Ste. Anne’s Kirk backstops OSU to Frozen Four title

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/03/2024 (572 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Playing in the biggest game of her college career, Raygan Kirk couldn’t have done more or performed any better.

The 23-year-old goaltender from Ste. Anne repelled 27 shots, including a second-period breakaway by Casey O’Brien, to lead the Ohio State Buckeyes to a 1-0 triumph over the Wisconsin Badgers in the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four championship in Durham, N.H., Sunday night.

With Kirk, a fifth-year senior, earning tournament MVP honours and freshman Joy Dunne scoring the game-winning goal with 7:12 left in the third period, the Buckeyes earned their second national championship in three years.

“I felt some nerves a little bit before the game just because it was my last college game but during the game I just treated it like it was any other — I was really having fun out there,” Kirk told the Free Press by phone. “Even Friday (in a 4-1 semifinal win over Clarkson), I was having time of my life. It can get a little frustrating when we’re not scoring — we’re a very offensive team — but I mean, it was one versus two. I think that was the best defensive game we played all year.”

Sunday’s game was also a rematch of the 2023 title game, won 1-0 by the Badgers.

No. 2 Wisconsin earned its spot in the final with a 3-1 semifinal victory over Colgate while the top-ranked Buckeyes were making their third consecutive trip to the national final.

“It was really, really emotional and she was crying on the ice tonight and my girl don’t cry,” said Raygan’s mom, Nancy Kirk, who attended the game with her husband, Brad, and son Owen.

Kirk, who was MVP of Canada’s U18 world championship team in 2019, found herself facing a wave of OSU teammates who joined her in a celebratory pileup at game’s end.

“I was definitely at the bottom — I can say that,” she said. “But they were like ‘OK, get off her, get off and make sure she can breathe.’ I was fine.”

Kirk, who finished the 2023-24 season with a 22-2-0 record, 1.05 goals-against average, .945 save percentage and 10 shutouts, rebounded from a 6-3 loss to Wisconsin in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association final on March 9.

“You definitely have to use it but learn from it,” said Kirk of the defeat. “Everybody saying you should have a chip on your shoulder because we didn’t play our game in that conference final. We just gave them too much time and space… I don’t think it was my best game either but I just used that as fuel for this weekend. We knew it was gonna be different game.”

Ohio State finished the season 35-4-0-0.

“Both teams played absolutely amazing,” said Brad Kirk. “It was just incredibly intense the entire time because it’s one of these games where one mistake, one shot was all it took because both goalies were playing amazing…”

“I felt good after probably period two because I just felt she was totally on her game,” said Nancy Kirk. “She was really solid and the girls were playing like the Ohio State team I’ve been watching for the majority of the season. I just felt that they weren’t going to let each other down in the third period and they were going to come up stronger even.”

Kirk, who began her NCAA career at Robert Morris University in 2019-20 and played two seasons there before the school cut the women’s hockey program, patiently waited her time after transferring to Ohio State. She made only four starts in 2021-22 and 11 in 2022-23 before seizing the No. 1 job this season.

“This is more amazing because of the five years of struggle,” said Nancy Kirk. “All the adversity that she faced after RMU broke her heart and then just coming in as the No. 3 and then even the second year after Christmas, knowing that Amanda (Thiele) was the No. 1 goalie. So (winning a national title) was the cherry on the top for absolutely everything.”

Kirk said the next stage of her hockey career will be declaring for the upcoming Professional Women’s Hockey League draft.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca