Women’s Hockey Heads to North Dakota to Face the Fighting Sioux – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/23/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
Ohio State’s series in Grand Forks is its third road series this month
COLUMBUS, Ohio The Ohio State women’s hockey team hits the road once again, traveling to Grand Forks to face the Fighting Sioux of North Dakota, Oct. 26-27 at Ralph Engelstad Arena. The Buckeyes are 1-2-1 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association with a 2-3-1 overall record after splitting with No. 10 Minnesota at home last weekend. North Dakota is coming off a home sweep of Bemidji State and are 2-2-2 overall with a 2-0-0 conference mark.
ROAD WARRIORS
The Ohio State series at North Dakota is already its third road series just four weeks into the season. Ohio State opened the season at Connecticut (Oct. 5-6) and then traveled to then-No. 1 Wisconsin (Oct. 13-14). The lone October series in Columbus was last weekend when the Buckeyes welcomed Minnesota for its home opener, and split with the Golden Gophers. The schedule will flip in November, though, when Ohio State hosts three of four series.
SERIES HISTORY
The Buckeyes lead the all-time series with North Dakota by a 10-1-1 record. Since losing the first meeting between the two schools in overtime in 2004, Ohio State has been undefeated against the Fighting Sioux, including seven wins in a row.
Senior forward Erin Keys leads the team in scoring against UND with eight goals and 12 points. Seven of her points against the Sioux (4g, 3a) were recorded in 2006-07.
CHESSON ON U.S. SELECT TEAM
Senior defenseman Lisa Chesson has been named to the 2007 U.S. Women’s Select Team, USA Hockey announced Oct. 16. Chesson will compete with Team USA in the Four Nations Cup, Nov. 7-11 in Leksand, Sweden, against the national teams from Canada, Sweden and Finland. In August, Chesson became just the second Buckeye to be named to the U.S. Under-22 Team. She is the first student-athlete in Ohio State women’s hockey history to be named to the U.S. Women’s Select Team.
The U.S. Women’s Select team is a 22-player roster that includes eight Olympians. Fourteen of its members won silver at the 2007 World Women’s Championship hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Team USA will be coached by Jackie Barto, Ohio State head coach. She will lead the squad in November as well as the 2008 Women’s World Championship in April.
WHO’S SIOUX?
North Dakota is 2-2-2 overall with a 2-0-0 record in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association after sweeping Bemidji State in Grand Forks last weekend. The Fighting Sioux shut out the Beavers in both games, 1-0 Friday and 3-0 Saturday. The sweep was the first for UND in program history and the first set of back-to-back shutouts.
Leading the Fighting Sioux in scoring are Randi Motsko and Ashley Paulson, who both have two goals and two assists for four points. Goaltender Brittany Kirkham has started all six games for UND, and has a 1.73 goals-against average and .945 save percentage.
LAST TIME OUT
Ohio State, then ranked No. 9/10 in the nation, split a home series with No. 8/10 Minnesota, Oct. 19-20 at the OSU Ice Rink. The Golden Gophers won, 7-4, in the first game, but the Buckeyes responded in game two with a 4-1 victory. Senior defenseman Tessa Bonhomme scored three of OSU’s four goals Friday for her first career hat trick. It was already her fourth multiple-point game of the season. Also scoring for OSU in game one was junior forward Olivia Antognoli. The goal was the second of her career and she was assisted by sophomore Michele Tonnessen, who also picked up her second career helper.
Two Buckeyes had multiple points Saturday to lead the team to a 4-1 win. Senior Erin Keys had a goal and assist and freshman Shannon Reilly had two helpers. It was the second game for Keys this season with a goal and assist. The two assists for Reilly were the first of her career and marked the first multiple-point game of her young career. Also scoring for the Buckeyes in game two were senior Mallory Peckels and junior Hayley Klassen their first goals of the season.
NOTING THE MINNESOTA SERIES
* The series was the fifth in a row Ohio State and Minnesota have split. In four of those series, the Gophers have won the first game and the Buckeyes have come back to win the second game.
