Ohio State defeats Wisconsin to win NCAA women's hockey national championship (2024)

DURHAM, N.H. — The Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the Wisconsin Badgers 1-0 to win the program’s second NCAA championship on Sunday.

The game — a rematch of the 2023 championship, which ended in a 1-0 Wisconsin victory — was scoreless through the first two periods. Joy Dunne, the national rookie of the year, scored the first and only goal of a tense, evenly-matched championship game featuring the top two teams in the national rankings.

“That was one helluva game,” said Ohio State head coach Nadine Muzerall. “Whoever scored in the third I thought was going to win the game, just because it was such a good defensive side of the game from both teams. … It was just a feeling of if we can get to that one and then bear down defensively, we could win this thing.”

THE BUCKEYES BREAK THE SILENCE!!!!

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No teams in the NCAA scored more goals than the Badgers (205) and the Buckeyes (200) this season. The championship game, however, was more of a defensive effort with very little space for either team. Both teams were held to under 30 shots (Ohio State outshot Wisconsin 28-26), and there were nearly 40 blocked shots combined (Wisconsin had the edge 20-17).

“It seemed as the third period was going on, it was going to be who would get to one first,” Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson said. “There weren’t a lot of quality scoring opportunities at both ends and so it’s going to come down to one play. They made the play, they (won) the game and it hurts.”

It was the third-largest crowd in NCAA women’s hockey championship history — 4,378 people attended the game at the Whittemore Center Arena — and the largest since the 2006 final in Minneapolis.

On the game-winning goal, Cayla Barnes — who transferred to Ohio State in her fifth year to try to win a national championship — made a key defensive play to disrupt a near Britta Curl breakaway. She moved the puck quickly out of the zone to Hannah Bilka — another fifth-year transfer and PWHL draft-eligible player — who made the pass into the slot to Dunne. Barnes, who was named to the Frozen Four All-Tournament Team, finished the season with a plus-71 rating and is expected to be among the top picks in the 2024 PWHL Draft.

“That’s who you want to have the puck on their stick is somebody like Barnes because she just has such a high IQ and a great vision of the ice and she knows to move it fast and be simple with the plays and then move up,” said Muzerall. “Obviously it showcased today.”

The Buckeyes’ No. 1 goaltender Raygan Kirk made 26 saves for the win. Kirk was a member of the Robert Morris women’s hockey team that folded following the 2020-21 season and transferred to Ohio State for the 2021-22 season. The championship game was the final game of her college career.

“It’s hard to put into words,” Kirk said after the game. “Freshman year I don’t think I’d believe I’d be sitting here today.”

“To get a shutout against one of the best teams in the country at a key moment in (her) career, I mean I’m just very proud of her,” Muzerall said before making a pitch to the PWHL for her No. 1 goalie, who is eligible for the 2024 draft.

The Buckeyes have won two championships in the last three years, both under Muzerall who took over a perennial .500 program in 2016-17 and turned it into a destination for players — like Bilka and Barnes — seeking postseason success.

“As much as I took a chance on Ohio State, Ohio State took a chance on me because I was just a second assistant at Minnesota, my alma mater. We had a lot of success, but a lot of people at Ohio State believed in me,” Muzerall said. “With the support staff, with the players that we recruit, it’s been a lot easier because people want to come. It was harder in the beginning because we don’t have the geographical location, we don’t have the rink, it’s hard to draw kids in, but obviously winning helps. … And I want to push to (win) three and more.”

Meanwhile, for the Badgers, Sunday marked the team’s 11th appearance in the national championship game — the team has won seven NCAA titles, more than any other school in the country — and it’s fair to expect this core group will be back. Losing senior captain Curl will hurt, but the team is still young with stars like Caroline Harvey, Kirsten Simms, Laila Edwards and Casey O’Brien who have eligibility remaining. Their starting goalie, Ava McNaughton, who made 27 saves in the game, is only a freshman.

“With (Ava) getting the experience she got all season, especially the last three or four weekends, that’s going to help her down the road as she continues her career at Wisconsin,” said Johnson. “We had two freshmen defensem*n in the lineup tonight, two sophom*ore defensem*n who’ve been through this before, once on the winning end, and this year on the losing end. And (those are) great experiences for those young players as we move forward.”

Added Harvey: “We’re hungry for next year already.”

(Photo of OSU’s Joy Dunne scoring the game-winning goal: Gil Talbot / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

Hailey Salvian is a staff writer for The Athletic covering women’s hockey and the NHL. Previously, she covered the Calgary Flames and Ottawa Senators and served as a general assignment reporter. Hailey has also worked for CBC News in Toronto and Saskatchewan. Follow Hailey on Twitter @hailey_salvian