MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Minnesota secured a 3-1 win over NCAA and WCHA defending champion Ohio State University in the championship game of the 2023 Kwik Trip WCHA Final Faceoff at Ridder Arena on Saturday afternoon.
 
With the win, No. 2 seed Minnesota (29-5-3) claimed its eighth overall WCHA Tournament crown and hoisted the WCHA postseason trophy for the first time since the 2017-18 season. The Golden Gophers received goals from Savannah Norcross, Abbey Murphy, and Peyton Hemp and a 34-save effort from Skylar Vetter in the win.
 
“I’m super excited for our group,” Minnesota head coach Brad Frost said. “This team obviously has a lot of talent, but I think you saw this weekend, in particular tonight, the heart and the passion and the care that they play with. It was just so fun to watch and really fun to coach and be a part of. It was a group effort.”
 
In a rematch of the 2022 WCHA championship game, national No. 1 and top seed Ohio State (31-5-2) was led by Amanda Thiele’s 32 saves. Gabby Rosenthal scored the team’s lone goal as the Buckeyes looked to repeat as WCHA postseason champions for the first time in program history, having previously won the league tournament in 2019-20 and 2021-22.
 
“Minnesota is a very, very, very good hockey team, and so are we,” Ohio State head coach Nadine Muzerall said. “We knew it was going to be a back-and-forth game. I thought our team played very well in the first period. I thought we hemmed them in a little bit, but when they unleashed, they had really big scoring opportunities because they have that offensive threat.”
 
For the game, Minnesota had a 39-35 advantage in shots on goal. The Gophers were one-for-two on the power play while holding the Buckeyes scoreless on two opportunities with the skater advantage.
 
Minnesota took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission after Norcross scored the first goal of the game at the 14:55 mark of the opening period. Hemp dished a pass from the left corner behind Thiele, and Norcross caught the bouncing puck at the top of the right circle, gained control, and fired a shot through traffic. Shots on goal were even at 13-13 over the first 20 minutes.
 
The second period opened with Ohio State killing off a five-minute penalty after Jennifer Gardiner was called for contact to the head at the end of the first period.
 
“I think in the second period, having a five-minute major, that hurt our momentum—even though I think it was a brilliant penalty kill,” Muzerall said. “You have to understand if you played hockey that even after you kill that, you don’t recover very well. That hurt. I think that took away our momentum.”
 
After OSU’s successful penalty kill to open the period, Minnesota capitalized on its second power play of the game midway through the period. Murphy scored her second goal of the tournament with 12:38 on the clock, burying a feed from Taylor Heise and Grace Zumwinkle on the power play.
 
The Buckeyes made it a one-goal game with 3:58 remaining in the period on a goal by Rosenthal. McKenna Webster got through on a breakaway, and Vetter made the initial save before a streaking Rosenthal buried the rebound from the top of the crease.
 
Minnesota answered just 1:02 later when Madison Kaiser slid a pass to Hemp just inside the OSU blue line. Hemp moved into the slot and beat Thiele to regain Minnesota’s two-goal lead. The Gophers took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission after outshooting the Buckeyes 19-9 in the middle frame.
 
“When we got that first goal, it was 2-1, and I thought that that would be our push,” Muzerall said. “Unfortunately, we screened Thiele on the third one, and they kept the lead, and it was hard to take it back from them. They started to play very well defensively, selling out and blocking shots, but I think that’s what you can expect between number one and number two in the country.”
 
“One of the things I admire about Muz and her team is that they are never out of the fight—ever,” Frost said. “They keep coming at you, and so we knew they were going to have a good [third] period. We made it a point to say, if you want to try to knock off the defending champs, you have to raise your game to another level—and they did.”
 
The third period saw both teams exchange quality chances, but Vetter and the Gophers shut down OSU’s late efforts, including when Muzerall pulled Thiele in favor of the extra attacker with just over three minutes to play. The Buckeyes outshot Minnesota, 13-7, over the final 20 minutes.
 
“To be able to win in a tournament format is a big deal for this group because they haven’t done that in a while,” Frost said. “I’m excited for them to be able to raise a banner and hoist a trophy.”
 
With the win, Minnesota secures the league’s automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. The Buckeyes, Badgers, and Bulldogs will learn their NCAA Tournament fate during the 2023 NCAA selection show at 11 a.m. CT on Sunday, March 5. The selection show will air live on ESPNews and ESPN+.
 
For more information on the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, follow the league on Twitter and Instagram @WCHA_WHockey, and online at the new wcha.com.