Buckeyes, Badgers Set for Final Faceoff Semifinal Matchup
3/4/2022 7:26:45 AM | Women's Ice Hockey
No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 3 Wisconsin
Date: March 5, 2022
Time: 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET
Venue: Ridder Arena
Watch: B1G+
Listen: Scarlet & Gray Sports Radio
Rosters: Ohio State | Wisconsin
Season Stats: Ohio State | Wisconsin
Game Notes: Ohio State | Wisconsin
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State women’s hockey continues its postseason at the WCHA Final Faceoff this weekend against three-seed Wisconsin. The No. 2 Buckeyes and No. 3 Badgers faceoff at 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT from Ridder Arena on the University of Minnesota campus.
The winner of Saturday’s semifinal matchup will play for the Final Faceoff championship on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT. at Ridder Arena. All three games of the WCHA Final Faceoff will be streamed on B1G+ (subscription required).
Ohio State in the WCHA Final Faceoff
- The Buckeyes have advanced to the WCHA semifinal 14 times in the history of the program.
- The team is currently on a five-year streak of trips to the semifinals, starting in 2018. Ohio State’s longest semifinal streak was six trips from 2000-05.
- The Buckeyes have played in three WCHA championship games. The first was in 2001 and then Ohio State played for the Final Faceoff trophy in 2020 and 2021.
- Ohio State won its first WCHA Championship in 2020 with a 1-0 double overtime win over Wisconsin.
- The Buckeyes are 29-35-0 all-time in the WCHA tournament.
Buckeyes in a Nutshell
- Ohio State’s 27 wins this season are a program record. The previous season-high victories for the Buckeyes was 24 in the 2019-20 and 2017-18 seasons.
- Amanda Thiele and Sophie Jaques earned the WCHA’s final Goaltender of the Month and Defender of the Month honors of the season. Thiele posted a 6-1 record for the Buckeyes in February with two shutouts, including one in her first WCHA playoff game against St. Cloud State. Jaques tallied 10 points on two goals and eight assists for the Buckeyes. She recorded three multi-point games in the month and was on the ice for four of Ohio State’s five goals in the 5-0 win over Wisconsin.
- Paetyn Levis leads the team with 22 goals on the year. Jaques continues to pace Ohio State with 36 assists and 54 points overall this season.
- Thiele leads the Buckeye goaltending squad with a 13-3-0 record on the year. She has posted a .942 save percentage this year.
Notable Notes
- Jaques added two postseason conference awards to her collection this week, earning the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year award and Outstanding Student-Athlete honor as well. She is just the second Ohio State player to be recognized as the league’s outstanding student-athlete and third to earn the defender of the year award.
- Four Buckeyes earned All-WCHA honors following the regular season. Jaques picked up a First Team nod while Liz Schepers and Andrea Braendli were named to the second team. Jenna Buglioni garnered Third Team honors for the Buckeyes.
- Ohio State owns a 9-4-0 record on the road this season and is 2-0-0 on the year in neutral site matchups.
- The Buckeyes have earned a nation-leading .356 power play percentage through 34 games. The team has scored 31 power play goals on 87 attempts this season.
- Paetyn Levis scored four goals in the first quarterfinal game against St. Cloud State for the second time this season a Buckeye has tallied four goals in a game. She tied the most goals scored in a game this season in the NCAA.
- For the first time in three seasons, Ohio State earned a series shutout of an opponent, taking 6-0 and 3-0 wins in the quarterfinals against the Huskies.
- Braendli took the ice for the Buckeyes in the team’s second game against St. Cloud State last weekend for the first time since returning from the Olympics. She posted 11 saves in the win to help Ohio State book its ticket to the Final Faceoff.
- Amanda Thiele leads the conference in save percentage (.942) and goals against average (1.200).
- Ohio State has proved to be consistent in scoring throughout all 60 minutes, scoring 54 goals in the first and third periods and 52 in the second.
- Gabby Rosenthal leads the conference with 491 faceoff wins.
