Pegula Ice Arena was bursting at the seems and the roof barely stayed on as a rabid crowd of Penn State faithful. The 5,176 fans in attendance were the most ever at Pegula Ice Arena as Penn State took Wisconsin to overtime before Kristen Simms silenced the home crowd with the winner.

Penn State captain and American national team member Tessa Janecke was a force in the game. She opened the scoring from close to the goal line beating Wisconsin's Ava McNaughton.

It didn't take long for Wisconsin to respond however as Olympic All-Star Laila Edwards took a pass in the slot from Kirsten Simms before going backhand to beat Katie DeSa.

Before the period was out however, Abby Stonehouse poked home a power play marker for the Nittany Lions to give Penn State a 2-1 lead after one.

Edwards struck again in the second with Simms and Adela Sapovalivova assisting before Sapovalivova circled the net and fired to score one of her own in the second. Wisconsin went to the final frame up 3-2.

After 15 minutes of scoreless action in the third, Swedish Olympian Nicole Hall grabbed a puck for Penn State and made a heady stretch pass to a streaking Tessa Janecke. Behind the defence, Janecke rushed in alone to beat McNaughton and sending the Pegula Ice Arena into a frenzy.

The boisterous crowd was a factor throughout the game, but as the teams entered overtime tied 3-3, it was a familiar playoff hero for Wisconsin, American Olympic gold medalist Kirsten Simms who scored the overtime winner with Olympic MVP Caroline Harvey and Edwards picking up helpers.

Unlike Wisconsin, Ohio State cruised by Northeastern unscathed into the Frozen Four final.

Hailey MacLeod only needed to make 15 saves, and the Buckeyes skated to an easy 5-0 win over Northeastern, who upset Minnesota to reach the Frozen Four.

Joy Dunne opened the scoring for Ohio State just beyond the midway point of the first, and Ohio State opened the floodgates in the minutes that followed. Kaia Malchino scored next for the Buckeyes, followed by goals from Sanni Vanhanen and Emma Peschel before the opening period was out.

With Ohio State up 4-0, Northeastern struggled to generate any pressure firing only seven shots in the remaining 40 minutes.

Early in the third senior defender Sara Swiderski extended Ohio State's lead to 5-0, which is how it ended.

Next up is the NCAA national championship women's hockey final, a rematch of the last three title games between Ohio State and Wisconsin. Ohio State is the top seed after beating Wisconsin for the WCHA title. The Buckeyes were only 18 seconds away from a national title in 2025 before Wisconsin tied it on a penalty shot, and then won the game 4-3 in overtime.