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Ohio State Buckeyes 2023-24 The Muzzinator Gonna Muzzinate!!
- Thread starter Hockeybuckeye
- Start date
Hockeybuckeye
Well-known member
The man is the commissioner of the WCHA and I believe the woman is the assistant AD who oversees our women's hockey.
Oh that makes sense, thanks Buckeye!
Final Score From Saturday, February 17th
Ohio State 4
St. Thomas 1
On Saturday the Buckeyes faced a Tougher Tommie Test. St. Thomas reacted to the Friday blow-out in a commendable way. The top set of forwards started the game, and that was a harbinger of what was to come momentarily. The Top Tommies were ready to rock and roll. It just took 17 seconds for them to grab a 1-0 lead.
Ohio State got its wake-up call. Responding wasn't easy. Many SOG were required. But the Buckeyes slowly but surely overcame the early adversity. On the backs of the deep, talented Senior Class.
St. Thomas Honorable Mention: (tie) Ella Boerger; Rylee Bartz and Nicole Vallario
That early goal was scored by Ella. The primary assist went to Bartz; the secondary assist to Nicole. Boerger and Bartz are Freshmen; Vallario is a Junior. Three examples of why better days are ahead for St. Thomas.
Ohio State Honorable Mention: (tie) Kelsey King; and Stephanie Markowski
Saturday's Buckeye Playmakers included two of the Seniors. Kelsey and Stephanie each contributed an Assist.
#3 Star: (tie) Maddy Clough, St. Thomas; Haley Maxwell, St. Thomas; and Calla Frank, St. Thomas
Three members of the Tommies definitely earned star status with their defensive work. Though embattled by the strong Buckeye attack, Maddy's leadership on the blue line was obvious all weekend long. Incredibly, despite being on the losing end of a 4-1 score, Haley finished at +1 for the game. She was the only Tommie to accomplish that feat. And Frankly, Calla's 49 saves kept St. Thomas in the game.
#2 Star: Raygan Kirk, Ohio State
Raygan was perfect for 59 minutes and 43 seconds. She'd probably like to have another try at the first 17 seconds. But as noted above, the Tommies earned that one.
How about a Senior Day thank you to Kirk: For Saturday; For the Season; and For Her Entire Career. Thank you, Raygan! (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap) Thank you Raygan! (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)
#1 Star: (tie) Cayla Barnes, Ohio State; Lauren Bernard, Ohio State; Kenzie Hauswirth, Ohio State; Hannah Bilka, Ohio State
OK this is a blatant rip-off of the Official Ohio State Website. But this is what I wanted to say, and they said it perfectly. Might just as well quote the website and be done with it.
Thank You Seniors!
Confidential To The OSU Hockey Seniors: Your Time In Columbus May Be Winding Down, But There's Lots Of Hockey To Be Played Between Now & March 24th. Just Want To Quickly Say In The Spirit Of Senior Weekend: Don't Forget About Future Alumni Weekends. You'll Want To Come Back. You've Gotta Come Back. To O-HI-O.
Up Next: Road Trip To Madison. With The Regular Season Title Wrapped Up, Some May Say The Games Are Meaningless. Personally I Expect Highly Competitive Contests.
Ohio State 4
St. Thomas 1
Senior Day Heroics Lead To WCHA Regular Season Title
On Saturday the Buckeyes faced a Tougher Tommie Test. St. Thomas reacted to the Friday blow-out in a commendable way. The top set of forwards started the game, and that was a harbinger of what was to come momentarily. The Top Tommies were ready to rock and roll. It just took 17 seconds for them to grab a 1-0 lead.
Ohio State got its wake-up call. Responding wasn't easy. Many SOG were required. But the Buckeyes slowly but surely overcame the early adversity. On the backs of the deep, talented Senior Class.
Three Stars Of The Game: Decidedly Unofficial & Just For Fun
St. Thomas Honorable Mention: (tie) Ella Boerger; Rylee Bartz and Nicole Vallario
That early goal was scored by Ella. The primary assist went to Bartz; the secondary assist to Nicole. Boerger and Bartz are Freshmen; Vallario is a Junior. Three examples of why better days are ahead for St. Thomas.
Ohio State Honorable Mention: (tie) Kelsey King; and Stephanie Markowski
Saturday's Buckeye Playmakers included two of the Seniors. Kelsey and Stephanie each contributed an Assist.
