No. 4 Ohio State welcomed St. Cloud State to the OSU Ice Rink on Friday night for the first of two games in a WCHA series. Three conference points were up for grabs in the game. The Buckeyes nabbed them all.
| Scoring by Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Cloud State | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| No. 4 Ohio State | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
The Bucks put a sizable amount of rubber on net in the first period. They outshot the visitors 16-8. For the most part, they also stayed on the good side of the officials. OSU was only whistled for one penalty in the frame.
| Buckeye Goal Scorers (Assists) | Pd | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Emma Maltais (Jacyn Reeves, Charly Dahlquist) | 2 | 12:44 |
| Maddy Field (Emma Maltais, Madison Bizal) | 2 | 18:42 |
| Maddy Field (Sara Saekkinen, Liz Schepers) | 3 | 10:20 |
But, while Ohio State recorded some positive numbers, the one statistic that mattered belonged to St. Cloud. The Huskies potted back-to-back goals 14 seconds apart from Julia Tylke and Jenniina Nylund. St. Cloud led 2-0 after the first period.
Out of the break, the Buckeyes ground away at the Huskies’ advantage. By the end of the second period, they had erased it. Emma Maltais kicked off the rally with her fifth goal of the season. Maddy Field stuffed a game-tying tally by Janine Alder late in the stanza.
The anatomy of a game tying goal, as brought to you by @maddyfield12:
— Ohio State Women's Hockey (@OhioStateWHKY) November 2, 2018
1. Plant yourself in front of the net
2. Hack away, let no one stop you
3. Score
4. Celly #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/9yvQgD2MH1
OSU cranked up the pressure in the third period. Shots were 17-8 in favor of the Bucks. Field struck again at the 10:20 mark. Her fifth goal of the year would be the game-winner as Andrea Braendli and the Buckeye defense locked down the 3-2 victory. It is already the fourth game-winner scored by Field in this young season.
Head coach Nadine Muzerall spoke enthusiastically of her team’s effort after the game. “I thought this was the first game where they actually played a solid three periods,” she said. “I was impressed with their puck possession and their o-zone time. We had 18 minutes of offensive zone time, 5-on-5. And, you know, having 45 shots on net spoke volumes of us finally getting the puck through traffic and getting them on net. Very proud of their effort.” Hear more of the coach’s postgame comments here.
The Scarlet and Gray improve to 8-3-0 overall and 4-1-0-0 in the WCHA. They square off with St. Cloud again tomorrow afternoon. Opening faceoff is set for 3pm ET.
- Ohio State held a commanding shot advantage, 45-20.
- Maddy Field (8) and Jincy Dunne (7) led the Buckeyes in shots on goal.
- Freshman goalie Andrea Braendli turned aside 18 shots in her fifth win of the year.
- Each team went 0-for-2 on the power play.
