It's Ohio State And Wisconsin Again In The NCAA Final Following Dramatic Frozen Four Semifinals
Ohio State and Wisconsin will face off yet again for an NCAA women's hockey national title, but the final wasn't set up without an incredible Frozen Four semifinal, including a heartbreaker for Penn State.
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. Absolute SCENES here at Pegula 🤯 #WeAre #HockeyValley pic. twitter.