* One of Tessa Bonhomme’s goals were scored shorthanded her second in as many weeks and the first two of her career. She is just the fourth Buckeye to record multiple shorthanded goals in her career.
* Bonhomme was assisted on her shorthanded goal by freshman goaltender Deidre Facklis. Facklis not only picked up her first career point, but did so while playing in her first career minutes. She played the last 12:53 of the first period Friday.
ALL RILED UP
Freshman defenseman Shannon Reilly recorded three assists in the series split with Minnesota at the OSU Ice Rink. The native of Chanhassen, Minn., had one assist Friday and two Saturday, setting up goal Nos. 2 and 3 in the 4-1 win. The two helpers in the second game marked the first multiple-point game of her young career. Reilly has four points in the last three games (all of which have been against nationally-ranked opponents) and is tied for fifth in the WCHA in defenseman scoring.
BRAVO BONANNO
Junior goaltender Liana Bonanno stopped 37 of 38 shots faced Saturday in the 4-1 win against then-No. 8/10 Minnesota. It was already her third game this season with over 30 saves and was the 13th game with 30-plus saves for her career. She fell just short of the mark Friday with 29 saves.
Bonanno is averaging 27.8 saves per game this season. In her 25 career games played, she averages 26.8 saves per game.
COUNTDOWN TO 200
Head coach Jackie Barto is nearing a milestone in her 13th season of coaching, needing just six wins to reach the 200-victory mark. She has a career record is 194-199-39, including a 124-146-29 mark at Ohio State. Barto, the first and only head coach of the Ohio State women’s ice hockey team, is in her ninth season at the helm of the Buckeyes. In 2006-07, four Buckeyes were named to All-WCHA teams and Tessa Bonhomme became Ohio State’s third All-American. Barto reached her 100th Ohio State win Jan. 28, 2006, vs. Minnesota at the OSU Ice Rink. Prior to Ohio State, she spent five years coaching at Providence College.
MOVING ON UP
Senior defenseman Tessa Bonhomme’s nine points through six games leads the NCAA in points by a defenseman. She ranks third in the nation in blueliner points per game with 1.5 and is four points ahead of the next player in overall defenseman scoring in the WCHA.
With her three goals Friday vs. Minnesota, Bonhomme recorded her 90th point and upped her career total to 92. She also collected her 30th goal and now has 31 for her career to tie for eighth all-time. Bonhomme is just eight points away from her 100th, which would move her to second in career scoring by a defenseman and make her just the fourth Buckeye and second defenseman to reach that milestone. She trails former Buckeye All-American Emma Laaksonen (2001-04) who is second in defenseman scoring with 99. Last season, Amber Bowman set the OSU blueliner record with 102 career points.
WE HAVE A CONNECTION
The senior forward duo of Erin Keys and Mallory Peckels have combined to score four times this season, with senior defenseman Tessa Bonhomme also playing in a part in three of those goals. Bonhomme leads the team in points (9) and goals (5) and is tied with Peckels with four assists. Keys is second in scoring with six points and second in goals with four.
LEADING THE WAY
Senior defenseman Tessa Bonhomme was voted team captain for the 2007-08 season, announced at the team banquet in the spring. Along with three seniors, Bonhomme was one of four captains in 2006-07. Wearing the A’ for the Buckeyes this season is a trio of seniors in forwards Jody Heywood and Mallory Peckels and defenseman Lisa Chesson. It is the first OSU captain honor for all three.
BUCKEYES PICKED FOURTH IN WCHA
Ohio State has been picked to finish fourth in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, the league announced Sept. 25. In a poll of the eight head coaches taken by the WCHA, the Buckeyes received 31 points, six points behind No. 3 Minnesota. Two-time defending NCAA champion Wisconsin is No. 1 with 49 points and seven first-place votes, followed by Minnesota Duluth in second with 42 votes and one first-place vote.
UP NEXT
Ohio State will return to Columbus to welcome Bemidji State for a conference series, Nov. 2-3. Games begin at 7:07 p.m. both Friday and Saturday at the OSU Ice Rink.
