MINNEAPOLIS – For the third straight season, WCHA foes Wisconsin and Ohio State will battle for the NCAA women’s hockey national championship.
Wisconsin, shooting for a record-extending eighth title, overcame an early deficit and got a hat trick from junior right wing Laila Edwards on the way to a 6-2 victory over Minnesota in the second Frozen four semifinal Friday night at Ridder Arena.
Edwards’s third goal came with 1:19 left in the game when she stole the puck at center ice and skated to the net for an empty-netter.
Reigning champion Ohio State beat Cornell in the first game.
The Badgers (37-1-2) and Buckeyes (29-7-3) and have split the past two championship games, each by 1-0 scores.
UW’s victory over Minnesota was its sixth of the season after two regular-season games on each team’s home ice, the WCHA tournament championship and the Frozen Four semifinal.
Coming into the Frozen Four, Ohio State was the only team to have beat Wisconsin this season.
The Buckeyes won, 3-2, in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 16. The teams also played to a 3-3 tie at Wrigley Field, after which Ohio State won a shootout for the extra point in the WCHA standings.
Junior forward Laila Edwards scored on a pass from Kelly Gorbatenko 4:22 into the third period, giving Wisconsin a 5-2 victory.
Fifth-year UW center Casey O’Brien scored with two seconds left in the second period, capping an eventful final minute or so and leaving the score at 4-2 in the Badgers’ favor.
The strange sequence began when UW junior defender Caroline Harvey picked up the rebound of her own shot from close range, fired it across the empty net and bounced it off the far post.
After Minnesota took the puck the length of the ice, Harvey dropped Gophers star Abbey Murphy in the corner, drawing a two-minute penalty for a body check with 46.9 seconds left on the clock. Not even nine seconds later, Minnesota defender Chloe Primerano took an interference penalty.
O’Brien scored on a rush down the right side while Gophers center Ella Huber was down on the ice at the other end.
With the goal and two previous assists, O’Brien reached 88 points for the season, breaking Meghan Duggan’s program record.
No sooner had junior right wing Kirsten Simms given the Badgers a 3-1 lead midway through the second period than the Gophers answered with a score from junior left wing Josefin Bouveng.
Simms buried the puck from short range at 9:42 of the period. Bouveng scored on a rush 45 seconds later.
Junior Caroline Harvey gave the Badgers their first lead of the game 2:52 into the second period. Harvey, the leading scorer among defenders and one of UW’s Patty Kazmaier Award finalists, took a pass from Casey O’Brien in the right circle, skated a few strides to her left and buried the puck in the back of the net.
Wtih UW defender Ava Murphy in the penalty box for hooking, Badgers center Casey O’Brien took a pass from Caroline Harvey carried it up the ice, left it for Laila Edwards at the top of the right circle and Edwards blasted the puck past the Gophers’ Hannah Clark to tie the score, 1-1, at 17:15 of the first period.
Edwards leads the Badgers with three short-handed goals this season.
Senior right wing Peyton Hemp got Minnesota on the scoreboard first, putting in a rebound from short range at 14:14 of the first period.
Just before the first media timeout, Wisconsin junior defender Caroline Harvey went down along the boards after an elbow from Minnesota right wing Abbey Murphy, was slow to get up and then skated gingerly across the ice to the Badgers bench and headed directly up the tunnel.
Harvey returned to the bench area moments later and then to the ice.
Murphy, a frequent thorn in the Badgers’ side, was assessed a five-minute penalty that the Gophers were able to kill.
Harvey is the top scorer in the country among defenders and one of three UW players who locked up the finalist spots for the Patty Kazmaier Award to be presented Saturday.
Wisconsin and Minnesota play at 7:30 p.m. Friday after Ohio State and Cornell at 4 p.m.
The Frozen Four semifinals stream on ESPN+.
The Wisconsin-Minnesota winner will take on Ohio State (28-7-3) at 3 p.m. Sunday.
The Buckeyes scored a 4-2 victory over Cornell, getting a pair of goals from sophomore forward Joy Dunne in the third period after they had let a two-goal lead get away in the second.
UW entered the weekend having won the five previous meetings with Minnesota this season, twice in Madison and twice in Minneapolis in the regular season and then in Duluth in the WCHA Final Faceoff championship game.
Wisconsin and Minnesota have been the most successful teams in women’s college hockey with the Badgers having won seven (2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2019, 2021, 2023) and the Gophers six (2004, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016).
UW’s 4-3 victory in Duluth tied the all-time series 57-57-16. Wisconsin won nine of the previous 10 meetings. Minnesota leads the series 27-20-9 when playing on its home ice.
Oct. 18, 2024: Wisconsin 5, Minnesota 0 in Minneapolis
Oct. 19, 2024: Wisconsin 4, Minnesota 3 in Minneapolis
Feb. 8, 2025: Wisconsin 8, Minnesota 2 in Madison
Feb. 9, 2025: Wisconsin 6, Minnesota 1 in Madison
March 8, 2025: Wisconsin 4, Minnesota 3 in Duluth, Minnesota, WCHA tournament championship game
