Ohio State Buckeyes 2022-2023 ... The Drive For Duluth

[osualum86]

I'm sure we're all pretty shocked about the results. I never thought 1 goal would win it for either team. The Badgers had a great run at the right time and our goalie was fantastic. OSU had a great year and I don't doubt another 3 headed wcha monster next season and umd is coming hard for the rodents haha.

It was a great game, and I never thought in a million years that Kirsten Simms' first period goal would turn out to be the game winner. I am sure the returning players (we will have plenty of firepower coming back) will use this as motivation next season. It was a tough way to end our season, but I do agree with you that we had a great year. I am not spoiled like I am about OSU Football where I consider the season a failure if they don't win a National Title. With women's hockey, it is fresh in my memory where we were before Coach Nadine got here so I am going to totally agree with you that we had a great season even though we fell short of our goal. We will be back. Coach Nadine has us to the point now where we will be reloading, not rebuilding. We have some great recruits coming in, not to mention the "Muzzinator" will be working her magic in the transfer portal. Things are really going to get interesting for Buckeye Women's Hockey when we have a new arena in 2026 and rival coaches will not be able to negative recruit against us regarding our facility. Gonna be an interesting WCHA Season next year. Congratulations on that win Sunday! It's a shame you were not able to get up there and see it. I was looking for you. Now I know why I did not see you. Take care and enjoy this one.

Brief rundown on the game ... Wisconsin's Kirsten Simms scored the game's only goal in the first period and the Badger D made it stand as they shutout Ohio State 1-0 to win the National Title. Ohio State outshot the Badgers 31-22 but could not find the back of the net. Badger backstop Cami Kronish stopped all 31 shots she faced in the win. Buckeye netminder Amanda Thiele stopped 21 of the 22 shots she faced in the loss. Wisconsin ends their season with the National Title and a record of 29-10-2. Ohio State finished the season with a record of 33-6-2.

Special shout out to our super seniors (5th year) for choosing the Buckeyes and for their contributions that were responsible for getting this program to the level it is at now, a level that it had not been to before their arrival.

Thank you Madison Bizal, Gabby Rosenthal, Emma Maltais, Sophie Jaques, and Paetyn Levis! You will never be forgotten! Please return to campus each fall for Alumni Weekend so we can honor you!!

[pgb-ohio]

Five Fond Frozen Four Memories For 2023

Duluth did a fine job hosting the tournament. (See my post on the Wisconsin thread.) Good memories were created. Last year when we won it all, I made a Top 10 List. This year we got only halfway to the promised land, so I'll confine myself to a Top 5. Today I'll get going with #5 and #4:

5. The Fireplace Lounge @ Canal Park Lodge
Our hotel had an appealing Fireplace Lounge with cushy furniture. A perfect place to meet friends, both old and new. A veritable garden of conversational delights. Wish I was back there right now, with a beverage, enjoying the friends and the fire.


4. In-House Attendance @ Amsoil Arena
The Attendance for the Friday Semi-Finals was 3443. That's a nice increase over last year's number at Penn State. Even better, all four schools were well represented. Naturally the two closer schools had superior numbers. After all, their states border Lake Superior. But the chance to meet fans from all of the schools was much appreciated. And let's not forget the fine contingent of local UMD fans, who showed up to support Women's Hockey.

Sunday, the official tally was 3940. It felt like quite a few more. Badger fans took over the arena. That didn't help our cause, but it was an impressive show of support.

A portion of the fans who traveled for the losing semi-finalists didn't return. So I'm going to guess that a full "LaBahn's Worth" of Badger fans made the five hour trip to Duluth just for Sunday's Title Game. Good on them.

Last but not least, the overall turnout almost doubled last year's event. Thumbs up.


Up Next: The Top 3 Fond Memories. Don't worry, Buckeye Fans. The rest of the list is more tOSU-centric!

[Bkruczynski]

Ohio State players into the transfer portal
Emerson Jarvis
Sydney Morrow
Gali Levi
Jamie Grinder

I’m surprised Jarvis is in the portal. She is a Muzz type of player, she played a lot this year and has a big upside.

[Timothy A]

One of the Ohio state players at the post game press conference mentioned they felt like they got shafted on the hotel? What's the story with that? Just curious.

[Still Eeyore]

One of the Ohio state players at the post game press conference mentioned they felt like they got shafted on the hotel? What's the story with that? Just curious.

I was in the hotel above the Old Chicago, whose name I can't remember. It's usually a team hotel, but was full of youth teams playing a tournament in the old DECC rink. It's possible that there was too much booked in Duluth last weekend.

[osualum86]

One of the Ohio state players at the post game press conference mentioned they felt like they got shafted on the hotel? What's the story with that? Just curious.

I heard that comment myself and didn't completely understand. I thought all the hotels in the canal area were supposed to be nice. Just our luck, Mrs 86 and I picked the Holiday Inn Duluth Downtown (hotel for Northeastern and Wisconsin). But, yeah, Emma Maltais said something along the lines of "She was not sure how a #1 seed got stuck in a hotel on the lake, but that was more adversity the team had to overcome." We had a great time up there other than the game Sunday.

