For junior defenseman Tessa Bonhomme, watching her team struggle at home against Bemidji State last week while she was in Germany with the Canadian Under-22 team wasn’t easy.
“It was very tough,” Bonhomme said. “I watched both games on Gametracker, and it was driving me crazy not having control over anything.”
However, this weekend versus the Minnesota Golden Gophers, Bonhomme had a say in the outcome, helping lead the Ohio State Buckeyes women’s ice hockey team to a 7-1 victory Friday night at Ridder Arena, before falling 3-1 in the series finale Saturday.
“It’s a big boost for our power play,” junior forward Erin Keys said of Bonhomme’s return, “but overall, she just brings so much to the team. We all look up to her so much. She’s a confidence booster for sure, because she’s such a big part of our team.”
Bonhomme tallied a goal and an assist in the series opener, showing that the long hours of traveling from Germany back to Ohio, and then to Minnesota, had little to no effect on her play.
“My coach gave me a sufficient amount of time when I got back to recover and make sure my body healed properly,” Bonhomme said. “I don’t feel I was (tired). My legs were a little tight for pre-game skates, but they felt good coming out of the first period and all the way through the third period on Friday and Saturday night.”
However, even with the return of Bonhomme, it would take more than one player to topple the No. 5 ranked Gophers. And, as has been the case all year, everyone contributed to the win Friday night.
“It was good to see contributions from all three lines,” coach Jackie Barto said. “That’s been the strength of our team this year. We can really balance and get offensive production from quite a few players.”
While everything went right on Friday, the Buckeyes couldn’t get much to go their way on Saturday, as the two teams split their fourth consecutive series.
“We knew Minnesota would come out hard Saturday,” Barto said. “We felt we were prepared, and we felt we played a solid first period. We had plenty of chances. It was a good hockey game, up and down, and we had quite a few chances ourselves to get a couple goals, but they didn’t go for us.” Bonhomme added, “We wanted four points, there’s no doubt in my mind we’re tired of splitting with them. (After the win in the first game), we knew we’d have to play twice as hard the next game.”
“Their goaltender did a wonderful job in net, and (senior goaltender) Erika (Vanderveer) did a phenomenal job for us also, but we just couldn’t finish and put the puck in the net, and ultimately that determined the game.”
However, even with the split, the Buckeyes can take pride in the fact that they won in one of the more hostile environments in the nation, and they know that they can play with any team, on any given site.
“(The win) is just a boost for us confidence wise. We’re in every game and we expect to compete with everyone. It’s just awesome that we can compete with anyone in the country.”
