The #3 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s hockey team will host another leg of the tri-pillars of supremacy in women’s college hockey when the #1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes come to Ridder Arena this weekend. Both teams are still undefeated on the season with Minnesota sitting at 4-0 and with Ohio State at 6-0. The schedules have looked a bit different however. The Buckeyes opened their season with a sweep of #5 Penn State in Pegula Ince Arena, and then last weekend swept previously #1 and current
#2 Wisconsin in Columbus. Meanwhile Minnesota has defeated Bemidji State three times and Maine once. This should be a good test to see just where the Boom May led Gophers sit, and if they can keep things close against the obvious #1 team in the nation early in the season.
The Gophers opened their season two weekends ago with a road sweep of Bemidji State with cores of 5-2 and 5-3. They returned home last weekend to host the East/West Showcase at Ridder Arena where they defeated Maine 4-0 before knocking off Bemidji State in a non-conference matchup 4-2 on Sunday. Hanna Clark and Layla Hemp have split the time in net so far this season with each goalie going 2-0. Clark was in net for the shutout of Maine last Friday making 25 saves, and is likely to get the start in game one Friday against the Buckeyes.
Offensively defender Molly Jordan is leading the way for the Gophers with five points on two goals and three assists. Freshman and the WCHA Coaches pick for Preseason WCHA Freshman of the Year Adriani Milani leads Minnesota with four goals on the season.
On the other side, the Buckeyes are loaded this season. Their international pipeline is paying off as Mira Jungåker and Hilda Svensson are tied for a team-high 11 points on the year. Svensson leads the team with six goals this season and Jungåker has a team-high 10 assists. Minnesota can not afford to take penalties this weekend ad the Buckeyes are deadly on the power play. Ohio State is tied for first nationally with six power play goals on the year and rank second with a .375 power play percentage. The Buckeyes swept the conference Player of the Week awards after their wins over Wisconsin with Jungåker earning WCHA Defender of the Week honors while forward Sanni Vanhanen claimed WCHA Forward of the Week recognition after recording two goals and three points against the Badgers.
In net Ohio State appears to have found a freshman phenom in Rowan Houweling. She is 4-0 on the season which included both wins over Wisconsin last weekend earning her WCHA freshman of the Week honors.
Minnesota will hope that adding a bit more grit to their team and a new team focused playing style under May can help change the way they play teams like the Buckeyes. While Minnesota holds a 85-34-7 record all-time over Ohio State, things have changed significantly since former Gopher star Nadine Muzerall took over in Columbus. Now in her 11th season behind the Buckeye bench she has a 26-18-4 record against her alma matter. It’s even more stark in the very recent pass with Ohio State holding a 6-3-1 record in the last ten games between the schools. Between Minnesota, Ohio State and Wisconsin, there may be three legs of the WCHA Triangle of power, but its been obvious for several years the Gophers are the short one at the moment. This weekend will either be a chance to show the Gophers are trying to claw some of that distance between the teams back, or a stark reality of the current alignment of the programs trajectories.
Friday’s faceoff is set for 6 PM, and Saturday’s game will start at 2 PM. Both games will stream on B1G+
