Kirsten Simms’ heroics help Wisconsin beat Ohio State to win NCAA women’s hockey championship

It was the perfect end to what has been an exhilarating season.

Kirsten Simms’ goal just minutes into overtime gave the Wisconsin Badgers a 4-3 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes to win the NCAA Women’s D-I Hockey Championship.

It’s the Badgers’ record eighth national championship. They were able to get revenge for last year’s national title game loss to the Buckeyes, in which Ohio State ended Wisconsin’s bid at back-to-back championships.

A breathless Simms, who was on the championship team that beat Ohio State in 2022, was ecstatic following the win.

“It doesn’t feel real,” Simms told Blake Bolden on the ESPN broadcast. “This team went to bat all game. We fought through a ton of adversity, and to come out on top is just exactly what we wanted.”

Head coach Mark Johnson, who is usually pretty stoic behind the bench, was elated to see his team win in such a dramatic fashion.

“It wasn’t easy,” Johnson said. “It wasn’t going to be easy. Then the game…it does strange things to you … you get a penalty shot. I was asking you [Blake], would you want to take that penalty shot? You talk about pressure. So give Simms the amount of credit for stepping up and wanting to do and then execute in the big moment.”

It was the third year in a row the two programs have met in the championship game, a feat that has never happened in NCAA Women’s Hockey. Unlike the last two meetings–where the teams combined for two goals–scoring came in droves, with both teams trying to establish dominance with the physical game as well.

The teams traded goals throughout, and it looked like Ohio State was on its way to a third championship in four seasons. Up 3-2 in the final minute of the game, it seemed as if senior goaltender Amanda Thiele and company would hang to beat their WCHA rivals once again. However, a coach’s challenge by Johnson revealed that OSU’s Maddi Wheeler covered the puck with her glove in the crease, with Wisconsin choosing to take a penalty shot with just 29 seconds to go in regulation.

Johnson turned to his team, asking who wanted to take the shot. The impromptu player poll was unanimous … Simms was going out there.

“It kind of was everybody on the bench like, ‘Simms, you’re taking it!'” Simms said. “I was like, ‘You know what? Fine, I’ll do it.’ I was so nervous … just couldn’t think while I was going. Just had to try to be confident with it. But it worked out.”

The Plymouth, Michigan native not only scored, but Simms undressed Thiele to tie the game.

Simms, who finished second in the nation in scoring with 72 points, only trailing teammate and Patty Kazmaier Award winner, Casey O’Brien, who finished with 88 points. The Badgers posted four of the top five scores in college hockey, with a standout netminder in Ava McNaughton, was named to the All-Tournament Team.

The other two Patty Kazmaier finalists, juniors Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards, were also named to the All-Tournament Team. Edwards scored a hat trick in the team’s semifinal win over Minnesota, before potting her nation-leading 35th goal of the season against the Buckeyes. Harvey posted four points against the Gophers on Friday, scoring Wisconsin’s second goal on Sunday as well.

Johnson admitted that the win is going to be memorable one, one he takes some time to reflect on it.

“I don’t know, It’s surreal, Johnson said. “I got to take a few minutes, a few days, to figure out how it actually happened. But we’re national champs. So, awesome.”

It’s the third time the Badgers have won a national championship in the state of Minnesota and the second in Minneapolis. Wisconsin won it all in Duluth two years ago, winning over at Mariucci Arena in 2006.

Sunday night’s instant classic was the fourth NCAA women’s title game to require overtime and the first since Clarkson beat Colgate in 2018.

Ohio State’s Joy Dunne and Emma Peschel rounded out the All-Tournament Team. Dunne scored her third goal of the Frozen Four in highlight-reel fashion to kickoff the scoring in the first period.

Dunne ends the season with 62 points, placing her sixth in the NCAA in scoring.

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