Inside Ohio State's Frozen Four journey: Behind the scenes of Buckeyes' heartbreak and hope

New York Times

27-03-2025

MINNEAPOLIS — Nadine Muzerall is pacing back and forth with headphones on between the stairway and the hallway that leads to the Ohio State locker room.
She's expected inside in a few minutes and needs to gather her thoughts before giving a pregame speech. These moments are important to her because she wants to find the right words to energize and focus her hockey team before it takes the ice.
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It's a big stage, the semifinals of the Women's Frozen Four and a chance for a second consecutive national championship (and third in four years), on the same campus where she starred as a player for Minnesota. As she walks into the locker room, her players are silent, sitting at their lockers in a half-circle, waiting to hear what Muzerall has to say.
First she goes over the game plan one more time, peppering players with a few questions. They answer correctly, and then she walks away from the whiteboard.
'The wolfpack is going to be our style of play today,' Muzerall says. 'There are three things that a wolfpack does very well: a cooperative hunting system, a strong bite force and territorial aggression.'
It's Muzerall's way of telling her team that if they want to beat Cornell, they have to play and fight together. That's what got Ohio State to this point.
The Buckeyes, the No. 2 seed in the NCAA women's hockey tournament, turned into one of the premier programs in the country because of that wolfpack mentality. They earned a trip to their sixth Frozen Four appearance since 2018 and fifth in a row, joining Wisconsin and Minnesota as the only programs to reach the semifinals in five consecutive years.
And with the 4-2 win over Cornell last Friday, Ohio State became just the third team to make the national championship game four years in a row.
What followed two days later was one of the most heartbreaking national championship losses any team could experience: 4-3 in overtime to No. 1 Wisconsin, after the Badgers tied the score on a penalty shot with 19 seconds left before winning in extra time.
The Athletic spent several days behind the scenes with the Ohio State women's hockey team throughout the Frozen Four, getting an up-close look at why this program has become dominant and positioned itself to rebound from such a defeat and give itself another chance at a third national title next March.
'They may score on us, but our glory isn't that we will never fall, but the fact that we will always rise up, every time,' Muzerall had said in her final message before the semifinal. 'Every time.'
When Ohio State filed into the Fawcett Center on March 9 to watch the NCAA tournament selection show, Muzerall was nowhere to be seen.
The ninth-year coach was instead at the hospital because she didn't want an injured player to watch the show alone. Assistant coach James Wisniewski watched with the team as they earned the No. 2 overall seed.
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There was excitement in the room when Ohio State was announced. It never gets old, even for a program that has been to six consecutive NCAA tournaments. After the selection show, Wisniewski, who played 14 years in the NHL, had a message.
'It's the postseason now,' he said. 'This may be the last time you play with the person next to you. Play for them.'
Players nodded and then left for a much-needed day off before their tournament run.
Muzerall has a reputation for being a hard coach who is hyper-focused on winning. But it's these moments that have kept the team in sync, sustaining success as a national power.
'I know I can perceive that I can be challenging and tough on our kids, but I'm also pretty emphatic that a lot of people don't get to see,' Muzerall said. 'I learned that as a mom.'
On one hand the Buckeyes have a veteran head coach known for her intense and competitive attitude. But off the ice, they have a coach who implores the players to be themselves, spend time together and joke around. She was the same way as a star player at Minnesota.
Laura Halldorson, the first women's hockey coach at Minnesota, referred to Muzerall as a 'prankster' in her time with the Gophers. She can still remember the time when Muzerall wrote 'Muz was here' on the forearm of the team's sports information director while he was asleep in the airport.
'She liked to have fun and was a joy to have on our team,' Halldorson said.
Ohio State has its own characters on its roster. They are a superstitious group that insists on taking a picture outside of St. John's Arena every year before leaving for the Frozen Four. It started in 2022 when they won their first national title. Each year, they take the same photo, with the same poses as in 2022. Even as players leave the team, new players step into their position and replicate it.
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Graduate senior Makenna Webster's birthday was Friday, the same day as the Cornell game, so the team decided to celebrate it on Saturday. When they made their way to the first floor room of their hotel where they eat breakfast together, there was birthday garland hanging on the wall. Next to Webster's seat was a sign that read 'Birthday Baddie sits here.'
