'I'm supposed to be a Buckeye': Joy Dunne makes name for herself with Ohio State women's hockey
In a home filled with competitors, Joy Dunne puts herself at the top of the list.
“I’m always competitive,” Dunne said. “Like our whole family is super competitive. But if you ask any of them, they’d say I’d be the most competitive.”
It’s why Dunne picked hockey, just like her five older siblings. It’s why Dunne chose to play at Ohio State as she tries to live up to the legacy her sisters Jessica and Jincy Dunne set before her.
With a name on the back of her sweater that carries significant weight at Ohio State, Joy Dunne feels she is already starting to make a name for herself as a freshman.
“I’m not sure when it was, but I just kind of felt like it happened,” Dunne said. “Like, ‘Yes, I’m supposed to be at Ohio State. I’m supposed to be a Buckeye right now.’ ”
'When she's confident, she's incredible'
Josh Dunne can tell when his youngest sister is playing at her best.
To the oldest Dunne sibling and a current forward for the Cleveland Monsters, it’s when Joy’s competitiveness is on full display, when she's battling for pucks against the glass, blocking shot attempts and leading fast break chances.
“I have an idea of when she’s confident, when she has the freedom,” Josh Dunne said. “She just plays with almost like a little bit more of a swagger. She’s not afraid to hold pucks for longer, to shoot more pucks, to be more assertive, to not be afraid to make mistakes and get the puck back.
“It just seems like she’s everywhere all the time, but always in the right position. When she’s confident, she’s incredible.”
Joy may not be a starter as a freshman, but her combination of size and speed is felt immediately each time she touches the ice.
After Dunne was shut out in each of her first eight games despite 28 shots, a hat trick against Bemidji State Nov. 3 broke open the floodgates. She recorded a team-leading 18 goals in her last 24 games. She also has 14 assists.
“I can’t coach size,” Ohio State coach Nadine Muzerall said. “She has that strength and size. She’s the youngest of six. She had to fight for food at the table, so she had that mentality.”
Muzerall said she had an idea that Dunne's transition into college hockey would be seamless. Dunne was a captain for the U-19 St. Louis Lady Blues AAA and was named to the 2022 U.S. U18 Women’s Select Team.
But Muzerall said she had an idea of the weight Dunne carried into Ohio State. It’s an expectation that follows Joy around, Muzerall said, with her family's track record, including Jincy being the Buckeyes’ only two-time first-team All-American in women's hockey.
“(Joy) wanted to have her own number, to have her own name and have her own status and her own identity,” Muzerall said. “And we talked about that because I said, ‘Listen, I know Jess was here, and Jincy. Jincy is everywhere in the record books, plastered around the rink and in the lounge. But there are things she didn’t accomplish that you still can.’ ”
Joy Dunne has high expectations with Ohio State women's hockey
Joy Dunne saw Ohio State’s turnaround through the lens of Jincy.
After the Buckeyes recorded losing seasons in Jincy’s first two seasons with the Buckeyes, they had three straight 20-win seasons, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament final in 2017-18.
To Joy, these were the teams that turned Ohio State into the national championship-contending team it is now. To Joy, these were the teams that convinced her to follow the same path as Jincy, and she committed to Ohio State during her junior year.
And Joy saw that path in a way not many players did.
“People have gotten to see their successes, but I get to see the behind-the-scenes,” Joy Dunne said. “The hard work, the failures. I got to see them push through that, Just seeing them go through it and grow through it and take that adversity and compete… some people don’t see the work that goes in, but I got to see it.”
Josh said he sees a different kind of strength in Joy.
“She hated to lose, and that was part of the reason she drove so hard and just loved to compete,” he said. “And being the youngest sibling, she never took any crap from any of us. She always stood up to herself.”
Joy said that competitive spirit doesn’t differentiate herself from the rest of the Ohio State roster. To her, it’s a common trait.
“Like every single girl wants to win a national championship,” Joy said. “We’re all on the same page. We all put in the work, put in the effort behind the scenes. I think it’s just we all have that respect for one another.”
That competitive spirit is something Jennifer Gardiner saw in Jincy Dunne, who was her senior captain when Gardiner was a freshman.
Now that Gardiner is in that same place Jincy was for her, she sees similar potential in Joy to bring that same spirit.
“I think the records Joy’s going to break — she already has two hat tricks this year, finds a goal in almost every game — I’m just so proud of her (in) using her skill set,” Gardiner said. “She deserves everything she’s had.”
Muzerall doesn’t have a ceiling for Dunne. But Muzerall said she knows one thing for certain: Dunne is the “most impressive freshman leader” she has ever had at Ohio State.
“She truly cares about the greater good of success and not the individual side of things,” Muzerall said. “And the culture. Not to be corny, but it’s we and us. And she really showcases that just with her everyday lifestyle of how she treats people especially when nobody’s looking. She just does it because she’s like, ‘I just think everybody is equal and of value.’ And I really admire that about her.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Joy Dunne becomes impact freshman for Ohio State women's hockey