#3 Star: (tie) Maddy Clough, St. Thomas; Haley Maxwell, St. Thomas; and Calla Frank, St. Thomas
Three members of the Tommies definitely earned star status with their defensive work. Though embattled by the strong Buckeye attack, Maddy's leadership on the blue line was obvious all weekend long. Incredibly, despite being on the losing end of a 4-1 score, Haley finished at +1 for the game. She was the only Tommie to accomplish that feat. And Frankly, Calla's 49 saves kept St. Thomas in the game.
#2 Star: Raygan Kirk, Ohio State
Raygan was perfect for 59 minutes and 43 seconds. She'd probably like to have another try at the first 17 seconds. But as noted above, the Tommies earned that one.
How about a Senior Day thank you to Kirk: For Saturday; For the Season; and For Her Entire Career. Thank you, Raygan! (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap) Thank you Raygan! (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)
#1 Star: (tie) Cayla Barnes, Ohio State; Lauren Bernard, Ohio State; Kenzie Hauswirth, Ohio State; Hannah Bilka, Ohio State
OK this is a blatant rip-off of the Official Ohio State Website. But this is what I wanted to say, and they said it perfectly. Might just as well quote the website and be done with it.
ohiostatebuckeyes.com said:
Thank You Seniors!
Confidential To The OSU Hockey Seniors: Your Time In Columbus May Be Winding Down, But There's Lots Of Hockey To Be Played Between Now & March 24th. Just Want To Quickly Say In The Spirit Of Senior Weekend: Don't Forget About Future Alumni Weekends. You'll Want To Come Back. You've Gotta Come Back. To O-HI-O.
Up Next: Road Trip To Madison. With The Regular Season Title Wrapped Up, Some May Say The Games Are Meaningless. Personally I Expect Highly Competitive Contests.
Hockeybuckeye
Well-known member
If there are indeed some who think next weekend series is meaningless they couldn't be more wrong. Coach Muzerall's drive and determination demands all effort all the time and our players pride wants that series sweep, especially after the conclusion of last season. I feel they want to beat Wisconsin as much as all Buckeyes want to beat Michigan in football.
Pedal to the metal always, stay at the top of the pairwise and earn the #1 seed again in the NCAA tournament!
After leaving campus Saturday, I did speak to a few casual fans who raised this, asking it as a question. Quite honestly, this is more of a pro sports mentality. Take an MLB example: You've played 156 games, and you've clinched your division title. You can't move up or down in the seeding. In that scenario, it does makes sense to rest your starters and get ready for the playoffs. But does that work as an analogy to Women's D-1 Hockey?
I'm with you. And I'll bet most of the fans that support the team game in & game out agree.
Hockeybuckeye
Well-known member
I feel we Ohio State fans as a whole have become ingrained and spoiled with the mentality and expectations of our football program that no loss is acceptable and it unrealistically transfers over to our other sports where a perfect undefeated season is a nearly impossible feat in hockey. But coach Muzerall and company come closer to it than any would have thought possible.
Excellent thread you fine fans have going here.
Excuse the butting in and off topic from the discussion, but maybe fans more knowledgeable than me can answer a mystifying question about women's college hockey NPI strength of schedule.
How is it possible that Wisconsin strength is much higher than OSU when they played 1 average team (BC) and two weak teams (Lindenwood/Merrimack) while OSU played two very solid teams (Colgate/STL) from the second strongest conference.
Figured I'd ask here because you folks are always active.
Excuse the butting in and off topic from the discussion, but maybe fans more knowledgeable than me can answer a mystifying question about women's college hockey NPI strength of schedule.
How is it possible that Wisconsin strength is much higher than OSU when they played 1 average team (BC) and two weak teams (Lindenwood/Merrimack) while OSU played two very solid teams (Colgate/STL) from the second strongest conference.
Figured I'd ask here because you folks are always active.
robertearle
Well-known member
We'll be able to tell better when Grant's playoff predictor app goes live for this year, but just 'eyeballing it', I wouldn't rule out Wisconsin being able to catch OSU for #1 seed, IF UW runs the table, and OSU loses to Duluth/St Cloud in the WCHA semis. It'd be close, and even an OT loss this weekend (ie a one-third win) for the Buckeyes would probably preclude the possibility.
robertearle
Well-known member
That was being talked about last week on the Patty Kaz award thread (for no particular reason); we think that the USCHO page/table has a couple different 'problems' with their calculations.