After practice that day, even though Webster was resting before the title game rather than practicing, she ran out on the ice for the team's final break before ending practice. They huddled together and sang 'Happy Birthday.'
'These kids care for each other,' Muzerall said. 'It's not forced, it's not fake.'
Fifth-year senior Riley Brengman hurt her shoulder in the win over Cornell. The next morning, in the team room while waiting for her official diagnosis, her teammates came over to check on her consistently. They joked with her to make her laugh, one teammate even offering to be an extra arm for her.
Though Muzerall has utilized the transfer portal more than most coaches, this team was built around a fifth-year nucleus that has played in multiple Frozen Fours. Webster has played in three with the Buckeyes, Kiara Zanon played in two and Jenna Buglioni, Brengman and goalie Amanda Thiele have been part of the past five.
Muzerall talks to her team often about enjoying the moment. When Ohio State beat Cornell in the semifinal, she turned and held a long hug with Webster and Joy Dunne. They combined to score three of Ohio State's goals to lead the Buckeyes to the title game.
'It's about the time you won't have in the locker room with the girls anymore or the coaching staff that you built a family with,' she said. 'There's a bright future for all of them, but your relationship with your players as your family — that's what hurts the most, missing those daily relationships.'
Moments after Muzerall left the locker room celebrating the Cornell win with her team, she had to make her way to the press box for her news conference through a traffic jam on the concourse.
There were Ohio State fans and parents standing by the door to the team area waiting to congratulate the team on another Frozen Four win. There were numerous Minnesota fans trying to find their way to their seats for the semifinal game against Wisconsin, too.
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Muzerall couldn't make it more than one or two steps without stopping and saying hello to somebody or having another person patting her on the back or giving her a high five.
She stopped and talked to a number of Ohio State parents. Then she saw a few Minnesota fans she knew. One person yelled, 'Coach Muzzy, Minnesota legend, congrats!'
There aren't many places at the University of Minnesota she can go without being spotted or knowing somebody. And she remembers nearly everybody.
When the team arrived for its practice on Thursday, the day before the semifinal game, she knew the security person who was posted outside the locker room. She knew the person cleaning the floors outside the locker room, as well.
Leaving her interviews with ESPN, she spotted one of the rink managers, who stopped and talked about their families. They knew each other's kids since they were babies. Muzerall's kids are now 11 and 9 years old.
It was a welcome homecoming for Muzerall, who, even in a stressful week, didn't have a problem stopping and talking to the countless people who wanted face time all weekend. Minneapolis is her second home, and when the Buckeyes visit they go to the same restaurants every year.
Ohio State went to Tony's Diner for lunch on Friday and dinner after the championship game; she's been friends with the owner for years. There's also Dana, who is the team's bus driver every time they go to the state of Minnesota. Everybody from the players to the coaches to the support staff knows Dana and Tony by name.
'That's the heart of her,' Halldorson said. 'She cares about people and is very loyal. … They have bonds. She is friends with these people.'
Upon arriving at the rink on Thursday, Muzerall walked into the stands at 3M Arena at Mariucci and thought back on all her time on that ice before the Minnesota women's team moved next door to Ridder Arena. She recalled leaving the same locker room Ohio State used and, every game, grabbing a popcorn and two chocolate chip cookies from the same vending machine.
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Now, there's a tunnel that attaches the men's rink and women's rink, and once you get to Ridder Arena, her face is plastered all over the place.
Muzerall is one of the best players in Minnesota history. She holds career records for goals, power play goals, game-winning goals and goals per game. She also won four national titles in five years from 2012-16 as the second assistant coach before she left to build Ohio State from an afterthought to a national champion.
Outside of the rink, she can recall the place she met her husband, Ryan Venturine. She was even able to show her daughter, Bella, the house where her father lived when they were in school, as the bus drove by.
Muzerall loves Columbus now. Her family has a home in Marysville, her kids have a life there and she's fallen in love with how the city has embraced her. Still, part of her life is in Minneapolis. It's where some of her best friends are, where some of her best memories in life happened and where her kids were born.
So the return trip, for a chance to win the national championship, was special, even if she didn't have as much time as she'd have liked to take it all in.
