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he Ohio State Buckeyes are gearing up for a big moment off the field. Coach Ryan Day has officially confirmed that the College Football Playoff (CFP) national champions will head to the White House on April 14, to celebrate their title win. It's a well-deserved trip for a squad that stormed through the postseason, capping it off with a 34-23 victory over Notre Dame in January's championship game.

Day couldn't hide his excitement when he broke the news during a press conference on March 24. "It's an honor to be invited," he said, per ESPN. "I remember growing up and watching the national championship teams go to the White House. I always looked at that, like, 'Man, what an honor that would be.' So, it's part of the celebration of our team." The visit, first reported by CBS News, comes just two days after Ohio State wraps up spring practices, making it a busy stretch for the champs.

This isn't just another road trip-it's a nod to the Buckeyes' first undisputed national title since 2014. After a rollercoaster season that saw them drop a heartbreaker to Michigan, Day's crew flipped the script in the playoffs, taking down heavyweights like Tennessee, Oregon, and Texas before sealing the deal against the Fighting Irish.

Now, they're set to meet President Donald Trump, who's already hosted the Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers since returning to office in January.

Day confirms April 14 White House trip for Ohio State

The timing's perfect too-April 14 slots Ohio State as the second championship team to visit this spring, with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles slated for April 28. "I think [the Eagles] are maybe going before us, but our date is April 14," Day noted, already looking forward to the logistics. For a program that poured $20 million into NIL deals to keep this roster elite, this White House visit is the cherry on top of a historic run.

Buckeyes Nation is buzzing on X, with fans hyping up the squad's star power-think Will Howard and Jeremiah Smith-and Day's redemption arc. It's a celebration of grit, talent, and a little Oval Office prestige. Stay tuned for more as Ohio State preps for this iconic moment.

MINNEAPOLIS – If you believe in destiny, you ought to love this women’s hockey national championship game.

Ohio State is the defending champion, having beat Wisconsin, 1-0, turning the tables from 2023, when the score was the same but the outcome different. They've been the two top-ranked teams for most of the season.

And here they go again, matched up in the NCAA Frozen Four title game, set for 3 p.m. Sunday at Ridder Arena.

“Throughout the season our games with Ohio have probably been our closest, and they always bring their A game, because it’s 1 vs. 2, and it's been that all year,” Wisconsin sophomore goaltender Ava McNaughton said Saturday. “And coming off of last year, obviously it was kind of like deja vu from the year before, just kind of opposite.

“So coming into this season, we knew that they were going to be a tough opponent. We’ve proven and they’ve also proven that they deserve to be in this championship Sunday. Both teams had a hard journey to get here, but they proved that they're the best teams to be in this game.”

The Buckeyes gave the Badgers their only women's hockey loss so far in 2024-25

Ohio State (29-7-3) is the only team to have beat Wisconsin (37-1-2) this season.

The Buckeyes scored a 3-2 victory in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 16 and won a shootout for the extra WCHA point after the teams played to a 3-3 tie at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Jan. 4.

The other games went Wisconsin’s way, 4-2 in Columbus and 6-0 in Madison.

In the postseason – four WCHA tournament games, an NCAA regional final and a Frozen Four semifinal – the Badgers have outscored opponents 31-7. Over the same period, Ohio State is 4-1, having fallen to Minnesota in a WCHA semifinal, 6-1. In the four victories, the Buckeyes outscored opponents 19-5.

Wisconsin's Mark Johnson vs. Ohio State's Nadine Muzzerall is an interesting coaching matchup

To a degree, the teams reflect the differing personalities of their coaches.

Wisconsin’s Mark Johnson, the Madison-raised Olympic hero and longtime NHLer with seven NCAA titles, revels in telling rambling stories of golf and wildlife that always somehow come back to the topic at hand. He demands excellence, but he also implores his players to enjoy the moment. They perform best when they’re playing free.

Ohio State’s Nadine Muzzerall was a member of the original Minnesota women’s hockey team and remains the Gophers’ all-time leader in goals scored, 24 years after she finished. Muzzerall admits she sometimes forgets to soak in the atmosphere of the Frozen Four and that she has scared off plenty of recruits over her nine-year reign with her no-nonsense approach.

“His team is probably totally different personalities than my team as it is for Brad (Frost’s Gophers) or Cornell (coach Doug Derraugh),” Muzzerall said.

