After an up-and-down regular season, the Wisconsin Badgers put on a postseason clinic, winning the 2023 NCAA women’s hockey national championship on Sunday. With the win, the Badgers broke their tie with the University of Minnesota for most NCAA titles in women’s hockey (7).

Wisconsin defeated defending national champion Ohio State, 1-0, at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minnesota. Badgers first year Kirsten Simms scored the lone goal of the game, 13 minutes into the first period. It marks the first time Ohio State’s women’s hockey team was shutout in over a year.

Despite the program’s historic success, Wisconsin didn’t enter this year’s NCAA tournament as the favorite. The Badgers had a rough start to 2023, dropping five straight games in January (including two to Ohio State). After losing to Minnesota in the WCHA Championship earlier this month, Wisconsin got an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 6 seed. They went on to defeat No. 3 Colgate in the quarterfinals, No. 2 Minnesota in the semifinals (winning with a thrilling OT goal), and then met No. 1 Ohio State in the championship game.

All seven of Wisconsin’s women’s hockey NCAA titles (2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2019, 2021, 2023) have been won under longtime Badgers head coach Mark Johnson.