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NCAA final heartbreak for Surrey’s Gardiner, who’s motivated to win again in 5th year at Ohio State

‘I personally can’t imagine a life without hockey so I’ll be playing it as long as I can’
Tom Zillich
Tom Zillich
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Jennifer Gardiner wears #12 for Ohio State Buckeyes, a team she led with 57 points this season. (Photo: ohiostatebuckeyes.com)

It was a great hockey season for Surrey’s Jennifer Gardiner and the powerhouse Ohio State Buckeyes, save for that heartbreaking final game.

With a chance to win back-to-back NCAA women’s hockey championships, the Buckeyes couldn’t score a goal and fell 1-0 to Wisconsin Badgers.

This season Ohio State set a school record for wins (33), and Gardiner led the team with 57 points, third most in the league, but none of those stats mattered at Amsoil Arena in Duluth, Minn., on Sunday (March 19).

“It wasn’t an ending anyone would want to have, but it was a successful season for us and there’s still lots to celebrate,” Gardiner said in a phone call three days after the big game.

“It was the first game of the year where we didn’t score a goal, got shutout. It was bizarre,” added the five-foot-six forward, a Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary graduate and former Greater Vancouver Comets standout.

Gardiner says the loss gives her motivation to win another NCAA title next season, as a fifth-year player. She’ll graduate as a senior in May, and will continue with sports management studies at the university.

“Because of COVID we have an extra year of eligibility, so I’ll come back here in the fall,” Gardiner explained.

“Right after the (championship) game, there were a lot of emotions but I was already thinking about what we need to work on, how can we win the national championship next season, how we get back here.

“It is heartbreaking, especially knowing the feeling of winning and how we did it last year, as the first OSU team to win it all. And this year, we worked so hard for eight months to get back there and were ranked number one every week for most of the season. It’s so disappointing.”

As a junior in 2022, Gardiner scored the game-winning goal in the Frozen Four semifinal against Yale to advance the Buckeyes to their first NCAA championship game in program history.

This year, as a veteran on the team, she finished sixth in the league with 21 goals, three behind teammate Sophie Jacques, a defender. Both were in the running for the USA Hockey Foundation’s Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given annually to the top player in NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey, and Jacques won it.

Gardiner admits to struggling with confidence in her early days at Ohio State, but definitely not during the season just ended, when she had 18 multi-point games, led the team with a plus-36 and was a second-team All-American.

“By the time you’re a senior you just know how things work and have a different level of confidence, you’re familiar with teammates and leadership roles, that kind of stuff,” Gardiner said. “Believing in myself was a factor this year, and also the addition of assistant coach Peter Elander, who brought so much knowledge to our team and helped me work on some things, and (head coach) Nadine Muzerall, she’s amazing.”

• RELATED, from August 2022: Surrey’s Gardiner on Team Canada against U.S., months after winning national title with Ohio State.

With added experience and hockey IQ, Gardiner aims to return to train and play with Canada’s national women’s team this summer, following a spring trip to Europe with a few of her fellow Buckeyes.

“I personally can’t imagine a life without hockey so I’ll be playing it as long as I can, with a goal of making the Olympic team,” Gardiner emphasized.

“I’ll definitely go wherever pro hockey takes me, depending what the professional leagues look like after next year,” she added. “The PWHPA (Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association) is going to transform a little bit and hopefully have better salaries similar to the PHF (Premier Hockey Federation). I won’t be back home (in Surrey) playing hockey, but I likely won’t be here in Columbus either, because there’s no pro hockey here, so eventually maybe Toronto or Montreal, that kind of thing.”


tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
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