Gophers women’s hockey team pushes past Ohio State and into the WCHA Final Faceoff title game

DULUTH - The fourth-ranked Gophers women’s hockey team scored six consecutive goals to upend No. 2 Ohio State 6-2 in the semifinals of the WCHA Final Faceoff on Friday evening at Amsoil Arena. The Gophers will face Wisconsin, riding a monthslong unbeaten streak, in Saturday afternoon’s conference final.

The fast-paced, high-scoring and physical matchup was filled with penalties, pipes and even a bit of a pileup in front of the Gophers’ goal. But Ohio State (27-7-3) hit a turning point when it was unable to capitalize on a 5-on-3 advantage early in the third period. The Gophers (28-10-1) killed off both penalties at a point when “the game was still in doubt,” coach Brad Frost said.

“Honestly, I got so much energy from that 5-on-3,” said senior winger Abbey Murphy, who had two goals and an assist. “Like [Frost] said, the game was not over. They still could’ve came back with that. Our penalty kill was absolutely killer. So, honestly, the momentum we got from that was insane. And I think that was the moment where I was like, ‘Hell, yeah.’ ”

All was not well a bench away. The Buckeyes couldn’t execute the plan for this scenario, Ohio State center Jocelyn Amos said.

“We just couldn’t dig ourselves out of a hole that we put ourselves into,” said visibly frustrated Ohio State coach Nadine Muzerall, who deferred to her players for an opening statement during the postgame media conference.

“I’m going to switch it up and let the players do an opening statement because I’m kind of still figuring out what happened,” she said.

Before this, the Buckeyes’ last loss was in a series split with the Gophers at the end of January. After losing 4-1, they followed with a 7-3 win at Ridder Arena.

Murphy and Ella Huber both scored on power plays to tie the game 2-2 at the end of the first period, the latter snagging a rebound off a slapshot from the faceoff circle that hit the pipe and bounced. Audrey Wethington and Ava Lindsay scored second-period goals to give the Gophers a cushion.

Minnesota followed its penalty kill by pounding the net with a series of shots and rebounds before Murphy scored her second goal of the game. Ohio State pulled goalie Amanda Thiele with about five minutes left in the final period, and Gophers defender Chloe Primerano sent the puck into the empty net from more than half a rink away.

“[It was] just some really, really good, smart, hard hockey by our team, angling with their feet, taking away their time and space and making them go 200 feet,” Frost said. “So I’m really proud of our group and excited for the opportunity to win a championship.”

In the other semifinal, high-scoring Wisconsin edged Minnesota Duluth 3-1.

The Badgers’ Caroline Harvey scored the game-winner when she tipped the puck into the high left corner with less than five minutes remaining in the second period.

Wisconsin (34-1-2) tied the game when Kelly Gorbatenko tipped the puck off her chest and over Ève Gascon’s shoulder. They tacked on another with just a minute left in the third period. Defender Emma Venusio sent the puck bouncing past Gascon for her first goal of the season.