No. 1 Buckeyes, No. 2 Badgers Faceoff in Regular Season Finale

No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Wisconsin
Date: Feb. 23/24, 2024
Time: 8 p.m./9 p.m. ET
Venue: LaBahn Arena
Watch: B1G+ (Friday)/Big Ten Network (Saturday)
Live Stats: OhioStateBuckeyes.com
Rosters: Ohio State | Wisconsin
Game Notes: Ohio State | Wisconsin

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women's hockey team closes the 2023-24 regular season this weekend in Wisconsin. The top-ranked Buckeyes and No. 2 Badgers meet Feb. 23-24 at LaBahn Arena in Madison, Wis.

Faceoff is set for 8 p.m. ET Friday and 9 p.m. ET Saturday. The team's final regular season game on Saturday will be televised on Big Ten Network. Dan Kelly and Bailey Wellhausen will be on the call. Game one will be streamed on B1G+ (subscription required).

Buckeyes in a Nutshell

Ohio State enters the final regular season series already having won the 2023-24 WCHA regular season trophy. The Buckeyes are seven points ahead of second-place Wisconsin entering this weekend in Madison.
Lauren Bernard was named the WCHA Defender of the Week after the Buckeyes' sweep of St. Thomas last weekend. She tied for first in the league with four points and a +6 on the weekend. The Madison, Ohio native tallied her first career shorthanded goal and assisted three of the team's 12 goals in game one, all while helping the team hold St. Thomas to just 20 shots on goal and two goals the entire weekend.
With one weekend of regular season play remaining, Hannah Bilka has recorded a team-high 39 points and 23 assists. Joy Dunne paces the team with 18 goals.
The Ohio State goaltending tandem of Raygan Kirk and Amanda Thiele is among the best at their position in the country. Kirk leads the nation in win percentage (.938), followed by Thiele (9.29) in second. Kirk paces conference goaltenders with a 1.018 goals against average.
Ohio State leads the country in scoring margin, defeating its opponents by an average of 3.93 goals per game, and win percentage (.933). The Buckeyes are also tied for most short handed goals this season with seven.
Ahead of this weekend's contest between the top two ranked teams, Ohio State has played 18 games against top-10 teams this season and is 16-2-0 in those matchups.
Cayla Barnes is on a team-best six-game point streak. She has tallied a goal in four of the six games. Barnes leads the team with 45 blocked shots and a +57 on the year.
While Ohio State is third nationally in goals (156), assists (259) and points (415), you'll only find one Buckeye in the top-20 in points this season. That's because the team's scoring has not been limited to just a few players, rather the entire roster. Every skater has tallied a goal this season and 11 of the 19 skaters have scored at least 20 points on the year. All but one have recorded 10 points.
Nineteen Buckeyes were named WCHA Scholar-Athletes and Academic Team honorees this week. Every Buckeye who is at least a sophomore in academic standing, the requirement for the awards, earned the recognition. WCHA Scholar-Athlete is awarded to student-athletes with a 3.5 GPA and higher and Academic Team honors those with GPAs of 3.0 and above. The Buckeyes' 19 Scholar-Athletes led the league.
Buckeye alumnae Jincy (Dunne) Roese and Sophie Jaques were recognized by the WCHA as members of the leagues' 25th Anniversary Top-25 Team. Jaques is the Buckeyes' first Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award winner and set numerous records, both Ohio State and WCHA, during her career. Roese was a key piece in the Buckeyes' climb to the top, helping the team to its first NCAA Tournament and Frozen Four appearances and winning the team's first WCHA Final Faceoff title. Both are the Buckeyes' only two-time First Team All-Americans.

Series History – Buckeyes vs. Badgers

The Buckeyes are 23-76-10 all-time against the Badgers. Since Nadine Muzerall took over the program in 2016, the Buckeyes are 15-17-4 against the Badgers.
This weekend is the second time Ohio State and Wisconsin will meet as the top-two teams in the country this season.
In November, the then-ranked No. 2 Buckeyes swept then-ranked No. 1 Wisconsin in Columbus, taking five of six conference points.
The last time the teams played at LaBahn was in the 2022-23 regular season finale. The teams split the series, with Wisconsin winning game one, 6-5, and Ohio State winning game two, 3-1.

Up Next
The postseason starts next weekend with Ohio State hosting its WCHA quarterfinal games at the OSU Ice Rink March 1-3. The Buckeyes will play the eighth-place team in the conference standings in the best-of-three series.

Tickets for Ohio State women's hockey home games can be purchased HERE.

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