The opening weekend of the NCAA Women’s Hockey season has gotten off to a start that no one could have predicted. As women’s ice hockey continues to build momentum in North America on the soaring wings of the PWHL’s inaugural season, many eyes were on the WCHA back-to-back series between the 1^st ranked defending National Champion Ohio State and the 8^th ranked Minnesota Duluth. A spoiler before I dive into the takeaways from this season opening series, is that this is the first time that Ohio State has lost consecutive regular season games since October 23^rd and 24^th, 2021 against Wisconsin, and the first time losing back-to-back at home since January of 2019.

               Saturday’s season opener was a chaotic affair where all three goals were scored in either the opening or closing two minutes of a period. Ohio State was dominant to open Saturday’s contest, with Jordyn Petrie scoring less than two minutes into the season on a setup from Jenna Buglioni. Minnesota Duluth was hapless in the opening frame having been outshot 18 to 2 in the twenty-minute span. Luckily for them, Éve Gascon was up to the challenge, allowing nothing past the first goal in the frame. The second period saw a lower total shot volume for the period with Minnesota Duluth holding a slight 7 to 4 edge over Ohio State as their defense tightened up following the first period. With one minute and fourteen seconds remaining in the second period, Olivia Wallin put the equalizer on the board with assists from Clara Van Wieren and Ida Karlsson, shifting the pressure back to Ohio State to create offense in the third period. Ohio State’s core threw everything including the kitchen sink at Minnesota Duluth with another 18-shot period, but Gascon did not teeter. With 23 seconds left in regulation, Mary Kate O’Brien and Olivia Mobley managed to connect the puck to Ida Karlsson, who managed to beat Amanda Thiele to push the Bulldogs to a 2-1 victory on opening day in Columbus.

               Sunday’s rematch would see another outstanding outing from Éve Gascon, but this time around she would need and receive a little bit more help from her skater group. For the second straight afternoon, Ohio State would open the scoring, this time from Jocelyn Amos (Buglioni and Petrie on the assists). However, Minnesota Duluth would answer back 8 minutes later with a goal from Clara Van Wieren (Olivia Wallin and Caitlin Kraemer with helpers). The Bulldogs would bite again within the first two minutes of the second period with a power play goal from Jenna Lawry (Nina Jobst-Smith and Mary Kate O’Brien). Ohio State would hold a slight edge in possession and shots throughout the second period (16 to 11 SOG) but would not find luck in the offensive zone until less than 90 seconds were left in the frame. Emma Peschel would put the equalizer past Gascon with assists from Joy Dunne and Maddi Wheeler. 11 seconds later, Kiara Zanon would give Ohio State the lead (Peshel and Sara Swiderski), putting the pressure on Minnesota Duluth to find a goal this time around. Less than five minutes into the third period, Caitlin Kraemer rose the occasion and brought the score to even. Ten minutes later, Kraemer would release an absolute missile from the top of the circle in transition, pulling the Bulldogs ahead by one with less than 6 minutes remaining in regulation. Ohio State would muster their offense, but the Bulldog defense and Gascon would prove to be too much to overcome on the early autumn afternoon.

               This series was exactly how the NCAA season needed to start. I love Ohio State’s dominance in winning two of the past three national championships and having appeared in all of them. I love Minnesota Duluth, the 2022 runners-up, showcasing to the hockey world that they’re every bit the blue blood program they were during the 2000’s when they 5 national championships in a decade. It is spectacular for the women’s game that following her blistering 10 points in 6 games run at last year’s U18 tournament, that Caitlin Kraemer is going to become one of the biggest stars in Women’s college hockey over the next four years, and eventually one of the biggest names in the PWHL at the end of the decade. All I can say to end this on is that this will be an amazing women’s hockey season, and I can’t wait to cover it.