Ahead of this weekend's Women's Frozen 4, Ohio State has narrowly regained the No. 1 spot in Week 24 of the USA Hockey/The Rink Live Women's Hockey Poll.
The Buckeyes are followed by Wisconsin, Colgate, Clarkson and Minnesota. The top four teams will become Frozen 4 finalists, with Ohio State facing Clarkson and the Badgers facing Colgate on Friday.
Of the 15 ranked teams, 11 have been in the top 15 all season.
1. Ohio State University, 277 (11), 2, 33-4-0, 24
2. University of Wisconsin, 274 (8), 1, 34-5-0, 24
3. Colgate University, 245, 3, 32-6-1, 24
4. Clarkson University, 230, 4, 33-4-2, 24
5. University of Minnesota, 208, 5, 27-10-2, 24
6. Cornell University, 188, 6, 25-8-1, 24
7. St. Lawrence University, 169, 7, 28-11-0, 21
8. University of Minnesota Duluth, 154, 8, 21-14-4, 24
9. University of Connecticut, 122, 9, 25-8-5, 24
10. Quinnipiac University, 117, 10, 25-11-1, 24
11. St. Cloud State University, 93, 11, 17-17-2, 24
12. Penn State, 59, 13, 22-13-3, 14
13. Princeton University, 61, 12, 14-12-6, 22
14. Northeastern University, 47, 14, 25-11-3, 17
15. Yale University, 23, 15, 16-15-1, 24
Other people to vote for: Stonehill College, 5; Minnesota State University, 5; Boston College, 3.
The four teams competing in the women's Frozen 4 are currently the top four teams in this week's voting. Only four teams — Ohio State, Wisconsin, Colgate and Clarkson — will compete for the national title from March 22-24 in Durham, New Hampshire.
Ohio State regained the top spot in this week's polls after a big win over the weekend. The Buckeyes, with an overall record of 33 wins and 4 losses, defeated Minnesota Duluth in the NCAA regional championship game in Columbus. OSU scored nine points in the game and defeated the Bulldogs 9-0. Fourth-grader Olivia Mobley and fifth-grader Hannah Birka both scored twice in the varsity quarterfinals, and goaltender Raegan Kirk made 16 saves on 16 shots.
Conversely, the Badgers also had a successful weekend in the NCAA Regional Tournament, although the University of Wisconsin fell to second place after spending last week in first place. The Badgers, now 34-5, defeated St. Lawrence 4-0 in the regional championship game in Madison. Sophomore Lyla Edwards scored two goals and also had an assist in the game, while Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award finalist Kirsten Sims had three assists in the win. Freshman netminder Eva McNaughton stopped all 25 shots on goal.
Colgate remains in third place with a 3-1 win in the NCAA regional final against Cornell, and Clarkson also remains in fourth place after defeating Minnesota in 4OT.
Another change in the mid-March poll was that Penn State moved up one spot and Princeton fell one spot. Stonehill College, Minnesota State University and Boston University all received votes but did not make the top 15.
This byline is used for staff-authored articles and basic rewrites of news from official sources. In some cases, this byline is used when a story has multiple authors or is formed by aggregating previously reported news from different sources. If external sources are used, they will be noted within the story.
