Wisconsin women's hockey learns WCHA Tournament final foe

The Badgers women's hockey team won the first WCHA Final Faceoff semifinal, and a familiar postseason foe emerged from the other side of the bracket

Wisconsin right wing Lacey Eden (6) and Ohio State defender Sara Swinderski (4) collide at the puck in a game Sunday, February 8, 2026, at LaBahn Arena in Madison, Wisconsin. | Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

St. Paul, MN — When two of the great powers in college hockey meet this Saturday, there will again be a trophy on the line. It will not be a national championship trophy this time when No. 1 Wisconsin women's hockey drops the puck against the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes, but it could be a preview of that final game of the season.

After Wisconsin (32-3-2, 23-3-2 WCHA) defeated the No. 13 Minnesota State Mavericks 7-2 in the WCHA Final Faceoff Semifinal, UW awaited its championship game opponent. Ohio State advanced to the title game from the other side of the bracket with a 3-0 shutout victory over the No. 4 Minnesota Golden Gophers, which OSU controlled throughout.

"Not a lot of positives to take away," Gophers head coach Brad Frost said in a post-game interview of the defeat. "We got beat pretty bad tonight."

Wisconsin and Ohio State meet in the conference tournament championship in a rematch of each of the past three national championship games, with the Badgers winning two of those three titles, including the most recent tournament crown.

UW and OSU have met twice before in the final round of the WCHA playoffs. Wisconsin won the conference tournament championship over Ohio State in 2024, before the Buckeyes beat the Badgers in the national title game two weeks later. In 2020, OSU beat UW 1-0 in the conference tournament title game. The national tournament was canceled that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"How many years has it been now? Like five that we've been going back and forth throwing punches or four throwing punches at each other?" Buckeyes head coach Nadine Muzerall remarked after beating Minnesota. " So I think that is expected now. It's hard to get there though"

This season, Wisconsin owns a 3-1 record over Ohio State. With both teams at full strength in December, the Badgers secured a two-game series sweep of the Buckeyes on the road in Columbus. In February, when both teams were missing five players that were competing at the 2026 Olympic Games, UW and OSU split their two-game series in Madison.

Saturday's conference tournament championship matchup begins at approximately 2:00 p.m. Central inside Lee & Penny Anderson Arena at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Both teams have already secured their spot in the NCAA Tournament, but the winner of Saturday's game will be the national tournament's top seed.