The lower seeds battled. They held leads, even forced overtime. But in the end, the field for the WCHA semifinals looks just like it has every year since the formation of the conference.
Ohio State (17-15-3) advanced to play top-seeded Minnesota with a 4-1 win over Minnesota State (9-20-6). Senior Jeni Creary led the way with an assist and two goals, her fourth multi-goal game against the Mavericks this season.
Little separated the two teams statistically. They were close in shot attempts and shots on goal through most of the contest. But the Buckeyes fought their way to a couple of loose pucks in the first two periods and buried them.
“I think all year we’ve tried to focus on getting the puck and some bodies to the net and getting traffic, making it difficult for the goalie to see the initial shot,” said OSU coach Jackie Barto. “Trying to get the most of our opportunities, and I thought we did a nice job of that today.”
Creary netted the all-important first goal on a rebound at 11:17 of the opening period.
“We just worked on getting the puck to the net,” Creary said. “I think there were three of us players sitting back door, just waiting to pounce on the puck. I was the first one to get to it. It went in the back of the net, and that’s what counts.”
OSU’s Krysta Skarda converted another second chance opportunity just over a period later, and the Buckeyes took a 2-0 lead into the second intermission. Buckeye goaltender Erika Vanderveer had stopped everything the Mavericks had thrown at her at that point.
“One of the things we talked about between the second and third was getting the second person,” said MSU coach Jeff Vizenor. “The rebounds were there. The person taking the shot wasn’t getting to the net themself, they were peeling away, and the second person wasn’t getting to the net. And part of that is a credit to Ohio, slowing our second kid down and taking away the lane.”
Mankato rallied in the third period behind an unassisted goal by freshman defender Kerri Wallace.
“[The Buckeyes] just left it there for me, and I just peeled out and it was open,” Wallace said. “I’ve been practicing that this year, and just took it upstairs.”
But Creary struck once more, squelching the comeback.
“We did a really good job of forechecking, I think we were down in their end for probably 25, 30 seconds,” Creary said. “My two linemates, Jana Harrigan and Mallory Peckels, they really worked it well down low, and I was just sitting in the slot, and they put it right on my stick and I just put it on top.”
Ohio State’s advantage in playoff experience paid dividends.
“[Creary] had a tremendous effort,” Barto said. “I think the upperclassmen did a great job in leading our team and keeping us focused on the task today. You look at that experience to carry you through a game like this, and I think our goaltender had an outstanding game today.”
Amber Bowman completed the scoring with a late power play goal.
The Buckeyes, especially Creary, didn’t want to see the season and her career end just yet.
“Big motivation there,” Creary said. “A lot different than playing a normal league game, because you always get another shot at it the next night. But this is do or die. We got off a little slow, but we knew what we had to do, and we did it.”
The Mavericks are left to look forward to next year.
“We’re extremely disappointed in the outcome of the game,” Vizenor said. “I thought that through two periods, we had a lot of chances, and we had our opportunities. We came out flying, and I thought we were ready. A couple of scrappy little goals for them, and that was really the difference. I’m confident that we’re going to continue to grow, and this is just another learning experience for our kids.”
