MINNEAPOLIS — It will be a rematch of the last three national championship games at No. 1 Wisconsin takes on No. 2 Ohio State Sunday at Ridder Arena on the University of Minnesota campus as the top-ranked Badgers defeated home team Minnesota 5-2 Friday evening to advance to their third-straight title game.
An early hit behind the play by the Gophers’ Abbey Murphy on Wisconsin’s KK Harvey earned Murphy a five minute major penalty, but the Badgers were unable to score with the player advantage. Minnesota used that kill to build momentum and eventually got on the board first as Peyton Hemp took advantage of the active boards behind the net, picking up a rebound and putting it past Ava McNaughton to give the Gophers a 1-0 lead.
The Badger have now given up the first goal in each of their last four games and have had to come from behind to get the win. Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson praised his team’s resiliency, but confessed “I’d like to try it the other way” about scoring first.
As the first period wound down, the Gophers were on the power play but Wisconsin’s top-ranked penalty kill won the puck and took off down the ice where Laila Edwards buried a short-handed toe drag and snipe from the top of the far circle to tie the game 1-1.
“(Caroline) Harvey makes a great stop, gets it up to me and I gave it to Casey. She’s obviously a threat, so she pushed the defense back, gave it to me, and I just took a shot on net. We don’t go down early too often so when we did, it’s a little unsettling, but we took care of business,” said Edwards.
Three minutes into the second, Harvey took a pass from Casey O’Brien from below the goal line, took a touch to let the defender pass her and picked the corner to put Wisconsin up 2-1. With the assist, O’Brien tied Meghan Duggan for the Badger program record for most points in a season at 87.
Kirsten Simms gave UW a 3-1 lead at the midpoint of the period, but Minnesota responded immediately as Nelli Laitinen fed Josefin Bouveng, who raced down the near boards and scored on a snipe of her own to make it a 3-2 game.
Harvey looked like she was going to increase the Wisconsin lead, late in the second, picking up her own rebound off a block, but the puck went across the goal mouth and off a post without crossing the line. The Gophers took it the other direction and Harvey took a penalty for body checking Murphy into the boards. Minnesota challenged, but the penalty remained a minor and the Gophers lost their time out but went on the power play with 46 seconds left in the period.
Chloe Primerano was called for interference just 11 seconds later, making it 4-on-4. With just two seconds left in the frame, O’Brien streaked up the left side and flicked the puck near post to put her Badgers up 4-2 and give her sole possession of the record for most points in a season at Wisconsin with 88.
“I got a nice pass from Laney [Potter] coming up and I knew the clock was winding down and so I was just trying to get a shot on net. I used the defense as a screen, so I was lucky that went in, but I think to go up into the third period with that kind of lead gave everybody a lot of confidence and then we closed it out,” said O’Brien.
“I was just focused on contributing as much as I could to the team’s success, and, yeah, it’s cool, but that’s not what the focus on. It’s on the team and the next game, it’s really all it is,” she said of setting the new mark.
Wisconsin extended their lead early in the third on a 2-on-1 as Kelly Gorbatenko fed Edwards, who went forehand, backhand to beat Gopher goalie Hannah Clark and make it a 5-2 game.
“They’re super-dangerous on the rush. We knew that and we gave up way too many odd players rushes against and unfortunately most of them ended up in our net,” said Gopher coach Brad Frost.
Edwards secured the 6-2 win with an empty-netter, securing a hat trick and giving her the national lead in goals with 34.
The junior has come up big with the Badgers and at international tournaments, but said those things happen because she’s surrounded by the best players in the world.
“I’m playing, living my dream right now. I’m playing the sport I love with the people I love, so it’s great. If you look at all three of my goals, they started with someone else’s hard work and just smart hockey, so it’s a lot of fun and we’re really excited for the next game,” said Edwards.
Wisconsin will face Ohio State on Sunday, March 23 at 3 pm central in the national championship game. The teams have met in the title game each of the last two season, with Wisconsin winning 1-0 in 2023 and Ohio State taking a 1-0 victory last season. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU and stream on ESPN+.
Johnson praised his team, who still has just one loss this season – to the very Ohio State team they’ll face in the title game.
“They’ve earned everything that has been thrown their way. They’ve been consistent. They’ve played well all year and we’ve always had this bull’s eye, especially this year, right in front of us and everybody comes after us, and it’s challenging. It’s difficult, so I give them a lot of credit,” he said.
“We’ve had different players at different times step up and make a play […] I’m really proud of the way they’ve been able to be consistent all year long and they deserve to be in this championship game, and I’m excited to see where it goes.”
