Rink Roundup: Ohio State women’s hockey hit the road to battle Wisconsin

Ohio State’s women’s hockey team continued their perfect start to 2026, sweeping a pair of games against Minnesota Duluth to run their winning streak to 10 games. Even more impressive is the Buckeyes did so without a number of their top scorers, who have left the team to head to Italy to participate in the Winter Olympics.

Last weekend Ohio State welcomed Minnesota Duluth to Columbus. The Bulldogs couldn’t get back home faster after the Buckeyes won 6-2 on Friday night and 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.

Jocelyn Amos opened up the scoring 5:51 into the game with a power play goal. Sloane Matthews added another power play goal less than three minutes later to push the lead to 2-0. Kassidy Carmichael and Jordan Baxter scored later in the first period to give Ohio State a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes.

To close out the scoring by the Buckeyes in the game, Amos scored at 15:07 of the second period and 3:05 of the third period. Not only did Amos record a hat trick in the victory, she also was credited with an assist, giving her the fourth four-point game of her career.

Amos now has 30 points on the season, putting her behind Joy Dunne and Hilda Svensson. With Dunne and Svensson at the Olympics for the next couple weeks, Amos could move a bit closer to the two top Ohio State scorers, who each have 44 points this year.

After scoring on Friday night, Jordan Baxter scored the first goal of Saturday’s game just over 11 minutes into the first period. Following a Minnesota Duluth goal, Amos added her fourth goal of the weekend to break the tie, and Kaia Malachino scored a third period power play goal to give the Buckeyes an insurance goal. With the two victories, Ohio State is now 25-3 on the season.

To go along with the weekend sweep, two Buckeyes were honored by the WCHA. Maxine Cimoroni and Hailey MacLeod were named Western Collegiate Hockey Association Players of the Week. Cimoroni was named Rookie of the Week after recording five points in the two games against Minnesota Duluth, with three of those points being assists in Friday’s game.

MacLeod started both games against her former team, recording 32 saves in each game to earn Goaltender of the Week honors. With the two victories, MacLeod pushed her record on the season to 15-2-0, with 11 of those victories coming against ranked opponents.

Entering this weekend’s action, MacLeod has a 1.50 goals against average, .928 save percentage, and four shutouts. This marks the second time this season MacLeod has been named WCHA Goaltender of the Week.

Now Ohio State will hit the road for a tough pair of games against the top team in the country. Wisconsin handed the Buckeyes two of their three losses this season when they won two games in Columbus in early December. The 2-1 and 6-1 setbacks to the Badgers were the last games Ohio State lost before starting 2026 with a 10-game winning streak.

While Ohio State will be without Joy Dunne, Hilda Svensson, Sanni Vanhanen, and Jenna Rauino, Wisconsin will also will be without some of their top players. Caroline Harvey, Kristen Simms, Laila Edwards, and Ava McNaughton will be suiting up for Team USA in Italy, while Adela Sapovalivova will be playing for Czechia.

Harvey leads the team with 54 points, while Simms has 21 goals and 48 points. Edwards has added 36 points in 21 games for the Badgers. McNaughton has started 25 games in goal for Wisconsin this year, posting a 22-1-2 record with six shutouts.

The Badgers split two games with third-ranked Minnesota last week. After the Golden Gophers won 3-2 on Friday, Wisconsin rebounded with a 6-1 win on Saturday. Both of the losses suffered by the Badgers this year have come from Minnesota.

Wisconsin jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period in the second game of the series, and followed up with three more goals in the second period.

The star of the 6-1 win over the Golden Gophers was Cassie Hall, who had a hat trick in the game. Hall now has 19 goals and 36 points on the season. Along with Hall, Ohio State will have their hands full with Lacey Eden and Kelly Gorbatenko this weekend. Eden is second on the team with 20 goals and 53 points, while Gorbatenko has netted 18 goals this season.

Ohio State will be happy to not have McNaughton in between the pipes for the Badgers this weekend. Likely stepping into the starting role for Wisconsin will be Rhyah Stewart, who is the only other goalie to start a game for the Badgers this season.

Stewart is 2-1 with a 1.66 goals against average and a .925 save percentage in nine games played, with three starts.

Saturday’s game between Ohio State and Wisconsin is slated to start at 4 p.m. ET and can be seen on Big Ten Network, while Sunday’s game can be streamed on B1G+.