Women’s hockey: Buckeyes come back from two goal deficit against St. Cloud State

Redshirt freshman Jincy Dunn skates up the ice while redshirt sophomore Kassidy Sauve watches from the net. Credit: Magee Sprague | For the Lantern

The Ohio State women’s hockey team came back from a two-goal deficit for the first time all season after back-to-back goals in the third period tied the St. Cloud State Huskies 2-2 on Saturday at OSU Ice Rink. After five minutes of scoreless overtime, the Buckeyes won the shootout thanks to a goal from junior Dani Sadek and three saves from sophomore goalie Kassidy Sauve.
OSU improved its record to 11-15-4 overall and 5-14-4-1 in the WCHA.
“I was very proud of the girls,” OSU coach Nadine Muzerall said. “You know, we battled and the puck was literally not bouncing our way. We did everything we possibly could except for finish in the first two periods …They really rallied and did everything right, and then finally were rewarded for it.”
St. Cloud State struck first with a point-blank goal from Julia Tylke off of an assist from Hannah Potrykus at 14:09 in the first period.
The Huskies went up 2-0 after a power-play goal from Emma Turbyville off of a pass from Kayla Friesen at 10:41 in the second period.
Despite dominating in shots with 23 to the Huskies’ 17 in the first and second periods, the Buckeyes were unable to find the net and went into the third down 2-0.
At 9:11 in the third period, the scoring drought came to an end when freshman Rebecca Freiburger shot the puck into the top-right corner of the net off of an assist from junior Jessica Dunne to cut the St. Cloud lead in half, 2-1.
Freiburger skates with confidence and has become a powerful offensive presence with six goals and eight points in her rookie season with the Buckeyes.
“We got a game puck and I gave it to her [Freiburger] after the game because she had that piss and vinegar we’ve been missing to be quite frank,” Muzerall said. “It was nice to have a freshman take that role to elevate the game.”
A few minutes later, at 12:03 in the third, OSU’s Live Halvorson and St. Cloud’s Tylke each received a penalty for roughing and sent the teams to four on four.
27 seconds into four-on-four play, Dunne had a slap-shot goal off of an assist from sophomore Maddy Field to tie up the game, 2-2.
The score remained tied at the end of regulation and the two teams went into sudden-death overtime. The teams went scoreless through the five minutes of overtime in spite of the Buckeyes taking a risk and pulling the goalie in the final six seconds.
“When you have possession of the puck as long as we did, I wasn’t second guessing it,” Muzerall said. “I knew that the girls felt very confident in it, and I asked them after the game and they said, ‘We were all in.’”
After overtime, the game was left to be decided by the shootout. Sadek scored on the first attempt for the Buckeyes, and Sauve blocked all three St. Cloud shots with ease to win the shootout.
“It was huge,” Sadek said. “I mean, I wish we could have come out with three (points) but it’s better than none …We’ll definitely take this momentum into next weekend, and then the weekend after that when we play North Dakota.”