Women's Hockey Introduces 2025-26 CaptainsWomen's Hockey Introduces 2025-26 Captains

Women's Hockey Introduces 2025-26 Captains

Janecke to don the ‘C’ for the second-straight season, Roberts, Butze, Christian, Stecker, Vaslet to serve as alternates

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Head coach Jeff Kampersal and the Penn State women's ice hockey team named its captains for the 2025-26 season earlier Monday afternoon. Senior forward Tessa Janecke will remain the team captain after becoming the 12th woman to don the ‘C’ in program history last season.

Entering her final season at Penn State, Janecke has been one of the most productive forwards in the team's history sitting atop the record books with 153 points. The Orangeville, Ill. native has led the Nittany Lions to three straight NCAA tournament appearances and three straight College Hockey America titles. She has been named a second-team All-American as well as the AHA Player and Forward of the Year in back-to-back seasons. Janecke racked up 24 goals and 29 assists to tie her career-high with 53 points and was named a Patty Kazmaier top 10 finalist for the second-straight year as a junior.

Captains

A quintet of seniors will serve as alternates with only one holdover from last season in Mya Vaslet while Katelyn Roberts, Kendall Butze, Maddy Christian and Leah Stecker will all don the ‘A’ for the first time in their careers.

“The Class of 2026 has been program-altering since the day they arrived on campus,” mentioned Kampersal. “They are leaders, winners, and team-first humans. The group has unique personalities and multi-faceted leadership styles and are true Penn Staters - passionate, loyal, and trustworthy. As coaches, we are so fortunate and grateful, to have them leading the way.”  

Butze and Roberts earned All-AHA First Team accolades at the end of the 2024-25 season. Butze was named the Molly Byrne AHA Best Defenseman a season ago following a 27-point campaign from the backend registering four goals and 23 assists with a plus-20 rating.

Roberts ranked second on the team with a career-best 35 points on 11 goals and a career-high 24 assists in 2024-25 while Christian also had a career-year ranking second on the team in goals with 21 while adding 12 assists for 33 points.

Stecker also had a career campaign as a junior with career marks across the board registering 18 points on four goals and 14 assists and a plus-24 rating. Vaslet rounds out the group coming back for a fifth season after suffering an injury in 2024-25. The graduate student put up 16 goals and 10 assists for 26 points as a junior in 2023-24, but skated in just four games a season ago. 

Penn State opens the 2025-26 season at home on Thursday, Sept. 25 when they host St. Lawrence.