2025 NCAA Regional Final: OSU Heads Back to the Frozen Four

The Buckeyes will get a chance to go for back-to-back national titles after knocking off St. Lawrence in the regional finals.

After defeating Penn State in the semi-finals, St. Lawrence looked to carry that momentum against No. 2 seed Ohio State to make a bid for the Frozen Four.

St. Lawrence opened the scoring after OSU's Sara Swiderski received a game misconduct and a five-minute penalty for elbowing. Aly McLeod took advantage of the extra attacker, slipping one past Amanda Thiele.

After a beautiful deke by Makenna Webster, Sloane Matthews finished the one-timer to tie the game up for Ohio State.

Just before the end of the period, it was Joy Dunne, the team's points and assists leader, putting Ohio State ahead. She finished a beautiful behind-the-net pass past Nordström.

The second period was all Ohio State as the Buckeyes kept up their strong momentum from the first. By halfway through the period, OSU had fired 13 shots to St. Lawrence's one. But Emma-Sofie Nordström and the Saints stood tall, holding off the onslaught to keep the game 2-1, despite OSU battering them with 22 shots.

Coming into the third period, it felt like both teams still had a fighting chance to earn their spot in the Frozen Four. The Buckeyes still had most of the pressure, but St. Lawrence was still standing tall, Nordström doing everything to withstand the crush from the No. 2 seed.

But with less than 10 to go, it was the sophomore duo of Amos and Dunne making magic again to give Ohio State a two-goal lead. Two minutes later, it was Webster sending the puck over Nordström's shoulder to make it 4-1.

St. Lawrence pulled their goalie with over three minutes to go, but they looked like a team playing back-to-back. They just didn't have the legs to keep up against OSU.

Dunne and Amos collaborated again to make it 5-1 on an empty-net goal. For those keeping track at home, that's four points for Dunne in this game.

Freshman Jordyn Petrie finished a beautiful backhand play to make it 6-1, easily solidifying OSU's birth in the Frozen Four.

Player of Note

St. Lawrence University's Emma-Sofie Nordström was the only reason this game wasn't more of a blowout for OSU. She faced 49 shots, with nearly half of those coming in the second period, where she allowed zero goals. While she did give up four goals in the third period, most of those were due to her team running out of gas rather than mistakes on her part.

I'm adding Joy Dunne in here as well because I literally did a double-take when I heard that she was a sophomore! This is clearly giving away the fact that I rarely watch NCAA hockey, but I was so impressed to find out that the best player on the ice all game still had at least two more years to grow in college hockey. She had four points tonight, and she'll continue to be key if Ohio State wants to win another national championship.

Next Up

The Buckeyes head to the Frozen Four in Minneapolis to take on the only non-WCHA team, Cornell. That game goes on Friday, with the winner playing for the championship on Sunday.