Wisconsin Women's Hockey Swept by WCHA Rival, New No. 1 Team

The Wisconsin Badgers ceded the top spot in the national polls to their WCHA rival after suffering a rare 0-2 start in conference play

Wisconsin's Vivian Jungels controls the puck as Ohio State's Jocelyn Amos defends in the NCAA women's hockey national championship game at Whittemore Center Arena in Durham, New Hampshire, on Sunday March 24, 2024. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The back-to-back reigning national champion Wisconsin Badgers women's hockey program opened the college hockey season atop the national polls. UW's time at No. 1, however, has proven to be short-lived. Despite being ahead or tied after 40 minutes in both games, the Badgers were outscored 4-0 in third periods and found themselves on the losing end of a two-game series sweep.

After falling to 0-2 to open WCHA conference play for the first time in 23 years and just the third time ever, Wisconsin (4-2-0, 0-2-0 WCHA) will, at least for now, be looking up at its biggest rival and fellow national title contender in both the national ranks and the conference standings.

Ohio State Reclaims No. 1 Ranking From Wisconsin Women's Hockey

pic.twitter.com/86q7G4r2HF

— USCHO.com (@USCHO) October 12, 2026

Ohio State and Wisconsin met last weekend as they have in each of their past 19 meetings: as the two top-ranked teams in the country. In a rematch of each of the past four national championship games, the Buckeyes became the first team to sweep the Badgers since OSU also took a pair of games over UW in Columbus in 2023.

Although Ohio State is the unanimous No. 1 in the USCHO.com poll, one USA Hockey voter kept Wisconsin atop their ballot.

As a consequence, the two powerhouses swapped spots in the polls. When they meet on the final weekend of the regular season in February, perhaps fans will witness the 20th and 21st-consecutive games between UW and OSU played as a meeting of No. 1 vs. No. 2.

The Badgers look to avoid falling to 0-3 in conference play for just the second time in program history when hosting the Minnesota State Mavericks for a two-game series inside LaBahn Arena. MSU is receiving votes and the first team outside the top-15 in the USCHO.com poll, but remains ranked at No. 15 in the USA Hockey poll.

Week 5 of the USA Hockey Women’s College Hockey Polls is here!
No. 1 @OhioStateWHKY and No. 3 @GopherWHockey face off this weekend, while @ColgateWIH makes a big jump after last weekend’s sweep. 📈

Polls: https://t.co/WukJpI0jvU pic.twitter.com/QJCxQCafeE

— USA Hockey (@usahockey) October 13, 2026