History
The Buckeyes competed in the WCHA championship tournament in March 2001, defeating the St. Cloud State Huskies in the first round and No. 1 Minnesota Golden Gophers in the second round to advance to the championship game. The Buckeyes were defeated by eventual national champion Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. The Buckeyes had an 18–16–3 overall record, including 11–10–3 in the WCHA, and finished No. 8 in the national polls. During the regular season, they were 12–5–1 in their last 18 contests and finished 7–1–0.
The 2001–02 season saw the Buckeyes defeat several nationally ranked teams, including the No. 3 University of New Hampshire Wildcats and the No. 4 St. Lawrence Saints, and tie the No. 6 Dartmouth Big Green. Five players received postseason honors, including Jeni Creary, who was named the WCHA Rookie of the Year and All-WCHA First Team selection after leading the nation in scoring for the first half of the season, and Emma Terho née Laaksonen, who earned JOFA/AHCA Second Team All-America accolades and All-WCHA Second Team honors despite missing ten games while representing her native Finland at the 2002 Winter Olympics.
In the 2006–07 season, the Buckeyes reached the 20-win mark for the first time in program history, finishing the season with a 20–13–4 record. They set a program record for the longest unbeaten streak at ten games (9–0–1, Oct. 28 – Dec. 8), posted a team-best 30 points in the WCHA with a 13–11–4 conference record and had a 12–5–3 home record while finishing fourth in the league standings. They swept the Minnesota State Mavericks in the best-of-three league playoff tournament and advanced to the WCHA semifinals against eventual national champion Wisconsin. The Buckeyes completed the season as the 10th-ranked team in both the USCHO.com and USA Hockey national polls.
Head coach Jackie Barto recorded her 200th career win November 24, 2007 with a 4–1 victory against St. Cloud State at the OSU Ice Rink.
In 2008, Tessa Bonhomme was Ohio State's first two-time Top 10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given to the top Division I women's hockey student-athlete in the nation. She was also the team captain of the 2007–08 Buckeyes. Bonhomme was also named WCHA Player of the Year and WCHA Defensive Player of the Year, the first Buckeye to receive either award.
Jody Heywood was a two-time finalist for the Hockey Humanitarian Award in 2007 and 2008, the first Buckeye on either men's or women's teams to be a finalist for the award.
In 2009, Liana Bonanno became the program's first ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America at-large selection, earning a place on the third team.
Natalie Spooner scored 21 goals in 2009, leading the team and earning the program's No. 7 spot for single-season goals. She had a six-game point streak from Nov. 15 to Jan. 9 that included a five-game goal streak to tie for the second-longest in program history. On December 12, 2008, she set the program record for goals in a game with four in a 6–5 win at Minnesota State, including a natural hat trick in the second period in a span of 1:56. [2]
The opening game of the 2009–10 season was Barto's 500th career game as coach.
Laura McIntosh was recognized as the WCHA offensive player of the week for October 19, 2011. She had a record-breaking weekend in the Buckeyes' conference series sweep of St. Cloud State, during which she was credited with four points, seven shots on goal and a +5 plus/minus rating. On October 14, she scored her first goal of the season and assisted on a Hokey Langan goal. The assist made McIntosh Ohio State's all-time leader in career points against WCHA opponents, surpassing Jana Harrigan's 110 league points in 2006. The following day, McIntosh scored two points, assisting on Ally Tarr's shorthanded game-winning goal and scoring the Buckeyes' third goal of the game. [3]
Three players reached milestones in a January 27, 2012 defeat of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux. Spooner scored two goals, McIntosh had three assists and Langan had two assists. McIntosh's assists moved her into a tie at the top of the program's all-time career points list. Her 160 career points are now tied with Harrigan's. Spooner's goals were both on the power-play, bringing her season total to seven. With the goals, Spooner reached the 150 career point mark, good for third all-time in program history. Langan's assists helped her reach the 100-point milestone, only the eighth Buckeyes player to reach the mark. [4]
The Buckeyes suffered a period of coaching instability, having three head coaches in three seasons. Nate Handrahan resigned in 2015 following reports of sexual harassment, and replacement coach Jenny Schmidgall-Potter resigned in 2016 after repeated NCAA violations. [5] Ohio State Athletic Director Gene Smith hired then-Minnesota Assistant Coach Nadine Muzerall. Muzerall was an Assistant Coach at Minnesota from 2011–2016, which won four national championships in that span. Prior to Muzerall's hiring, the team had never qualified for the NCAA tournament.
Muzerall quickly turned the Buckeyes around. Following a 14-18-5 season in 2017, they received an at large bid for the 2018 NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament. They beat the Boston College Eagles 2–0 in the quarterfinals, making it to their first ever NCAA Women's Frozen Four. They lost in the semi-finals to Clarkson.
On March 8, 2020, the Buckeyes defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 1–0 in overtime to earn the program's first WCHA championship. They automatically qualified for the 2020 NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament, but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They received an at large bid for the 2021 NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Tournament.
For the 2020/21 season the Buckeyes once again advanced to the WCHA Championship game, where they fell to the Wisconsin Badgers in overtime. In the National Tournament, they beat Boston College in the quarterfinals 3-1 but once again fell to Wisconsin in the Frozen Four
During the 2021/22 season, the Buckeyes reached the program's first 1 seed after defeating Minnesota 3–2 in overtime for the WCHA Championship, in the process earning both an automatic bid to the 2022 NCAA Women'sIceHockeyTournament and a home playoff game. The Buckeyes defeated the 7 seed Quinnipiac 4–3 in double overtime, sending them the program's 3rd Frozen Four. There, they beat #6 Yale 2–1, and won the program's first National Title two days later, beating Minnesota Duluth 3–2. Defenseman Sophie Jaques finished the season with 21 goals and 38 assists for 59 points total and was a Patty Kazmaier Award finalist. Jaques and head coach Nadine Muzerall became the USCHO's Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, respectively.
In the 2022/23 season, the Buckeyes won their first WCHA regular season title on the back of a 28-4-2 regular season record. They lost to Minnesota in the WCHA Championship game but still received the #1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, their second in a row. In the NCAA tournament, the Buckeyes beat Quinnipiac 5-2 in the quarterfinal and played in their third-straight Women's Frozen Four against #5 seed Northeastern, who they beat 3-0 to advance to their second-straight final. In the final, Ohio State lost 1-0 to Wisconsin, giving Wisconsin their 7th title. Sophie Jaques won the Patty Kazmaier Award, given annually to the best player in Women's Hockey. She was Ohio State's first player to win that award and just the second defenseman to win the award.
