Senior goaltender Raygan Kirk stands at the blue line ahead of No. 1 Ohio State’s matchup with No. 7 Minnesota Duluth Friday. The 3-0 Ohio State victory was the Buckeyes’ third of four consecutive wins against top-10 conference opponents. Credit: Sandra Fu | Lantern Photographer
Few collegiate athletic conferences dominate a sport the way the Western Collegiate Hockey Association commands women’s ice hockey.
In addition to having five teams in the current USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll top 10, a WCHA representative has won the national title 19 times since the inaugural National Championship Game in 2001. Heading into its third-straight top-10 conference matchup at No. 9 St. Cloud State, Ohio State knows its No. 1 ranking is never safe in the WCHA.
“Even though you’re No. 1, everybody’s trying to steal that top spot and knock you off the pedestal,” Raygan Kirk, who played in College Hockey America with Robert Morris before transferring to Ohio State in 2021, said. “It’s hard to go up but very, very easy to get knocked down.”
So far, Ohio State has been near perfect on defense during its stretch of top-10 clashes, with Kirk and senior goaltender Amanda Thiele combining for one goal allowed in four games. The Buckeyes went on the road to defeat then-No. 2 Minnesota 7-0 and 6-1 on Jan. 12 and 13 before shutting out No. 7 Minnesota Duluth at home with a 3-0 win Friday and a 1-0 win Saturday.
Graduate defenseman Cayla Barnes said the team’s mental approach is a major factor in producing these results.
“We’ve talked about it all year, staying consistent no matter who the opponent is,” Barnes said. “All we can really control is what we bring to the table, and no teams in our league are really that weak, so we have to bring it every single time we step on the ice and stick to our identity.”
Although Barnes has played in five seasons of college hockey and two Winter Olympics, this is her first season competing in the WCHA. The Boston College transfer said moving conferences has been an adjustment, describing the differences between the WCHA and the Eagles’ Hockey East Association.
“The two leagues play completely differently,” Barnes said. “The WCHA is really fast and physical, and it’s a more gritty, mixed with skill, type of league. And every weekend you could be playing a top-10 team, whereas Hockey East is a little bit different. It’s not as physical, and you can kind of see that when the leagues cross over.”
Barnes said she expects Ohio State’s WCHA experience to give it an advantage in the postseason. The WCHA has had at least two representatives in the Frozen Four every year since 2014, including four Ohio State appearances in 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023 and a Buckeye national title in 2022.
“It’s really hard to get to playoff time, and then all of a sudden have to play a top-10 team,” Barnes said. “We get that training all year, and we get to play in those big games every weekend, and I think that’s huge come playoff time. We know how to be in those stressful situations, we know how to win one-goal games, we know how to handle situations that aren’t going our way. It’s really good to play in a league that’s so strong because once you get to playoff time, it’s one and done and you don’t get another chance.”
Looking to repeat as WCHA regular season champions, Ohio State sits atop the WCHA standings with 49 points — 6 points ahead of second-place Wisconsin. Although the Buckeyes emphasize never changing their game approach based on their opponent, graduate forward and captain Jennifer Gardiner said the team keeps an eye on its competition’s results during downtime.
“Monday chatter at the rink is always the scores of the other games, and everyone’s always tuning in to the other games around the league — the whole NCAA, actually, we’re kind of all pretty aware of our opponents and how they’re doing,” Gardiner said. “It’s so competitive that every weekend, you never know what you’re gonna get from a team other than you’re gonna get their very hardest work.”
