Sports
Season to Celebrate

From record crowds to a first Frozen Four appearance, the women’s hockey team enjoyed a campaign of milestones. 

women's hockey team with the Nittany Lion and their trophy, photo by Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics
By Jeff Rice '03 Com
Photo by Mark Selders/Penn State AthleticsMay / June 2026

 

It was a season of firsts for the women’s hockey program, including several for its top player.

The Nittany Lions reached—and hosted—the NCAA Frozen Four for the first time, giving defending national champion Wisconsin all it could handle in the semifinals before falling 4-3 in overtime in front of a crowd of 5,176—an attendance record for both Pegula Ice Arena and the Women’s Frozen Four. They were led by senior forward Tessa Janecke, who scored twice in that game. “She left it all out there,” Lions coach Jeff Kampersal said of Janecke following the loss. “She can go out very proudly.”

Janecke wearing her Olympic gold medal, photo by Bryce Mosemen/Penn State Athletics
GOLD STANDARD: Janecke’s fi ve assists for Team USA in Milan tied her for fourth on the team and tied her for sixth overall among women’s hockey players at the 2026 Olympics. Bryce Mosemen/Penn State Athletics.

 

Janecke became the first player in program history to earn first-team All-America honors, and the first to be a top-three finalist for the Kazmaier Award as the nation’s best player. She finished her standout career as the leading scorer in Penn State men’s or women’s ice hockey history, with 89 goals and 112 assists. Earlier in the winter, the Orangeville, Ill., native became the first Penn Stater to bring home gold from a Winter Olympics, collecting five assists in seven games while also becoming the first Nittany Lion to play for Team USA in Italy. Current Lions Nicole Hall (Sweden) and Matilde Fantin (Italy) and alum Jessica Adolfsson ’21 Lib (Sweden) also represented Penn State on Olympic hockey rosters.

In his ninth season, Kampersal received his first CCM/AHCA Women’s University Division Coach of the Year award after guiding the Nittany Lions to their fourth consecutive AHA/CHA championship, a program-record 33 wins, and their highest overall ranking (third) in program history. The Lions had reached the NCAA Tournament in each of the previous three seasons but had been unable to break through for a win until they defeated UConn 3-0 in the Regional Final in Pegula. “Women’s hockey is growing every day, and I want that to continue when we’re gone,” Janecke told the Daily Collegian after the Wisconsin loss.

“We did our job here, and it wasn’t about the wins; we grew women’s hockey in Hockey Valley. So if we could inspire one girl to want to play, then we did our job.”