Gold Medals Could to OSU

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Milano Cortina Is Here, And Ohio State Women’s Hockey Has Been Building To This!

The Winter Olympics are underway in Milano Cortina, and Ohio’s biggest footprint is exactly where you’d expect it: women’s hockey.

Ohio State has five current players in the tournament, plus a deep list of alumni spread across multiple national teams. It’s a reflection of what the program has become under coach Nadine “Muzzy” Muzerall: a place that consistently produces the kind of players who end up on Olympic rosters, not just highlight reels.

The Buckeyes on the Olympic ice

Current Ohio State players

• Joy Dunne, United States
  

• Sanni Vanhanen, Finland (2022 bronze medalist)
  

• Hilda Svensson, Sweden
  

• Jenna Raunio, Sweden
  

• Mira Jungåker, Sweden
  

Ohio State alumni

• Cayla Barnes, United States (gold 2018, silver 2022)
  

• Hannah Bilka, United States
  

• Jenn Gardiner, Canada
  

• Sophie Jaques, Canada
  

• Emma Maltais, Canada (gold 2022)
  

• Natalie Spooner, Canada (four-time Olympian)
  

• Andrea Brändli, Switzerland
  

Joy Dunne’s Olympic moment

One of the best storylines in the group is Joy Dunne, who put “The Olympics” on paper as a third-grader and is now living it as a 20-year-old on Team USA.

She’s the points leader and an assistant captain for one of the nation’s top programs, a finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, and part of Ohio State’s 2024 national title run. Her coach wasn’t surprised. Dunne’s family is full of high-level hockey players, and Muzerall has known her since she was 10.

Dunne’s reaction to making the team was simple and honest: overwhelmed, emotional, grateful, grounded.

A program built for this stage

Ohio State women’s hockey has had an Olympian at every Winter Games since women’s hockey became an Olympic sport in 1998. This year’s group is a high-water mark: a single-Games program record for Olympic representation, with Muzerall having coached most of them.

The on-ice dominance is real. Under Muzerall, the Buckeyes have won two national titles (2022, 2024), reached six Frozen Fours, and built a culture players consistently describe the same way: demanding, supportive, and relentlessly competitive.

And yes, they’re doing it in the classroom too

Ohio State’s women’s hockey program has also been one of the most consistent academic performers on campus. The team has won the Varsity O academic award for a large roster team four years running, and the five current Olympians carry a combined 3.8 GPA. It’s not a throwaway detail. The program standard is clear: elite on the ice, serious about the rest.

When to watch

Tomorrow (Feb. 19): Women’s Hockey Gold Medal Game — 1:10 p.m. ET (USA Network, Peacock)
The bronze medal game is at 8:40 a.m. ET.

If you want, I can tighten this one even further into a clean, newsletter-ready block (same info, fewer lines) or add a short kicker that tees up your next story.

Scarlet Letter Trivia

Question: Where is the oldest curling club in Ohio with dedicated Ice

A. Troy
B. Bowling Green
C. Warrensville Heights
D. West Chester

Your Local Olympics: Columbus Curling Club

to bring that energy back to Earth, without buying a single piece of expensive outerwear you’ll wear twice.

The Columbus Curling Club has been around since October 2004, and it’s one of the few places in Ohio with dedicated curling ice. It’s social, surprisingly strategic, and perfect for this exact moment when everyone is already watching the sport and saying, “Wait… I get it now.”

Learn to Curl: Feb. 15–28

The club is running Learn-to-Curl sessions Feb. 15–28, built for beginners. You’ll learn how the game works, get coached through the basics, and actually play. It’s a great winter activity because it’s active, it’s indoors, and it comes with instant camaraderie.

Late Night Special: Weeknights (Mon–Thu) 8:30 p.m., starting Feb. 18, are $40 for Learn-to-Curl.

One of only four dedicated curling clubs in Ohio

Dedicated curling clubs are rare. Columbus is one of four in the state, alongside Mayfield, Cincinnati, and Bowling Green.

Group option, if you want to bring people

They also offer corporate and daytime outings: 2 hours on the ice with instruction, plus 30 minutes in the warm room afterward for hanging out (extra time can be added).

If you’re looking for one very seasonally correct thing to do while the Olympics are still fresh, this is it.

Goodwill Is Moving Into Big Lots’ Old Spot (And Making It Big)

Westerville is getting a new Goodwill this spring, and it’s taking over a very specific kind of Ohio real estate: the former Big Lots building at 60 E. Schrock Rd.

This one is retail-only and clocks in at 13,000+ square feet, which will make it Goodwill Columbus’s largest retail store to date.

Goodwill says a public grand opening celebration is coming with the usual lineup: prizes, giveaways, music, and more details “in the coming weeks.”

Why they’re doing it (besides the obvious: we all love a deal)

Goodwill Columbus has been in expansion mode, with this becoming the fourth opening since 2023, following locations including Clintonville and Brice Road.

And the bigger point behind the stores: Goodwill Columbus says it has served more than 100,000 individuals since 2020, hitting a goal they originally set for 2030 five years early.

A quick clarification Westerville will ask immediately

This new Schrock Road location is Goodwill Columbus, and it’s separate from the Marion Goodwill Industries store on Northgate Way.

Why this is a very time-appropriate activity

It’s winter, it’s thrift season, and a new, bigger Goodwill means more aisles for the sport we all pretend we’re above but absolutely are not: finding something absurdly useful for $6 and acting like we discovered it in Paris.

(Grand opening date pending. Your spring plans may now include “Schrock Road.”)

Enemy No. 1 Returns: Ohio Just Put The Whole State Under Lanternfly Quarantine

The spotted lanternfly has officially reached the “we’re not messing around anymore” stage.

As of Feb. 17, 2026, the Ohio Department of Agriculture issued a statewide quarantine across all 88 counties, expanding what used to be an 18-county quarantine.

What a statewide quarantine actually means

This is not a “nobody can leave the state” situation. It’s a “certain stuff can’t leave the state without paperwork” situation.

Under the quarantine, regulated items like trees and nursery stock cannot be moved out of Ohio unless they’re covered by a compliance agreement, permit, or inspection certificate showing they are free of spotted lanternfly.

Translation: if you ship plant materials for work, business, or agriculture, Ohio wants you checking loads so we do not export this problem to someone else.

Why the state cares

Spotted lanternflies feed on a lot of plants, but officials keep circling back to the same big concerns: grapes and vineyards, plus other agriculture and specialty crops.

They also love the tree-of-heaven, which is itself invasive and basically serves as the lanternfly’s favorite hangout.

C. Warrensville Heights opened its doors in 1962…the oldest in the USA, is Milwaukee Curling Club, which opened in 1845