Three things we learned from Wisconsin-Ohio State interviews at NCAA women's hockey Frozen Four
DURHAM, N.H. – Despite being on opposite ends of what has become one of college’s hockey’s fiercest rivalries, Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson and Ohio State’s Nadine Muzerall agreed that the sixth meeting between their teams will be special.
“The big things for the Buckeyes and ourselves is that we’re still standing,” Johnson said. “We still have another game to play. It’s the last game of the season. Both teams know each other well and the games we’ve played each other up to this point have been very entertaining.”
Wisconsin, the defending national champion, will face No. 1 seed Ohio State in the national championship game at 3 p.m. Sunday at Whittemore Center Arena on the campus of the University of New Hampshire.
The game will be a rematch of last season’s title game and mark the third time in four years Wisconsin and Ohio State have met in the NCAA Tournament.
“You’ve got two heavyweights punching at each other back and forth tomorrow and it’s going to be that kind of battle and we’re ready for it,” Muzerall said.
Muzerall met with reporters first Saturday. Up next was Johnson, who brought along senior Anna Wilgren and sophomore Laila Edwards.
Here is what we learned:
Wisconsin’s victory over Ohio State in the regular-season finale provided confidence boost for Badgers
The Buckeyes swept UW in November when it was ranked No. 1 in the country and then took the first game of the teams' series in February.
Wisconsin rallied from a two-goal deficit to snap that streak in the final game of the regular season. The Badgers built on that performance with a 6-3 victory over the Buckeyes in the title game of the WCHA Final Faceoff.
“I think if you get swept two times it’s kind of hanging over your head a little bit, so getting that last win just gave us the confidence that we knew was in us, but it brought it out once we got that win,” Wilgren said. “Bringing that into the postseason I think that’s perfect timing really to build that confidence up.”
Ohio State may try to be more physical with Bucky
Despite being quite familiar with Wisconsin, Muzerall was impressed with the physical nature Colgate used with the Badgers in UW's 3-1 win Friday and seemed intrigued with how her team might be able use that to its advantage.
“I really liked how Colgate played them,” Muzerall said. “You watch and see how it works for other teams. You’re always evolving as a coach and you take some of the things you see that are good and bad from other programs and so I saw that part of Colgate’s game that slowed Wisconsin down. I know we’re going to be physical, but we’re going to use the speed that we have but be smart.”
Ohio State is still fighting for respect
The Buckeyes will play in their third straight national championship game. They’ve been to the Frozen Four four straight seasons and were the champion in 2022. For the past three seasons, they’ve been the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 seed.
They have not lost the chip on their shoulder, though, even in their series with Wisconsin, which has gone the Buckeyes' way, 11-10, during the past four seasons.
“People are interested (in our prorgram), but it’s like you still don’t have that legacy,” Muzerall said. “We won one, which is fantastic and very difficult, and you can see there are only four (other) teams that have won it and how difficult that can be. I think we still have that motivation to get over that hump of just the one because we don’t want to be that one-hit wonder.”
More: No Kazmaier Award for Wisconsin, but Badgers tie program record with 3 first-team AHCA All-Americans
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 3 takeaways from Wisconsin-Ohio State interviews at NCAA Frozen Four
