From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about Ohio State heroes; from the biggest names in Buckeye athletic history to underappreciated icons to the athletes who will eventually become all-time Buckeye greats.
You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Buckeye Heroes” articles here.
If head coach Nadine Muzerall is the foundation on which Ohio State women’s ice hockey
is built, then forward Joy Dunne is the cornerstone around which the team is currently oriented.
When Muzerall took over as head coach in 2016, she inherited a program that had never qualified for an NCAA Tournament. In the decade that has passed since, she has turned the team into a dominant force in the world of collegiate ice hockey, one that has played in five straight National Title games (tied for the NCAA record for most consecutive appearances), winning two of them (2022 and 2024).
Since that victorious 2024 title, the team has been on a mission to bring the title back to Columbus, and if they succeed next season, it’s highly likely Dunne will be the hero of the story.
Dunne’s three seasons with the Buckeyes have been storied ones. Even as a freshman, Dunne, whose older sisters Jessica and Jincy also played ice hockey at OSU, played an enormous role in the team’s success during that 2024 campaign.
Playing in all 39 games that season, the then-rookie led the team with 24 goals (including a team-best six game-winning goals) and tied for a team-best four power play goals. Dunne scored in all three of Ohio State’s NCAA Tournament games that season.
And even with all those impressive stats under her belt, one shot on goal stands out: Dunne’s goal against Wisconsin in the 2024 national championship game. Hers, the lone goal in the 1-0 win, was the one that sealed the title for the Buckeyes.
Since that freshman season, Dunne has continued to rack up impressive numbers, piling on accolades, records and even an Olympic gold medal (with Team USA in this past winter’s games in Milan-Cortina).
As a sophomore, she finished with a program record 62 points off 29 goals and 33 assists, during which time she became the fastest player in OSU history to earn 100 career points, and became the first Buckeye in program history to record multiple goals in an NCAA tournament game (which also set a program record for most points—four—in an NCAA tournament game).
She kept it coming this past season, leading the team in scoring with 27 goals and in game-winning goals with seven. Dunne’s proven record of consistency and excellence is reflective of the intense work ethic and leadership for which she is known. As she has matured through her collegiate career, so too has her game.
Many of us watched this play out on the international stage, where Dunne scored five points in the Team USA’s gold medal run despite being the youngest player on the team.
Now, she has one final season with which to cement her legacy as a Buckeye.
Regardless of how her senior season plays out, Dunne’s mark on the program has been enormous. The aforementioned accolades are a mere highlight reel, and we don’t have space in this column to get into the myriad other ways her name peppers the record books.
She is inextricably linked to stories of this team’s success, especially that 2024 championship.
She will almost certainly follow in her sister Jincy’s footsteps and go pro, and she’s considered a player to watch for the 2027 PWHL Draft. But there’s still more business to accomplish in Columbus, with the Buckeyes having lost two consecutive title games to Wisconsin.
If heroics often show up most memorably for a person or team on a mission, then keep an eye on Dunne as she looks to make a second national title the bookend her Ohio State career.