[Bkruczynski]

Barnes and Bilka transfer from Boston College to Ohio State.

https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ohio-s...023-24-season/

[osualum86]

Barnes and Bilka transfer from Boston College to Ohio State.

https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ohio-s...023-24-season/

LOL, yeah, there was some troll over on the transfer portal acting like this was just a conspiracy theory, like, "Why would anyone want to transfer to Ohio State." Oh, I don't know, maybe they want to compete for WCHA Titles and National Titles, ya think?

[pgb-ohio]

I heard that comment myself and didn't completely understand. I thought all the hotels in the canal area were supposed to be nice...But, yeah, Emma Maltais said something along the lines of "She was not sure how a #1 seed got stuck in a hotel on the lake, but that was more adversity the team had to overcome"...

It hurts to read that. But I also have to say I'm completely baffled by it. My hotel, Canal Park Lodge, was right on the lake. I paid extra for a lake view room. Enjoyed the view, and was very pleased with my decision.

I'll admit the walk to the Arena on Friday was icy, and a bit brisk. I learned from my error and paid for parking on Saturday & Sunday. But that shouldn't have anything to do with the team. The team buses drop the players off right at the red carpet, correct?

If Emma had a complaint about the lodging, I have full confidence her concerns were valid. But there had to be a lot more going on than simply being "on the lake."

[NMH]

I believe the complaints about OSU's hotel were that they did not have food on site, so getting team meals was an ordeal that did not always go smoothly. I heard from someone in Duluth before Emma's comments that they were surprised the hotel got the NCAA contract bc of this set up. Accommodations wise I believe they were in the "nicest" hotel. That's what I know. I wonder, also, if they were subject to more noise from the storms on Thursday and Friday without any buffers between them and the lake? It was so windy and the other teams were in the city proper, so had some more wind breaks. Just a thought

[Timothy A]

LOL, yeah, there was some troll over on the transfer portal acting like this was just a conspiracy theory, like, "Why would anyone want to transfer to Ohio State." Oh, I don't know, maybe they want to compete for WCHA Titles and National Titles, ya think?

There are 2 other schools with a deeper pedigree than tosu in that regard.

So what are you losing experience wise & scoring heading into next season-not counting the new kids?

[BadgerPete]

LOL, yeah, there was some troll over on the transfer portal acting like this was just a conspiracy theory, like, "Why would anyone want to transfer to Ohio State." Oh, I don't know, maybe they want to compete for WCHA Titles and National Titles, ya think?

I don't think anyone reasonable didn't think Ohio State was the likely frontrunner. Sadly (for the general overall health of the game) if you want to compete for a title you head for a WCHA power. Wisconsin has a much more crowded roster than the other two with all the returning players they have, and between the other two, you'd have to think Ohio State was closer than Minnesota next year so that probably made them the top of the list for the two.

[osualum86]

There are 2 other schools with a deeper pedigree than tosu in that regard.

So what are you losing experience wise & scoring heading into next season-not counting the new kids?

I am a student of the game, so I am well aware that Wisconsin and Minnesota (and also UMD) have more titles than us. We are losing five super seniors to be sure (in numerical order ... Bizal, Rosenthal, Maltais, Jaques, Levis), and a couple kids who could come back for their extra years may not come back. We do expect some of our top forwards to be back (talking about Buglioni, Hauswirth, Gardiner, Webster, Matthews), four of our top Ds (Hartmetz, Peschel, Brengman, and Bernard), not to mention the transfers, Bilka (F) and Barnes (D). I have also heard we may be getting additional transfers. We also have three top U18s (two from Canada, one from USA) coming in. The USA U18 is Joy Dunne, who Jincy says is better than her and the ones we are getting from Team Canada are big-time players also (Jocelyn Amos and Jordan Baxter). We also have a Shattuck player coming in ... forward Delaney Fleming. We have gotten some good players from Shattuck recently, so I expect Fleming to be good as well. We are going to have some shoes to fill, but it will be a reload, not a rebuild. We are here to stay. We will continue to compete for titles. If people want to insult our program or disrespect us (like the guy on the transfer thread), they will do so at their own peril. The Muzzinator reads everything on here and loves to use this stuff to feed our "disrespected underdog" role, and thankfully, rival fans always seem to help her out in that regard.

[osualum86]

I don't think anyone reasonable didn't think Ohio State was the likely frontrunner. Sadly (for the general overall health of the game) if you want to compete for a title you head for a WCHA power. Wisconsin has a much more crowded roster than the other two with all the returning players they have, and between the other two, you'd have to think Ohio State was closer than Minnesota next year so that probably made them the top of the list for the two.

I completely understand that as we probably have more openings than Wisconsin and Minnesota. I just find the continued disrespect from some fans laughable. Things are really going to get interesting in 2026 when we have a facility that rivals LaBahn and Ridder.

[osualum86]

I believe the complaints about OSU's hotel were that they did not have food on site, so getting team meals was an ordeal that did not always go smoothly. I heard from someone in Duluth before Emma's comments that they were surprised the hotel got the NCAA contract bc of this set up. Accommodations wise I believe they were in the "nicest" hotel. That's what I know. I wonder, also, if they were subject to more noise from the storms on Thursday and Friday without any buffers between them and the lake? It was so windy and the other teams were in the city proper, so had some more wind breaks. Just a thought

Now it makes sense why Emma said that in the postgame press conference. Thank you for those insights.