Ohio State and Minnesota’s Frozen Fury Was Not an Unsightly Event

If you think of hockey, you most likely think of words such as speed and skill and even aggression. 

How many times have you seen players tussle and shove and push around opponents on the ice? Pretty often. And how many times have you seen fights in hockey? Daily, most likely, and that might be from scrolling social media.

Sure, fights don’t happen in women’s hockey. The PWHL had its first legitimate fight in February when the Fleet’s Jill Saulnier and Charge’s Tereza Vanišová got into it. After 137 games, the league had two players throw actual punches at each other.

The helmets and cages didn’t come off, and punching a cage out of annoyance is for the strong willed, but Saulnier and Vanišová had enough when they went at each other.

Sunday afternoon’s tilt between the second-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and third-ranked Minnesota Gophers included its set of aggression, missed calls, questionable falls, and a brawl off a faceoff with three seconds left that resulted in not only players chasing each other down on the ice but both coaches trying to de-escalate the situation.

How it Happened

It was a quick-tempered game between two of the top three teams in the nation. Minnesota had a 3-0 lead within the first 13 minutes of the game, while Ohio State tried their best to fight back throughout the game, even taking out starting goaltender Hailey MacLeod and inserting Genny Klein instead.

Things didn’t get that much better as the Gophers managed to add to their goal total for the upset win. Throughout the game, there were plenty of instances where there was obvious frustration, a lot of pushing and some hard-hitting penalties. Those penalties included one where Gophers captain Abbey Murphy was shoved into the crease after a play that resulted in a roughing penalty for the Buckeyes. 

There were a lot of rough tumbles in this game, but it was expected when you have two top teams battling it out, with one of them holding on to a comfortable lead.

With seconds left in the game, there was a board battle between the teams when a penalty for roughing after the whistle was assessed to both Gracie Graham of the Gophers and Kassidy Carmichael of the Buckeyes after Carmichael grabbed Graham and dropped her to the ice. The two were put in the box for the last three seconds of the game.

Chaos Ensues

The last faceoff happened to the right of Minnesota’s goaltender Hannah Clark. The Gophers’ Emma Kreisz faced Jordan Baxter in the faceoff circle with Kreisz winning the battle. The momentum from the win made Kreisz fall towards Baxter who took exception to that and shoved Kreisz down with her stick. Baxter then added a few cross checks. That caught the eye of Minnesota's Chloe Primerano, who went after Baxter by cross checking her and even hitting her. The refs tried to pull Primerano away, even as she tried to keep going after Baxter. 

By that point, the game was over. But, by the blueline, Graham and Carmichael started going at it after coming out of the penalty box. After Graham was piled on by three Buckeyes, fellow Buckeyes Jordyn Petrie then started punching Sydney Morrow’s cage after Morrow joined the scuffle. This led to more aggressive pushing by various players.

The head coaches of both teams joined the ice trying to diffuse the situation. Instead, though, they both ended up at center ice exchanging words. The camera panned away before we could see any of their body language.

The Gophers won the game 6-3 to split the weekend.

The Response

It was less the scuffle and more the conference's response that seemed a little over the top. 

The following day, the WCHA released a statement that said Minnesota's Primerano and Ohio State’s Petrie were suspended for one game for “escalating the events.” It also read that the conference “does not support fighting and acts of aggression that result in player safety concerns and reflect poorly on our league.”

Now here's the problem.

There were cross checks, some players piling up on others, and two players trying to go at it followed by Petrie trying to continue that scuffle. No protective gear was taken off or removed, no fists hit any actual body parts, and no one suffered any sort of injuries as a result of what happened after the game. 

That’s it.

To describe these events as things that resulted in player safety concerns seems like a lot. The entire game was aggressive. There were plenty of hard checks by both teams and the grittiness on the ice added to the excitement that these two teams were battling it out on the scoresheet. No one was injured during the game or the brawl that followed after.

What really is upsetting is the implication that something like this could "reflect poorly on the league." Just because fighting or scuffles don’t happen often in women’s hockey doesn’t mean it’s inherently bad. The players on the ice are adults and are caught up in the moment of a hard fought game. The players aren’t fragile little girls who need to be clean cut at all times while playing this sport.

Everyone moves on, no one shakes hands, and we wait for the next series against the Buckeyes and Gophers and see how this fuels the fire they built within themselves.

It’s hockey. A sport where wins are euphoric and losses hurt no matter the time or day and rivalries are fun.

Let the players show their aggression. Let them fight.

Don’t paint them as having to be prim and proper in a sport that has never been.