It’s a familiar matchup in the postseason once again
The Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s hockey team needed to work a bit harder than the other three teams to make the WCHA Final Faceoff this weekend, but they will join a familiar quartet of Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Minnesota Duluth in the WCHA Semifinals yet again. For the seventh consecutive season it will be the Badgers, Buckeyes, Gophers and Bulldogs facing off to try and win the WCHA Tournament Championship. Wisconsin won in 2024, Minnesota in 2023 and Ohio State in 2022, so UMD will try and make it four different winners in four different seasons. But they will need to get pas the juggernaut that is 31 ranked Wisconsin this season, while the Gophers and Buckeyes will face each other in another slugfest to see who will advance to Saturday’s final.
Minnesota and Ohio State last faced one another in the WCHA Semifinals in 2020, but have met in the Championship Game in 2022 and 2023. The series has had a lot of juice since former Gopher star and assistant coach Nadine Muzerall took over as Ohio State’s head coach in 2016. The Buckeyes became a national power and won NCAA Championships in 2022 and 2024. In that time they have been dominating the Gophers. Ohio State is 7-2-1-1 vs. Minnesota in the last 10 meetings between the programs including a 2-1-1 record this season.
The Buckeyes can score goals at will—and Minnesota will need to play a tight defensive game if they want to win. Minnesota’s win over Ohio State came in a 3-1 win at home in January before they Gophers fell 7-3 the next day. In that game Minnesota held a 3-2 lead before Ohio State erupted for five unanswered goals including three in a span of four minutes at the start of the third period. The games between the two teams in Columbus in October were much tighter with Ohio State squeaking out a 4-3 win, and then a 1-1 tie.
If Minnesota is going to win, it will be on the shoulders of their Patty Kazmaier Finalist in Abbey Murphy. She was named to the WCHA Second Team earlier this week and leads the team with 59 points (29g-30a). Murphy has notched at least one point in 28 out of the Gophers’ 38 games, including 19 multi-point games. She was named one of the ten finalists for the 2025 Patty Kazmaier Award earlier this week for the second season in a row. Murphy was joined on the WCHA second Team by defender Sydney Morrow. The Colgate transfer led the Gophers blueliners with points (28) and goals (10), ranks third on the team in blocked shots (46), and co-leads the team in power play goals (5).
The Gopher blue line is sold with two freshman named to the All-WCHA Rookie Team. Chloe Primerano was also named to the WCHA Third Team after she tallied the second-most points for a Gopher defender this season (26). Her 22 assists rank second on the team and 12th in the WCHA, while her .79 assists per game rank ninth in the conference. Gracie Graham was also named to the All-Rookie Team after recording 14 points on the year.
Minnesota will need to shut down the potent Buckeye attack. They are second in the nation scoring 3.89 goals per game. They have spread it around with five players who have recorded more than 30 points this season. Joy Dunne is the Buckeyes atar and is also a Patty Kaz finalist. Her 52 points on the year led the team. She has dished a team-high 29 assists and scored 23 goals in 2024-25. Dunne is seventh nationally with 1.44 points per game. She also ranks top 10 in the country with .64 goals per game and .81 assists per game. In goal OSU has ridden Amanda Thiele once again. The 5th year senior has a 18-5-2 record on the year with a 2.08 GAA and a ,889 save percentage.
If the Gophers can pick up a win over the Buckeyes it will lock them into a home NCAA Quarterfinal next Saturday. The top four seeds will host NCAA Quarterfinals, and Minnesota could not drop below #4. Minnesota currently sits at #3 in the Pairwise with Cornell at #4 and Colgate at #5. If the Buckeyes win on Friday, Minnesota will be rooting hard against Colgate in the ECAC Tournament. If Colgate defeats Cornell for the ECAC title, both teams would leap the Gophers, and Minnesota would be headed to Cornell for their quarterfinal. The Gophers headed east a season ago losing a heartbreaker at Clarkson in quadruple OT. There are many scenarios where Cornell leaps over Minnesota and the Gophers fall to #4, but they would host Colgate at Ridder Arena in all but one—a Colgate ECAC Championship over Cornell. If neither Colgate or Cornell win the ECAC title then the Gophers would remain at #3. The NCAA Selection show is 10:30 AM Sunday morning on ESPN+. The 2025 Frozen Four will take place at Ridder Arena.
First things first. The Gophers will try and get past the Buckeyes for the second time this season on Friday afternoon in Duluth. Faceoff is scheduled for 4:30 PM and will air on Fox9+ in Minnesota and stream via B1G+.