Record-breaking Frozen Four crowd carried Penn State and Wisconsin into an electrifying game that ended in overtime victory for the Badgers, and heartbreak for the host Penn State Nittany Lions.
It was Penn State that struck first in the heated Frozen Four match-up against Wisconsin. Playing in front of a home crowd, Penn State fans erupted after Tessa Janecke took advantage of an interference penalty on Charlotte Pieckenhagen 1:52 minutes in. It set the tone for one of the most electric college hockey games this year and gave Janecke, who is a Patty Kazmaier finalist, the 200th point of her career.
The game remained tight through the first two periods, although Wisconsin was dominating in shots 28 to 11 for the forty minutes. Eight penalties piled on between the two teams, five for Wisconsin and three for Penn State, something the Badgers weren’t as ready for. The Nittany Lions took advantage.
While Laila Edwards fired back with a backhand shot past Katie DeSa three minutes later, a penalty on Laney Potter for high sticking put the Badgers on the penalty kill once again. Abby Stonehouse scored just 17 seconds later, pushing the puck past McNaughton to put the Nittany Lions up one yet again. While Penn State continued to lag severely in shots, the first period finished in its favor, 2-1.
It was long changes in the second period that Penn State had a harder time coming back from, head coach Jeff Kampersal said post-game. With eight minutes left in the second period, Edwards added a power-play goal of her own. Five minutes later, Adéla Šapovalivová whipped the puck around from the left-hand side of the net to at last put the Badgers on top.
While Penn State regained “swagger” in the third period, as Kampersal said later, it wasn’t enough to get past a locked-down Ava McNaughton.
Five minutes into the third period, McNaughton was put to the test as Penn State leveled the junior with several shots that might have made the Nittany Lions go up two or three points if not for her rebound control. She finished the game with 22 saves.
It also isn’t easy to stop one of the best players in the country as she fights for one last NCAA appearance. Sailing down on the breakaway as the crowd erupted around her, Janecke broke through once again, sliding the puck past McNaughton to tie the game at three with five minutes to go.
The teams went into overtime with Wisconsin leading in shots 34 to 25.
Off the faceoff, Kirsten Simms took the overtime goal from the circle with assists from Caroline Harvey and Laila Edwards.
"By [Penn State] trying to ice the puck, a couple kids get out of a little bit of positioning, and, you know, it only takes a split second for somebody to get into a space and take a shot," Mark Johnson said of the goals
For both coaches, the 5,179 fans in attendance, a single-game attendance record for Penn State women’s hockey at Pegula Ice Arena and a women’s Frozen Four record, was a difference maker.
“That atmosphere was electric…the crowd, like, carried these players along,” Kampersal said.
“We probably had a bunch of people that maybe that was their first women's hockey game they saw tonight. What a wonderful experience, what a wonderful game that they saw. Both teams playing, competing hard," said Johnson.
The Badgers will take on the Ohio State Buckeyes, after their 5-0 victory over Northeastern University that afternoon, at 4 p.m. It will be the fourth straight faceoff between the two WCHA teams in the national championship.