https://fanforum.uscho.com/forum/college-hockey/women-s-college-hockey/3857641-patty-kazmaier-2024
One of the regular posters - Grant Salzano - does his own such table and calculations, and he shows different strength of schedules, and other differences; but unfortunately, at the moment he's a couple weeks behind updating his 'results' database, so the numbers are a couple weeks old. He also creates a 'pairwise predictor' app every year, where you can input whatever combination of conference tournament outcomes, and see who makes the NCAA tournament filed as an outcome. He usually has that ready to go once the regular season schedules wrap up, ie in another week or so. His current web page/table.
https://www.bcinterruption.com/bost...023-2024-ncaa-womens-hockey-pairwise-rankings
robertearle
Well-known member
It is a virtual certainty at this point that Hockey East is only getting one team into the tournament, and that will be the tournament winner who will get the HE automatic bid. The numbers and the remaining games are such that no way any HE team gets into the top eight in the Pairwise to get at "at large" bid.
I Liked Your First Answer Better:
1. Games with Wisconsin & Minnesota will always be enormous, regardless of the standings. Based on the superb quality of those programs, and the shared Big Ten DNA.
2. Getting the highest possible seed in the NCAA tournament will always be enormous. Regardless of Conference Honors already secured. Pedal to the Metal!
Second Answer: (quoted above)
I partially agree, but partially disagree. Of course you're correct that Football is omnipresent here at OSU; of course there's some impact on expectations. But the Women's Hockey Fanbase is just swept up in a wave of Football Fever?
I'm going to give the Women's Hockey fans more credit than that. When the Varsity Program began in 1999-2000, there was certainly a learning curve. But at this point, the regulars understand the sport, its history, how to interpret wins & losses, who the biggest rivals are, and so on.
We both know what happens when OSU drops a Football Game. A minority -- a loud minority -- becomes angry, bitter and is punching out the walls. One loss? Fire the coach. IMHO, none of that applies to Women's Hockey.
Thank you for stopping by here! I have to say, it has been a joy to watch your former Eagles, Cayla Barnes and Hannah Bilka, play for the Buckeyes! They are both elite players and fun to watch.
Well, the rich get richer. No complaints, though. These ladies gave the all for BC, can't begrudge them having a go at a championship. Lots of kvetching by Eagles insiders about the state of affairs at Chestnut Hill, but I'm distant enough from the workings of the program to leave that debate to those better informed that me.
Enjoy the rest of your season, you have good cause to expect happy endings. Not that kind, the other kind.
Thank you for the well-wishes regarding our season. Games are not won on paper, but this team is special, and I like our chances to be successful and hopefully have a happy ending. As for "rich get richer," you are correct on that these days, but it wasn't always that way around here. Not that long ago we were a perennial 5th place WCHA team whose season ended the first weekend in March on the road in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs. Some years, that was at North Dakota (before they dropped women's hockey), some years it was at Minnesota-Duluth. Thankfully, our Athletic Department finally got it right when they hired Nadine Muzerall.
This was an interesting Athletic article - though paywalled - on the trade of Sophie Jaques to PWHL Minnesota, PWHL Boston receiving Susanna Tapani and Abby Cook:
https://theathletic.com/5286605/2024/02/20/pwhl-trade-minnesota-boston-womens-hockey/
Boston's GM Danielle Marmer said Boston needed a trade to generate more goals this season and she talked to all the other GMs about trades. Her conversation with Natalie Darwitz started with discussing how Minnesota got a deal on the winter coats they were wearing. Jaques and Tapani were both surprised by the trade but are settling in in their new spots or still a hotel so far. Jaques missed a Super Bowl party with Boston teammates and flew out the next morning. She has an assist so far with Minnesota, starting on the top D pair, and Cook has a goal for Boston.
I think Jaques seems to fit in well for Minnesota, especially given her D partner Lee Stecklein is more the stay-at-home defender.
https://theathletic.com/5286605/2024/02/20/pwhl-trade-minnesota-boston-womens-hockey/
Boston's GM Danielle Marmer said Boston needed a trade to generate more goals this season and she talked to all the other GMs about trades. Her conversation with Natalie Darwitz started with discussing how Minnesota got a deal on the winter coats they were wearing. Jaques and Tapani were both surprised by the trade but are settling in in their new spots or still a hotel so far. Jaques missed a Super Bowl party with Boston teammates and flew out the next morning. She has an assist so far with Minnesota, starting on the top D pair, and Cook has a goal for Boston.
I think Jaques seems to fit in well for Minnesota, especially given her D partner Lee Stecklein is more the stay-at-home defender.