Wisconsin Badgers win Frozen Four thriller, reach title game

University Park, PA — It was not the start the Wisconsin Badgers wanted, giving up two goals on costly penalties in the first period, but it finished the way Wisconsin women's hockey hoped it could when playing what felt like a true road game against the Penn State Nittany Lions on PSU's home ice. In front of a crowd of 5,176 roaring fans (the largest in Frozen Four history), UW did just enough to earn an overtime victory and a spot in Sunday's national title game.

No. 2 Wisconsin (34-4-2, 23-3-2 WCHA) outlasted No. 3 Penn State (33-6-0, 22-2-0 AHA) in a 4-3 overtime victory that saw the Badgers overcome two separate first-period deficits. UW had a lead of its own with five minutes remaining in regulation, but failed to hold on, needing 50 more seconds after the third-period had expired.

Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson acknowledged that his team "certainly didn't start the game off the way we wanted," but the Badgers "ended up finishing it off the way we like to."

First Star: Kirsten Simms

"KIRSTEN SIMMS SENDS WISCONSIN TO THE NATIONAL TITLE GAME!" 🗣️#WFrozenFour x 🎥 ESPN+ / @BadgerWHockey pic.twitter.com/WVlVJ6TamL
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 21, 2026

UW forward Kirsten Simms tallied a game-high three points, but her lone goal was the play of the night. Eight seconds after a faceoff at the start of a Badgers power play, the two-time first team All-American hit the back of the net, scoring the overtime game-winner and the 100th goal of her career.

"I'm really excited that that put us into the game Sunday," Simms said of her latest goal.

The Plymouth, Michigan native is no stranger to scoring in big moments. Her 19 game-winners are the eighth-most in program history. Last season, she scored the overtime game-winner in the national title game, the second game-winning-goal in a national championship of her career.

Second Star: Laila Edwards

Laila Edwards doing what she does best 😮‍💨#WFrozenFour x 🎥 ESPN+ / @BadgerWHockey pic.twitter.com/kZKrIo4Rhm
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) March 20, 2026

Simms' pair of assists came on her linemate Laila Edwards' game-high two goals. Edwards twice evened up the score in the NCAA Tournament national semifinal before assisting on Simms' game-winner.

The Cleveland Heights, Ohio native and Badgers alternate captain said that her team's goal in the locker room before overtime was "to reset that energy."

"It's tough when they tie it late," Edwards said. "It's easy for them to leave that period with motiviation and momentum, but we were determined and we had great energy in the locker room."

Third Star: Tessa Janecke

Absolute SCENES here at Pegula 🤯#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/rmOVZXWItG
— Penn State Women’s Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) March 21, 2026

The greatest scorer in the history of Nittany Lions hockey said during a press conference on Thursday that she hopes Penn State fans remember her as "a good teammate, and not just someone that achieves records on the ice."

Her performance in Friday's national semifinal will make it just that much harder for PSU fans to remember her for anything other than her on-ice excellence.

The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award top-three finalist scored just 10 seconds after UW rookie Charlotte Pieckenhagen went to the penalty box in the first period. That goal sent the crowd inside Penn State's Pegula Ice Arena into a frenzy that set the tone for the night.

That goal made Janecke the first player in PSU program history to reach 200 career points, but the goal Nittany Lions fans will be talking about for years to come is the breakway equalizer scored late in the third-period that sent her team to overtime, even if the extra frame did not go Penn State's way.