In Saturday's film session after the win against Cornell, Muzerall went over a few things to watch for against Wisconsin. The Badgers, led by legendary coach Mark Johnson, national player of the year Casey O'Brien and four first-team All-Americans, finished 38-1-2, their lone regulation loss coming to Ohio State among four regular-season meetings.
But Muzerall's main message had nothing to do with the Badgers.
What Muzerall wanted to get through to her team was the mental aspect of the game. Wisconsin is deep and talented. Much like Ohio State, the Badgers have the ability to wear teams down both physically and mentally by the later periods. She didn't want that to happen on Sunday.
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'You have to come at them,' she said. 'It is your attitude and mental capacity that will hurt us. You can never quit.'
The Buckeyes play a fast, in-your-face type of hockey that relies on keeping players fresh with quick line shifts. The style proved capable of wearing down teams like St. Lawrence in the regional final and Cornell in the semifinal.
'That's our standard,' Webster said. 'Every day in practice, workouts, games, every day we are going to be relentless. That's what Ohio State is.'
It's why Ohio State is the only team that posed a threat to Wisconsin this season. The Badgers are very good in space and at dictating pace. Ohio State focused on trying to limit that space and pace as much as possible.
That attitude begins in the recruiting process but comes out most in the form of intense practices.
Watching Ohio State practice can be exhausting. The Buckeyes are well conditioned, and not just because they skate laps at practice. Their drills are fast-paced. Nobody is standing around for long between sets. The puck is sent in by either Muzerall or an assistant, and there's a battle for the puck, a shot on goal and then the next wave of players coming in.
They know those exhausting moments in practice have led to wins when it matters most more often than not.
'No team does it like our team,' Dunne said. 'You'd be shocked at how hard we battle. … Fighting each other has brought us closer together. We embrace the suck.'
Seconds after Ohio State's national championship loss to Wisconsin on Sunday, Thiele made her way to the bench and fell to one knee.
Tears were flowing down the face of the fifth-year goalkeeper who made a season-high 32 saves in the 4-3 overtime loss. In many ways, she saved her best hockey of the season for her final game in an Ohio State uniform, but there were two Kirsten Simms goals fresh on her mind as Wisconsin celebrated its eighth title.
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As Wisconsin stayed on the ice at Ridder Arena, Dunne stood at the exit until every coach and player left the ice.
The last one off the ice was Muzerall. The two walked off together, disappointed, but also understanding that winning is hard. Every season brings new challenges. As Muzerall reflects on this season, she is able to acknowledge how she's changed.
She's intense and hard on her teams. She said she thinks she's scared recruits off with how she is at times.
'I tell them it's not going to be easy,' Muzerall said. 'When you see that brand, it's one of the most prestigious athletic departments in the country, but when you get here, it's hard. Such is life.'
It's also a season that taught her to find a middle ground.
After an abysmal second period by the Buckeyes against Cornell, when they let up two goals and gave up a 2-0 lead, Muzerall walked into the locker room and gave her team words of encouragement. She didn't yell, which was a surprise to some.
'Teams in the past took to my more relentless attitude. This team can, but they need more of a pat on the back sometimes and comfort from me,' Muzerall said. 'And that's fine. I just have to find the moments when that's good and when they need a kick in the butt. This team has taught me a lot about pausing and not thinking emotionally.'
Ohio State will go into next season losing key pieces from this year's national runner-up team, but that's not new. The Buckeyes have become an annual national contender that reloads instead of rebuilds. Next year's team will be led by some talented returnees like Dunne, Sara Swiderski, Mira Jungaker, All-American Emma Peschel, Jocelyn Amos and Sloane Matthews.
That ability to maintain realistic championship expectations would've been unfathomable to think of nine years ago, before Muzerall arrived from Minnesota.
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As the team left last weekend, there wasn't a sense of despair. After her news conference, Muzerall gave hugs to familiar faces and the team made its way down the road to have dinner at Tony's Diner before returning to Columbus.
The Buckeyes wanted the time together to put a cap on a season that came up just seconds short of another national title. But next year's championship is already on their mind.
'I can't speak for everybody,' Dunne said, 'but I know there will be a drive for next year.'
(Illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic; photos: Carlos Gonzalez / Getty Images, Ohio State Athletics)