Late penalty shot, overtime goal lift Wisconsin over Ohio State for women’s hockey national title

Trailing by a goal with 18.9 seconds left in the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four title game Sunday at Ridder Arena, Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson sought a volunteer to rescue with a penalty shot his team’s once-beaten season and win its eighth national championship.

Kristen Simms raised her hand.

“I wanted to see who wanted to step up and own it,” Johnson said.

With urging from her teammates, the junior forward stepped up and tied the score with a swooping approach and nifty move from backhand to forehand. Then she scored the championship-winning goal 2:49 into overtime, rapping home a rebound to send Wisconsin to a 4-3 victory over WCHA rival and defending national champion Ohio State.

It was a frantic finish that included an inopportune too-many-skaters penalty on the Buckeyes with 1:50 left in regulation and a coach’s challenge video review that awarded the Badgers the penalty shot that sent the game to overtime.

Simms’ overtime winner gave the Badgers a school-record 38 victories (38-1-2) and that eighth title, their fourth in the past six seasons.

“I can’t really say it was initially my choice, everyone on the bench was shouting, `Simms, Simms, you do it,’” Simms said. “You know what? Whatever. Coach is going to have to see my hand go up for me to actually go.”

The penalty shot came on the coach’s challenge, coming when junior forward Laila Edwards came to the bench after the Badgers nearly scored in a scrum at the crease’s edge with the seconds ticking off. Edwards adamantly told Johnson that Ohio State forward Maddi Wheeler — a transfer from Wisconsin — closed her hand over the puck in an attempt to clear the puck out of the crease.

After a video review, the penalty shot was awarded against Ohio State graduate student goalie Amanda Thiele.

“I didn’t even watch,” Johnson said of Simms' penalty shot. “I don’t know if I would have taken the shot if I was playing. You’ve got to be as free as you can be in the moment. You can’t think anything but you’re going to score.”

Ohio State coach Nadine Muzerall didn’t dispute the closed-hand ruling, but argued that Simms didn’t continue the puck’s forward momentum as she approached for her penalty shot.

“We were so close with 18 seconds left,” said Muzerall, the Gophers’ leading career goal scorer and a former Gophers assistant coach. “Yeah, the loss hurt. It was how the loss happened. It’s so emotional. It’s not just the loss. It’s about the time in the locker room you won’t have with the girls anymore.”

Johnson let his players answer media questions first after the game while he collected his thoughts.

“I’m still trying to process the last 18 seconds in the third period and then the overtime,” Johnson said. “Obviously, we found a way to win. I don’t think we played one of our better games, but as I told the team, they figured out how to get to the finish line.

“They always say Monday comes. Well, Monday is coming tomorrow and we’ve got the national championship trophy back in Madtown [Madison], so it’s a good day.”

The No. 1-seeded Badgers lost only once all season — but it was to the Buckeyes, who beat them 3-2 in November. The two teams met in the national championship game for the third season in a row, with Ohio State winning 1-0 last year after Wisconsin won by that same score in 2023.

The Buckeyes (29-8-3) led 1-0 — ever so briefly — and 2-1 in the first period Sunday before they made it 3-1 with a goal from junior defenseman Emma Peschel of Edina only 10 seconds into the second period.

The Badgers countered with star defender Caroline Harvey’s goal 5:27 into the second period on a shot ripped from high in the right circle.

That was all the scoring, until Simms’ penalty shot. Sophomore forward Joy Dunne and junior forward Sloane Matthews scored the first-period goals for Ohio State, and Thiele stopped 31 shots.

Edwards had a goal and an assist for Wisconsin. Lacey Eden had two assists and Ava McNaughton made 20 saves.