No. 2 Ohio State Opens the Season at No. 4/6 Penn State

Thursday, September 24

University Park, Pa.

6 p.m.

Ohio State

Penn State

No. 2 Ohio State Opens the Season at No. 4/6 Penn State

9/22/2026 7:33:00 PM | Women's Ice Hockey

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 2 Ohio State women's hockey team opens its 2026-27 season this week at No. 4/6 Penn State. The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions face off at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24 and 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25 at Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Pennsylvania.

The games will be streamed on B1G+ (subscription required).

The 2026-27 Buckeyes

The 2026-27 Ohio State women's hockey team features 16 returning players from last season's WCHA Final Faceoff and national runner up team.
The contingent of returners includes five Olympians in Finland's Sanni Vanhanen, Sweden's Mira Jungåker, Jenna Raunio and Hilda Svensson, and Team USA gold medalist Joy Dunne.
Svensson finished her freshman season as the 2026 HCA Rookie of the Year and Joy Dunne returns as a 2026-27 First Team All-American.
Overall, seven of the Buckeyes' top 10 point producers and four of the team's eight defenders from last season are back this year.
The team has four captains this season, with Jocelyn Amos and Dunne wearing the "C" and Jungåker and Jordyn Petrie wearing the "A". Amos and Dunne served as alternate captains last season.
In addition to its strong corps of returners, Ohio State welcomes eight newcomers to the roster. The team adds veteran transfers Rylee Bartz, Ellah Hause and Sydney Sawyer, 2026 IIHF U18 Women's World Championships silver medalists for Canada – Rowan Houweling, Alida Korte, Hayley McDonald and Kate Viel, and Slovakian senior national team member Ema Tothova.

Buckeyes in a Nutshell

Ohio State opens the season in the same venue it ended the 2025-26 season. Pegula Ice Arena hosted the 2026 Women's Frozen Four and Ohio State and Penn State were two of the four teams competing for a national title. The Buckeyes ultimately fell in the national title game and the Nittany Lions fell in the semifinal to national champion Wisconsin.
Ohio State starts the year as the second-ranked team in the country. The Buckeyes have been ranked in the top two in both the USCHO and USA Hockey College Polls for the last 17 polls. The Buckeyes have not dropped out of the top three since 2024.
The Buckeyes led the league with three players on the Preseason All-WCHA team in Amos, Dunne and Jungåker. Dunne was also named the preseason player of the year. The team was voted to finish first in the conference with six first-place votes and 48 points overall.
Svensson returns as the Buckeyes' leading point producers from last season. She finished the year with 52 points, good for second among Buckeye rookies all-time and tied for seventh most-points in a season by a Buckeye forward.
Dunne tallied a team-high 27 goals in the 2025-26 campaign, tying for fifth overall. Her season goal totals from the last three seasons are all in the top 10 in the program record book for goals in a season. Her 80 career goals are third-most among all-time Buckeyes.
Ohio State opens the season on the road for the second year in a row. The Buckeyes swept Colgate in their season-opening series of the 2025-26 season. The program is 19-6-2 all-time in season-opening games and 11-3-1 when the first game of the season is played on the road.
The Buckeyes are led by head coach Nadine Muzerall. Muzerall enters her 11th season at the helm with a career record of 260-86-22. She is assisted by first-year associate head coach Jack Johnson and assistant coaches Kelsey Cline (fifth season) and Logan Davis (fourth season). Muzerall is tied for second among active Division I women's hockey head coaches with a .736 career win percentage.

Series History – Buckeyes vs. Nittany Lions

Ohio State is 11-2-0 all-time against Penn State.
The teams last met during the 2025-26 regular season. The Buckeyes swept the series in Columbus with 5-1 and 4-1 wins at the OSU Ice Rink.
The matchup returns to Pegula Ice Arena for the first time since 2017. The last time the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions faced off in University Park, Pa., Ohio State earned a sweep and series shut out.
With the matchup against Penn State, Ohio State will play every Big Ten women's hockey team in the Nittany Lions, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The Badgers and Gophers are conference opponents for the Buckeyes.

Hall of Fame Weekend for Jincy Dunne

Four-time Ohio State captain Jincy (Dunne) Roese is a member of the 2026 Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame class with her induction set for Friday evening at the Covelli Center.
The two-time WCHA Defensive Player of the Year and four-time All-WCHA performer helped the Buckeyes to their first NCAA tournament and Frozen Four appearance in 2018 and first WCHA Final Faceoff Championship in 2020.
She is the fourth women's hockey player to be inducted into the hall of fame, following Natalie Spooner (2019), Tessa Bonhomme (2014) and Emma Laaksonen (2009).
For more on the 2026 Ohio State Hall of Fame class: go.osu.edu/hofclass26

Up Next
Ohio State opens its Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) season with a series at St. Thomas Oct. 2-3. The Buckeyes and Tommies face off at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2 and 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3. The games will be played at Lee & Penny Anderson Arena in St. Paul, Minn. and streamed on B1G+ (subscription required).

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