In most instances, when “Ohio State” and “blitz” are used in the same sentence, the subject is football. In this case, it’s the best way to describe what the Buckeyes women’s hockey team did to the Gophers on Friday night at Ridder Arena.

The nation’s No. 1 team found the net four times in the first period and continued to pour it on for the remainder of the game in a 7-0 win over the No. 2 Gophers.

It was a stunning outcome considering the Gophers’ lofty standing and their keen desire to get a little payback after losing a pair of close games to the Buckeyes in late October in Columbus.

“We felt like we’ve become a better team,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “It didn’t show tonight.”

It was the second straight lopsided loss at home for the Gophers (16-4-1, 10-4-1 WCHA) against a top WCHA opponent. They lost a 5-1 decision to Wisconsin on Dec. 9.

Gophers captain Peyton Hemp said it was a dejected group of players in the locker room afterward, having been “pumped up” in anticipation of putting on a good show against No. 1.

“That’s not usual for us to lose like that,” the junior from Andover said. “The girls took it pretty hard; rightfully so. We thought it would be more of a barnburner. Pretty tough loss.”

At least on this night, the Gophers’ overall game simply wasn’t up to the challenge.

“We did not do a good job in front of our net at all,” Frost said when asked to piece together what happened. “We were skating away from pucks, we weren’t stopping on pucks. We weren’t getting (opposing) sticks up.

“All four of their goals in the first period were right there in the crease. We had opportunities to clear the puck, and we didn’t.”

The Buckeyes are known for going hard to the net, so the Gophers’ soft play played right into their hands.

“They swarm you,” Frost said. “It’s kind of position-less hockey. Their ‘D’ are down, their forwards are always crisscrossing.”

It led to the Gophers making mistakes they usually don’t make.

“They are an aggressive team,” Frost said of the Buckeyes. “They’ll put you in some of those positions, and some of those wounds were self-inflicted as well.”

Offensively, the Gophers had some scoring changes early that could have changed things had one or two gone in, but it was a relatively subpar game on that end as well. The Gophers were outshot 33-20.

Ohio State left winger Joy Dunne collected a hat trick and right winger Hannah Bilka scored a pair for the Buckeyes (17-2-0, 14-1-0 WCHA).

Dunne opened the scoring for the Buckeyes at 5:46 of the first period when she deflected a shot from the point past Gophers goaltender Lucy Morgan. Farmington native Kenzie Hauswirth made it 2-0 when she scored on a rebound at 10:17.

The Buckeyes scored again at 14:17 and 15:31, both from in tight. Frost called a timeout after the fourth goal in hopes of settling his team down. He also replaced Morgan with Skylar Vetter.

“Just trying to change the momentum,” Frost said. “Obviously, that didn’t come to fruition.”

Ohio State scored twice in the second period and once more in the third, keeping the pressure on until the final horn.

The Gophers have a short turnaround in their quest to earn a split in the series with Saturday’s 2 p.m. puck drop. Frost and Hemp both talked about watching the video of the game in their preparation for the rematch.

“There are a lot of little things we can look back on,” Hemp said, “and just regroup.”

Briefly

The Gophers were shut out for the first time since losing to Wisconsin 5-0 in Madison on Jan. 15, 2021.

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