“That's why I think tomorrow and even in the years past have been very exciting, because they’re very talented teams but completely different approaches of how they play the game. That's fascinating for fans, and I think it gives opportunities for a lot of young girls in high school to choose from, because they’re not all the same as well.”

Whatever the approach, they’ve gotten to the same place. Again.

Wisconsin, Ohio State women's hockey teams find motivation for Frozen Four championship

The teams find their motivation in different places.

For Ohio State, it’s often about respect.

Wisconsin has been ranked No. 1 since September after Ohio State held the spot in the preseason rankings. The Badgers had all three Patty Kazmaier Award finalists while Ohio State had just one in the top 10 after having none a year ago.

“I don’t think our athletes get a lot of individual recognition, but then at the end of the day, that hopefully fires them up, because they just really want to win it, win the national title, because that's something that they share and something that they have forever,” Muzzerall said.

“Accolades come and go and they change every year, but having a national championship – something that you share with the other 25 girls in your locker room – is something that you cherish for life.”

For Wisconsin, the result of last season’s second round of its championship rivalry put a fire into the Badgers in offseason training.

“It was a chance to go back-to-back for us, and having to go down that way was definitely a learning experience for us, but it’s definitely helped us get to where we are now,” junior forward Kirsten Simms said. “That has created that push for us since literally Week 1 to be where we are now and to put us in the position that we’re in now.

“We’re not really dwelling on the past, but we know what happened last year, and we’re just focusing on … what we need to do to get the outcome our way this time.”

Brittany Saxton got her start in the restaurant industry as a combination pizza maker and dishwasher at Michael Angelo’s, a local pizzeria in Kenton in northwest Ohio.

At 16 years old, she was looking to rake in some extra dough. But soon, the job became more than a source of income.

Pizza captured a slice of her heart.

“I slowly started falling in love with the art of tossing and making pizzas,” she said. “And I wanted out of the dish room, so I strived to become one of the best in the kitchen at the time.”

She succeeded, and two years later stepped onto an international stage, competing for the first time at the World Pizza Games.

Now, she has six championship titles under her belt. And this year, she’s hoping one of her pies takes the top prize in a simultaneous competition — the International Pizza Challenge.

Competing on a world stage

“The World Pizza Games are one of the biggest pizza events of the year, held in Las Vegas every year in March,” Saxton said. “Pizzaiolos from all over the world come to Vegas to compete there.”

They go head to head in categories like freestyle acrobatic dough tossing, where competitors perform routines to upbeat music, busting out dance moves while twirling discs of dough on their fingertips.

A row of judges score them on technique, evaluating elements like dexterity, difficulty and synchronicity.

Pizzaiolos also show down in contests like fastest pizza box folding, largest dough stretch and Saxton’s specialty — fastest dough stretch.

“For that competition you're taking five 12 ounce dough balls and slapping them out as fast as you possibly can,” she explained, demonstrating the skill in the kitchen of her restaurant, Six Hundred Downtown in Bellefontaine, about an hour northwest of Columbus.

On a workspace covered in flour, she pounded a ball of dough, then spun and flipped it with her fingers, transforming it into a large, round pizza crust in a matter of seconds.

The first time she tried doing this at the World Pizza Games…she lost.

“That first competition was scary,” she remembered.

But undeterred, she came back again years later, claimed the gold and has been winning medals ever since. She now has six championship titles.

“And I was the second woman ever in the world to own those medals,” she said. “Pizza has always been a very male dominant sport. Women are very much starting to get acknowledged and win the accolades they deserve in the industry, but it was not that simple all those years ago.”

Making an award-winning pizza

Now, Saxton is turning her focus to a new challenge: baking.

“In Vegas, again, we have the International Pizza Challenge, which is picking the pizzaiola of the year,” she said.

Contestants make pizzas that fit into five divisions: traditional, non-traditional, neapolitan, pan and world’s best cheese slice.

“We have award winners on our menu already,” Saxton said. “But I want to get every one of our specialty pizzas award winners, like our outside-of-the-box crazy ones. I want them all to have an award winner on it. So that's my goal now.”

This year, one of her employees is perfecting a pinched sausage and pepperoni pie for the competition, and she plans to enter a hot honey pizza.

“That has red sauce, mozzarella cheese, arugula, peppadew peppers, feta cheese, and natural casing pepperoni with hot honey drizzled on top,” she said.

Later this month, she’ll find out if it has what it takes. The competitions take place March 25-27 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.