With Canadian captain and coach, Ohio State seeks women's Frozen Four repeat

Donna Spencer · The Associated Press

· Posted: Mar 20, 2025 7:33 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

Jenna Buglioni wants to propulsion her gloves and instrumentality successful the aerial successful solemnisation arsenic a Buckeye 1 past time.

The 23-year-old from Port Moody, B.C., leads defending champion Ohio State into the women's Frozen Four seeking a hockey title repetition and a 3rd rubric successful 4 years.

In her 5th and last twelvemonth of NCAA eligibility, Buglioni has ne'er known a play without a Frozen Four appearance.

"When we get immoderate transfers successful and we speech to them astir their experience, immoderate of those girls person ne'er been to a Frozen Four before," the Buckeyes' skipper said. "You benignant of enactment it into position of however hard it is to get present and however overmuch enactment it takes not lone to beryllium here, but to triumph it all.

"We've earned this opportunity, but it's been an astonishing thrust truthful far. My 5 years, this being the 5th Frozen Four, earlier that, Ohio State was trying to get connected the map. Very gladsome that I'm present for 1 past footwear astatine the can."

There's a hockey busload of Canadian contented successful Friday's semifinals astatine Ridder Arena successful Minneapolis.

Second-seed Ohio State, with 7 Canadians connected the roster and Nadine Muzerall of Mississauga, Ont., down the bench, faces 3rd effect Cornell with 16 Canadians successful the Big Red lineup coached by Doug Derraugh of Arnprior, Ont.

A combined 7 Canadian players are progressive connected the different broadside of the bracket wherever top-ranked Wisconsin meets big and 4th effect Minnesota coached by Brad Frost of Burlington, Ont., and featuring Golden Gophers defender Chloe Primerano of North Vancouver, B.C.

Buglioni, who led the NCAA with 7 game-winning goals this season, hopes her last play goes the region to Sunday's title crippled and that she tin observe with her teammates again.

"Every clip I deliberation backmost to the championships we've won, I tin conscionable deliberation astir the radical we did it with and to bash that again and extremity my OSU vocation with a triumph would beryllium thing super-special," she said.

"Not a batch of radical get to accidental they've ended their assemblage vocation connected a win."

Muzerall, Frost and Wisconsin Badgers manager Mark Johnson are the 3 finalists for manager of the year.

In 9 years astatine Ohio State, the 46-year-old Muzerall has built the Buckeyes into a regular contender.

They won their archetypal title successful 2022, reached the last successful 2023 and reclaimed the rubric past twelvemonth with a 1-0 triumph implicit Wisconsin successful Durham, N.H.

"It's the civilization and household she's created here. Lots of radical privation to travel and beryllium Buckeyes and that shows done our recruiting of freshmen and done the recruiting of transfers that we've got successful the past mates years," Buglioni said.

"She's decidedly precise pugnacious connected america and has precise precocious expectations, but she believes that we tin bash things that we don't adjacent judge ourselves. Having that pistillate relation exemplary of idiosyncratic who's pugnacious and bluish collar and believes that we tin bash thing we acceptable our caput to, truly helps our programme turn and conscionable beryllium pugnacious competitors."

Buglioni is among veterans who acceptable a precocious modular for incoming Buckeyes, said second-year guardant Jocelyn Amos, who captained Canada's under-18 squad to satellite title golden successful some 2022 and 2023.

"Every squad is antithetic twelvemonth to year," said the 20-year-old from Ailsa Craig, Ont. "You get a antithetic radical of girls, and past it's conscionable creating specified a beardown culture, but I deliberation it's the enactment we enactment successful passim the full season, and what the girls earlier america person done, the bequest they've left, they acceptable the barroom high, and you conscionable privation to travel successful and rise the barroom adjacent higher.

"This was lone my 2nd season, but you travel successful close distant and cognize the expectation. Even if you person occurrence 1 year, you privation to acceptable the barroom higher the adjacent year. You ne'er privation to settee and that's thing that's been instilled successful the program."