0 game.
Hauswirth doubled the lead 16 seconds before the buzzer with a beautiful wrister from the high slot. She had the puck in the corner and started to cut in, but restarted with a cycle around the faceoff circle before she stepped up into the slot to release the puck.
Wisconsin picked things up in the second and the game became more of a back and forth affair as the teams tried to find an opening. The Badgers shook up their lines, trying different pairings that might give them an edge against the Buckeyes.
“[Ohio State] capitalized on a couple opportunities and it’s my job to figure out what we could do next. And so I started mixing some things up with lineups and just getting kids into play instead of worrying about whatever they’re worrying about,” said Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson.
Edwards said they team is comfortable and moving players around did not affect chemistry, but said that sometimes the changes help them mentally reset and approach the game differently, which can help them shake off a bad stretch like the end of the first period.
With the regular season standings already set, Saturday’s game didn’t hold a ton of meaning, but both teams feel like it was an important experience that will help them as they head into the playoffs.
For Wisconsin, it was a confidence boost where they responded to Friday’s loss and pulled themselves back from a 2-0 deficit against the No. 1 team in the country who had just two losses all season.
“We kind of needed this win so we knew with ourselves that we can beat them. They’re a great team and really well coached. I think just for us, for our own peace of mind – we knew we could beat them, but we just proved it. I think when we meet them again down the road, we’re gonna be ready for it. We know how we need to play to beat them. We know the right way to play, and I think it’s just going to be about executing it down the road,” said O’Brien.
For Ohio State, it was a gut check moment at the end of a long and successful regular season that will only make them stronger as they push towards the NCAA Tournament.
“This is something that hopefully motivates us, to know that we are beatable and to make sure that we play 60 minutes of hockey,” said Muzerall.
“We only lost two games in our conference and that’s very difficult to do. It was a fantastic year. This was not the way we wanted to end it, but we’ve got other goals that we want to focus on.”
Ohio State will host Bemidji State a best of three series for the opening round of the WCHA playoffs next weekend, with games scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. (if necessary). All those game times are Eastern.
Wisconsin will welcome in St. Thomas with games scheduled on Friday at 5 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.ml (if necessary). All those game times are Central.
The teams imagine they’ll see each other again at least once and likely more than that as they push for another National Championship. And they’re both looking forward to the opportunity. In the meantime, Wisconsin will take a few minutes to relish Saturday’s win.
“Just a fun way to finish the regular season off,” said Johnson. “Those are nights you dream of.”
