Nadine Muzerall

Entering her seventh season at the helm of the Ohio State women’s ice hockey program, Nadine Muzerall has established the Buckeyes as a national force that can’t be overlooked. In just six seasons, she led the team to its very first national championship during a record-breaking 2021-22 campaign that saw the Buckeyes earn their very first No. 1 national ranking and No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed.
Muzerall has accumulated a .655 win percentage (127-63-17) and a .601 win percentage in conference play (78-49-16). In 2022, Muzerall was named the WCHA Coach of the Year for her third time in five years after leading the Buckeyes to their fourth 20+ win season of her tenure and program-record milestones.
The Buckeyes’ national championship season was monumental in more than one category for Ohio State. Not only did the team top the national rankings for the first time in the history of the program, but the 32-win season smashed the program’s previous record of 24. Going 32-6-0 overall and 21-6-0 in conference play, the team also set program records in WCHA wins (21), home wins (17), road wins (10) and win percentage (.842) to name a few. The Buckeyes recorded the most goals (175), assists (286) and points (461) in the NCAA that season and were statistical champions in goals per game (4.605), scoring margin (3.08), power-play percentage (0.379) and winning percentage. The team won the program’s second WCHA Final Faceoff Championship and second in just three seasons. With the top seed in the NCAA tournament, Ohio State also hosted NCAA tournament games for the first time in the 23-year history of the program.
Under the tutelage of Muzerall, defender Sophie Jaques became the program’s first Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Top-3 Finalist. With 59 points on the year, she set an Ohio State defenseman record for points in a season, tied the overall points in a season record and recorded the second-most season points by a true defenseman in the history of NCAA women’s hockey. Jaques was named an AHCA First Team All-American, the WCHA Defenseman of the Year and USCHO.com Player of the Year. Three student-athletes coached by Muzerall – Emma Maltais, Jincy Dunne and Andrea Braendli – were selected to represent their respective countries at the 2022 Beijing Olympics with Maltais winning gold with Canada, Dunne earning silver with Team USA and Braendli backstopping the Swiss to the bronze medal match.
The 2020-21 season saw Muzerall guided the Scarlet and Gray to new heights, reaching a then-program high No. 2 in the polls in February following a sweep of Minnesota. In the postseason, the Buckeyes advanced to their second consecutive WCHA Final Faceoff title game as well as the program’s second Frozen Four in four years. Ohio State was 13-7 overall against a schedule that featured 16 games against teams that were in the NCAA Tournament.
Muzerall led the Buckeyes to unprecedented success in the 2019-20 season as the team posted its third-straight 20-win season and tied a single-season win record, previously set by Muzerall and the Buckeyes in 2017-18. Along the way, Ohio State tallied eight wins against Top 10 opponents, including six Top 3 upsets. The Buckeyes also won their first-ever WCHA Championship in just their second conference championship appearance. In the Final Faceoff, Ohio State defeated Minnesota and Wisconsin in overtime to give the Buckeyes their first automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
With the success on the ice during the 2019-20 season, numerous Buckeyes earned individual honors, headlined by Jincy Dunne earning AHCA First Team All-American honors and WCHA Defensive Player of the Year for the second year in a row, while Emma Maltais was named Second Team All-American and a Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Top 10 Finalist. It marks the first time since 2012 a Buckeye has received the honor.
Muzerall took over the program in September 2016 and battled through a tough season to improve the Buckeyes’ win total from the 2015-16 season while establishing a culture and mentality around the team that would soon pay off.
In just her second year at the helm, Muzerall took the Buckeyes to where they had never been before, making the NCAA tournament and NCAA Frozen Four for the first time in program history. Along the way, the Buckeyes set new program records for wins (24) and WCHA wins (14), while posting an 11-5-1 record against top-10 ranked teams. Thanks to her efforts on the bench, Muzerall earned the first WCHA Coach of the Year award in program history.
Her third season saw the Buckeyes win 20 games, the first time the team has notched back-to-back 20 win seasons. The team has also carved out a spot in both of the national top 10 polls, holding down a spot in both since 2017, the longest streak in team history. The Buckeyes have earned hardware for their efforts, including a WCHA Defensive Player of the Year award for Jincy Dunne, two All-America honorees (Jincy Dunne and Kassidy Sauve), a WCHA Rookie of the Year award for Emma Maltais, and 11 All-WCHA Team honorees. The 2018 WCHA Coach of the Year, Muzerall got to the 50-win mark quicker than any coach in team history with a 2-0 win at Minnesota State on December 2, 2018.
Off the ice, Ohio State has 84 WCHA All-Academic Team honorees (nine in 2016-17, 13 in 2017-18, 14 in 2018-19, 16 in 2019-20, 17 in 2020-21, and 15 in 2021-22). The team earned the Varsity O award for most improved team GPA in 2017-18 and earned the award for best large roster GPA (3.710) in 2021-22, fully solidifying the change that Muzerall looked to implement when she took over the squad.