Ohio State Women's Ice Hockey 2014-15 schedule released

The Ohio State Women's Ice Hockey schedule for the 2014-15 season was officially released recently and features 29 WCHA games to go along with six non-conference tilts and an exhibition game versus a Canadian college team.

The season officially kicks off for the Buckeyes against the University of New Hampshire in non-conference matchup following an exhibition game versus the Canadian team, the Western Mustangs on Sept. 28. The first WCHA series will be on Oct. 10 through Oct. 12 at Wisconsin to face a Badger team that is coming off a Frozen Four appearance. The regular season home schedule will conclude with a series against the Badgers on Feb. 13-14 in Columbus. Wisconsin finished 21-5-2 last year in WCHA play, good for second place in the conference.

The defending WCHA champion and National Runner Up Minnesota Golden Gophers, who sported a goal differential of 99 in 28 games (!) of WCHA play last season, will make their first trip to Columbus on Nov. 14-15. They finished 26-1-1 in WCHA play last year, simply dominating the league. The Buckeyes did hand them one of their only 2 non-wins last year in conference play though.

Non-conference games will be played against the University of New Hampshire, Mercyhurst, Robert Morris and Penn State. You'd think Penn State would be in the same conference as Ohio State, like they are in men's hockey, but not in women's. The realignment that formed the Big Ten hockey conference hasn't taken hold on the women's side.

Last season, Ohio State finished 9-14-5 with 2 shootout wins in WCHA play and 15-17-5 overall. Dynamic senior defenseman Sara Schmitt is the team's returning leading scorer and will hope to lead the team to an improvement on that record despite loss of leading scorer Ally Tarr. The regular season runs from Sept. 28, with the exhibition against the Western Mustangs, to Feb. 21 at Minnesota Duluth, followed by the WCHA playoffs.