Ohio State
10-2-0, 10-2-0
St. Thomas
4-7-1, 2-7-1
Ohio State Sweeps St. Thomas with 6-2 Saturday Win
11/6/2021 6:41:34 PM | Women's Ice Hockey
Box Score | Schedule | Roster | Season Stats
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 2 Ohio State women’s hockey team earned a 6-2 victory over St. Thomas on Saturday afternoon at the St. Thomas Ice Arena. As a result, the Buckeyes (10-2-0, 10-2-0 WCHA) finished the regular season series against the Tommies (4-7-1, 2-7-1 WCHA) undefeated.
How it Happened
For the second time of the weekend, Clair DeGeorge scored Ohio State’s first goal of the game. Right after the Buckeyes’ first power play opportunity of the day, the graduate student redirected a laser from Sophie Jaques past St. Thomas’ Alexa Dobchuk. The Buckeyes closed the period with a 22-2 shot advantage.
An early second period penalty put Ohio State man-up just over a minute into the frame. Jaques earned another point, this time scoring the team’s second goal of the game. Nearly six minutes later, the Scarlet and Gray were on the power play again and Liz Schepers capitalized on the St. Thomas penalty to put the team up 3-0.
The Tommies found themselves on the board at 15:54, yet Ohio State continued to push the pace. With less than two minutes to play in the period, Gabby Rosenthal managed to get her stick on a rebound from Jenna Buglioni and push the puck across the goal line for the Buckeyes’ fourth goal of the day. The second period closed as St. Thomas cut into the Ohio State lead with their second goal of the game with nine seconds remaining.
Ohio State added two more goals in the third period, starting with season goal No. 1 for Sara Saekkinen. The senior forward collected Brooke Bink’s rebounded shot and knocked it into the net at 12:30 to play in the game. Schepers scored her second goal of the day at 11:29 to give the Buckeyes a four-goal lead that they would not surrender for the remainder of the matchup.
Goaltender Raygan Kirk earned the win for the Buckeyes, making five saves and finishing with a .714 save percentage.
Game Notes
- Sara Saekkinen recorded her first goal of the season and eighth of her career in the game. Skating in 94 games for Ohio State, she has recorded 27 career points.
- With two points in the second game against the Tommies, and six on the weekend, Sophie Jaques has recorded 68 points for her career. The defenseman is now two points shy of ranking top ten in the Buckeye record book for career points by a defenseman.
- Liz’s Schepers’ two-goal game against St. Thomas put her three points away (97) from 100 for her career.
- Raygan Kirk made her third start of the season in goal for the Buckeyes on Saturday. With the win, she improves to 3-0-0 on the year.
- Multiple Buckeyes maintained active point streaks in Saturday’s game against St. Thomas. Clair DeGeorge, who scored Ohio State’s first goal in both games of the weekend, Jenn Gardiner and Paetyn Levis have recorded at least one point in the last four games for Ohio State. Mackenzie Hauswirth, Liz Schepers and Saekkinen have scored a point in the last three contests. Gabby Rosenthal has scored in all but one game this season for the Buckeyes and Jenna Bulgioni leads the team with a point in every game this season.
- Ohio State tied a program record single-game high with 64 shots on goal Saturday against St. Thomas. It is just the second time in the history of the program that the Buckeyes have landed 64 shots on target. Overall, the team took 94 shots against St. Thomas on Saturday.
- For the fourth time this season, Ohio State scored two power play goals in a game.
- With the sweep against St. Thomas on the road, Ohio State improves to 4-0 over the Tommies in the all-time series.
Statistically Speaking
Shots: Ohio State 94, St. Thomas 12
Saves: St. Thomas (Dobchuk) 58, Ohio State (Kirk) 5
Power Play: Ohio State 2-7, St. Thomas 0-2
Faceoffs: Ohio State 54, St. Thomas 13
Ohio State Scoring: Schepers (2-0-2), Jaques (1-1-2), DeGeorge (1-0-1), Rosenthal (1-0-1), Saekkinen (1-0-1), Bernard (0-1-1), Bink (0-1-1), Bizal (0-1-1), Buglioni (0-1-1), Gardiner (0-1-1), Hartmetz (0-1-1), Hauswirth (0-1-1), Levis (0-1-1)
Up Next
Following a bye week next week, Ohio State returns to action Nov. 19-20 against Minnesota State. The Buckeyes host the Mavericks in Columbus for the final home series of 2021.
#GoBucks
