UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 6 Penn State dropped its regular-season finale to No. 11 Wisconsin, 5-2, in Big Ten Conference action at Pegula Ice Arena on Friday evening.
Penn State falls to 20-12-2 overall and 12-10-2 in Big Ten play following the loss while the Badgers move to 21-11-2 on the year and 14-10-0 in conference action with the victory.
The Nittany Lions will next host a Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinal game for the first time in seven years as No. 3 Penn State welcomes sixth-seeded Minnesota to Pegula Ice Arena for a single contest at 7 p.m. on Wednesday evening.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
- Wisconsin opened the scoring with a goal against the run of play as Christian Fitzgerald set up a streaking Quinn Finley and he redirected a back-hand past Nittany Lion sophomore net-minder Kevin Reidler (Gavle, Sweden) for the 1-0 edge at 11:37 of the first period.
- The Badgers extended the lead just 22 ticks into the second period as Gavin Morrissey won the draw clean and then redirected a point shot from Ben Dexheimer into the back of the net for the 2-0 advantage.
- The visitors pushed the lead further just over a minute later as Oliver Tulk drove the net and redirected a pass from Ryan Botterill past Reidler at the far post for the 3-0 score at the 1:29 mark.
- Wisconsin continued the pressure with its eighth-straight goal of the weekend as Blake Montgomery laced a one-timer from the high slot past the glove of Reidler for the 4-0 lead at 4:52 of the second period.
- Penn State cut the deficit in half just past the midway point of the second period with a pair of goals in just 73 seconds as freshman Shea Van Olm (Calgary, Alberta) laced a one-timer from the right dot on the powerplay at the 12:43 mark before junior Reese Laubach (San Jose, Calif.) finished into a yawning net atop the goal crease off a feed from freshman Gavin McKenna (Whitehorse, Yukon) for the 4-2 score at 13:56 of the second period.
- The Badgers pushed the lead back three goals taking advantage of an odd-man rush as Tulk had a yawning net to shoot at following a saucer pass from Botterill and he didn’t miss making the score 5-2 just 1:59 into the third period.
GOALTENDING
- Reidler falls to 11-7-0 on the season after making 16 saves over the opening 24:52 before being relieved by freshman Josh Fleming (Montreal, Quebec) who stopped 16-of-17 shots over the final 35:08 of game action.
- Daniel Hauser improves to 18-6-2 after stopping 23 shots in the victory for the Badgers.
NOTES
- Wisconsin held the, 37-25, edge in shots on goal.
- Penn State went a perfect 3-for-3 on the penalty kill while going 1-for-3 with the man-advantage.
- The Badgers have now won seven-straight games at Pegula Ice Arena dating back to 2023.
- With his second period assist, McKenna extends his career-long, point-streak to seven games, while moving past Denis Smirnov ’20 and setting a new single-season freshman points record with his 48th point on the season. Smirnov’s record stood for the past nine seasons.
- McKenna also concludes the season as the Big Ten scoring champion with 38 points on 11 goals and 27 assists in 24 games finishing two points clear of both Michigan’s TJ Hughes and Michigan State’s Porter Martone who each finished with 36 points.
- The loss snaps a streak of four-straight Wear White game victories for the Nittany Lions as they are now 5-6-1 all-time in such games including a 2-1-0 mark against the Badgers following the setback.
For more information on the 2025-26 season, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.