MSU hockey's season ends in heartbreaking overtime loss to Wisconsin

WORCESTER, Mass. – This one might have been the hardest pill to swallow yet for the Michigan State hockey team. After leading 3-1 and being less than five minutes from reaching the Frozen Four, things fell apart for the Spartans , resulting in a 4-3 overtime loss to Wisconsin on Saturday, March 28, to end MSU's season.

This was the third straight season the Spartans entered the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed and failed to reach the Frozen Four. Just 24 seconds into overtime, Wisconsin defenseman Ben Dexheimer's shot from the point took a deflection and beat a screened MSU goaltender Trey Augustine, sending the Badgers to Las Vegas.

Trailing 3-1, Wisconsin scored twice in a 34-second span with under five minutes to go to send the game to overtime. MSU's season ends in the regional final with a 26-9-2 record. Wisconsin started the scoring just 18 seconds into the second period, when after a faceoff win in the MSU zone, Badgers forward Quinn Finley wired a wrist shot past Augustine.

At the end of MSU's first power-play opportunity, junior forward Gavin O'Connell took a pass on the wing and looked to center the puck, but a Wisconsin stick deflected the pass, which wound up fluttering over Wisconsin goaltender Daniel Hauser to level the score. Thirty-one seconds later, senior forward Tiernan Shoudy led his linemate Tommi Mannisto with a pass to start an odd man rush. Mannisto patiently waited before centering a puck to defenseman Patrick Geary, who jumped into the rush and beat Hauser for his second goal of the season.