- Ohio State has found most of its success this year when striking first against opponents, winning 23 of 26 games in which they scored the first goal of the game.
- The Buckeyes have only been outshot in five games this season. The team averages 43.03 shots/game. That’s over twice as many its opponents have averaged this year (20.55) against them.
Buckeye Postseason Records
- In the first weekend of the playoffs, Levis tied the program record points in a single postseason run by a Buckeye with seven.
- Levis’ four goals also tie for second most in a single postseason.
- With three points against St. Cloud State last weekend, Schepers has tied the program record for career postseason points with 14.
Have a Season, Sophie!
- Buckeye blueliner Sophie Jaques is one of the top point producers in the NCAA this season.
- This week, she was named a Top-10 finalist for the 2022 Patty Kazmaier Award. She is one of two defensemen who earned the honor.
- She leads the team with a +45 entering the Final Faceoff and has been on ice for over half of Ohio State’s 152 goals this season.
- Jaques has scored the most points by a true defenseman in nine seasons. Her offensive success this year ranks her fourth among year-by-year true defenseman scoring leaders nationally since the 1999-20 season.
- She averages the second-most assists per game (1.09) and power play goals (10) and third-most points per game (1.64) in the country this season despite being at least one game behind the leaders.
- Her 54 points on the year places are the fourth-most by a skater this season. The senior is just 10 points behind the leader with three less games played.
- Jaques took the Ohio State record for points in a single season by a defenseman in the Buckeye’s series at Minnesota State on Feb. 4-5.
- A civil engineering major from Toronto, Ont., Jaques became the 14th Ohio State Buckeye to record 100 career points on Feb. 12. In 126 games as a Buckeye, she has averaged 0.817 points per game for her career.
Buckeye Record Watch
- Jaques and Schepers have both broken into the top-10 in career assists by a Buckeye. Jaques, who has 69 helpers for her career, ranks tenth while Schepers is eighth with 71.
- Schepers’ 62 career goals ranks fifth among all-time Buckeyes and her 133 points are good for seventh all-time.
- Jaques, who joined Schepers with 100 career points as a Buckeye this season, is now second in career points (102) by an Ohio State defenseman.
- Ohio State has tied the program record 16 single-season victories at the OSU Ice Rink this year with the sweep of St. Cloud State.
- Thiele’s goals against average (1.20) this season currently ranks as the program-best mark in the category. Braendli’s 1.68 ranks second.
History vs. Wisconsin
- Ohio State enters the semifinal matchup 2-2-0 against Wisconsin this season.
- After dropping the first series to the Badgers in October, the Buckeyes earned a series sweep of Wisconsin in the final regular-season series of the year in Columbus.
- In recent years, Ohio State and Wisconsin have made a habit of meeting in the postseason. Last year, the Buckeyes faced the Badgers twice in the postseason, in the Final Faceoff Championship game and then in the NCAA semifinals.
- In 2020, the Buckeyes won their first Final Faceoff with a win over the Badgers.
- The 2018-19 season was the last time that the Badgers and Buckeyes met in the WCHA semifinals, with Wisconsin earning the higher seed and taking a 2-3 win over Ohio State.
Buckeyes in the Classroom
- Fifteen members of the women’s hockey program have earned WCHA All-Academic Team honors, the conference announced Wednesday.
- This Buckeyes All-Academic Team honorees represent every student-athlete who met the one-year attendance at their current institution requirement by the conference. The honor is awarded to student-athlete who have maintained at least a 3.00 GPA over the last two semesters.
- In addition, 14 players earned WCHA Scholar-Athlete honors for achieving GPAs of 3.50 or higher.
2022 Winter Olympics
- Emma Maltais, Natalie Spooner and Team Canada took gold on Wednesday night. The pair earn Ohio State women’s hockey’s fourth gold medal and 11th podium finish overall.
- Jincy Dunne earned silver in her Olympic debut for Team USA.
- Minttu Tuominen and Team Finland won the bronze medal match against Switzerland on Wednesday morning. The medal is Tuominen’s third of her Olympic career.
#GoBucks
No videos available.
