Then-Sophomore forward Joy Dunne (16) enters the offensive zone with the puck during the championship game of the 2024 Women’s Ice Breaker Tournament against Cornell on Oct. 26, 2024. Credit: Faith Schneider | Managing Editor for Design
A 2026 Olympic gold medalist. A 2024 national champion. A three-time United States International Ice Hockey Foundation World Championship team member. A 2026 Ohio State Athlete of the Year.
Those are just a few of the honors senior forward Joy Dunne has earned during her decorated Ohio State career. Now, entering her senior season, the Western College Hockey Association has made its expectations for Dunne, and the Ohio State women’s ice hockey team, clear.?
On Tuesday, Dunne was named the WCHA Preseason Player of the Year, earning seven out of eight possible conference coaches’ votes. Ohio State was picked to win the regular-season title in the coaches poll, receiving six first-place votes.??
“Every year Ohio State’s getting better, and I think that’s why the standard keeps rising,” Dunne said. “The team, we keep bringing in more [and] more recruits and all the things, and I think every year, we keep going like that, in the dynasty we’re creating.”
Dunne, who has led the Buckeyes in goals scored in all three seasons as a Buckeye, explained that she is grateful for all the accolades she has earned, but they give her more motivation to reach the ultimate goal of winning another national championship with her teammates.?
“I think for me, as now I’m in my senior year, I’ve realized the individual awards are great, but I want the team ones, I want it with the girls, and so that’s something that’s there, and I’ll work hard for it,” Dunne said. “But more importantly, I’ll work hard for the team and the goal we have to accomplish and what we’ve set our mind on.”
The Buckeyes also had three players named to the preseason six-player All-WCHA Team: Dunne, senior forward Jocelyn Amos and junior defender Mira Jung?ker.?
Dunne and Amos were named Ohio State’s team captains for the 2026-27 season. Jung?ker and junior forward Jordyn Petrie will serve as assistant captains.?
Head coach Nadine Muzerall said the experience coming back this year is something that she looks forward to coaching in her 10th season with Ohio State.?
“Over the past couple years, we’ve been a young team, fierce, but young,” Muzerall said. “This year, we have a lot of veterans in a role that are very hungry with a lot of young talent [in] our sophomores and our freshmen.”?
Despite falling just short of capturing a national championship in back-to-back seasons, losing to Wisconsin in the 2026 and 2025 championship game, Ohio State enters this season with the same goal: bringing the trophy back to Columbus.?
“[I] give a lot of credit to my coaching staff for bringing in what we think is the finest group in our freshman class and we’re looking forward to people like [Dunne] and Amos being their leaders and guiding us to that victory that we’re prepping for at the end of the year,” Muzerall said.
Dunne said she could not be more excited to get this season started, especially with this group of teammates and coaches, including assistant coach Kelsey Cline and associate head coach Jack Johnson.
“It truly is a privilege to be here, to be a Buckeye, to be coached by [Muzerall] and Cline and [Johnson] and to have these resources,” Dunne said. “Then this group, it keeps getting sweeter.”
