Penn State men’s hockey (22-13-4, 9-11-4 Big Ten) defeated UConn (23-12-4, 12-8-4 Hockey East) in overtime in the 2025 NCAA Tournament Allentown Regional Finals to advance to the Frozen Four for the first time in program history.

Penn State fell behind two separate times in regulation but roared back each time, thanks to goals from Dane Dowiak and JJ Wiebusch to force overtime. After a back-and-forth battle in overtime, Matt DiMarsico roofed a wrist shot to send Penn State to St. Louis. Arsenii Sergeev made 42 saves in the overtime thriller.

How It Happened

After a few minutes of back-and-forth play, UConn opened the scoring just under four minutes in. Jake Richard secured the puck near the boards and dished a pass to Joey Muldowney, who fired a one-timer past Sergeev from the high slot.

Penn State was awarded the first power play of the evening after Ethan Gardula was sent to the box for delivering a massive hit on Reese Laubach behind Penn State’s net. The Nittany Lions registered three shots on goal with the man advantage, but key saves by Tung kept them off of the scoreboard.

As the opening period approached its halfway point, Laubach nearly solved Tung and got Penn State on the board, but his wrist shot from the right faceoff circle rang off the post and out of the zone.

The Nittany Lions continued to pressure Tung and the Huskies after Aiden Fink forced a neutral zone turnover and fired a shot at the Huskies’ goalie, where he made the initial save as well as the follow-up attempt.

After periods of strong play, Penn State finally solved Tung. Tyler Paquette scooped up the puck behind the net and dished it to Dane Dowiak, who was parked in front of the net and fired the puck over the shoulder of UConn’s goalie to tie the game at one goal a side at 13:27.

STAY HOTT DANE!!#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/xrP959z5tD

— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) March 30, 2025

With just over five minutes left in the period, the teams played two minutes of four-on-four hockey after Jimmy Dowd Jr. and Ryan Tattle were awarded matching minor penalties, with Dowd sitting for roughing and Tattle for holding.

UConn and Penn State traded scoring chances in the final minutes of the first period, but neither team broke through, and they returned to the locker room still knotted at one.

As with the end of the opening period, both teams came out of their locker rooms firing to begin the middle period of regulation, but neither could capitalize.

As the midway point of the second period approached, Penn State nearly took the lead after multiple dangerous scoring chances. Led by its top line, the Nittany Lions fired off three shots on Tung during the sequence, but the goalie continued to shut Penn State down.

With under eight minutes, UConn broke the stalemate. Tabor Heaslip fired a shot from the blueline, and after a few odd bounces, the puck fluttered past a confused Sergeev and into the back of the net to give the Huskies the lead.

Just 30 seconds later, Penn State responded, thanks to JJ Wiebusch. The forward scooped up a loose puck in the right faceoff circle and waited out a defender to skate into the slot, where he fired a wicked wrist shot past Tung and into the top left corner of the net to tie the game at two goals per side.

Just like that we are tied back up!!#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/ILgHFNGrxt

— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) March 30, 2025

Shortly after it tied the game, Penn State headed to the penalty kill for the first time after Matt DiMarsico sat for a two-minute cross-checking penalty. Thanks to a strong effort by the penalty-killing unit, the Nittany Lions escaped without allowing a goal.

After the failed power play by UConn, the teams played an extended period of back-and-forth hockey until the final horn sounded, and both headed to the locker room tied at two goals with 20 minutes to play in regulation.

The Huskies controlled much of the opening minutes of the final period in regulation as they pinned Penn State in its zone but couldn’t generate many scoring chances with the extended time in the offensive zone. Penn State responded with some zone time of its own, but like UConn, could not break through for the go-ahead tally.

With six minutes elapsed, DiMarscio nearly backhanded a shot past Tung on a broken play, but his shot attempt sailed just over the crossbar and allowed UConn to clear the zone.

Past the midway point in the period, the teams continued to battle for the elusive go-ahead goal. However, like they had all game, Sergeev and Tung stood tall with Sergeev stealing the show on a sprawling attempt to cover the puck for a stoppage after it trickled behind him.

The Huskies continued to put pressure on Sergeev and Penn State as the game reached the final media timeout of regulation with four minutes to play. Before the stoppage, Sergeev once again made a stunning save after an impressive Huskies passing play to keep the game tied.

Like it had all period, the Huskies suffocated Penn State in its zone for the entire final minute of regulation. Despite the tired legs on the ice for Penn State, the team held on for overtime.

Charlie Cerrato registered the first scoring chance of overtime as he rushed up ice as part of a four-on-two odd-man rush, but opted for a wrist shot from the right circle that Tung swallowed up. After an ensuing face-off in the Huskies’ defensive zone, Tung denied an additional pair of Penn State scoring chances.

After the opportunities at the Penn State end of the ice, UConn responded with offensive zone time of its own. The Huskies nearly ended things five minutes in, but a Muldowney shot that seemed ticketed for the back of the net rang off of the far post and out of the zone.

After a big hit by Wiebusch in the corner of Penn State’s zone, UConn unsuccessfully issued a challenge alleging Wiebusch committed a major penalty with 12 minutes to play. One minute later, Sergeev stoned Muldowney on a breakaway after the forward eluded his way through Penn State’s defense.

Shortly after Sergeev kept the game alive, Cerrato rushed up ice with his linemates and nearly ended the game, but his wrist shot rang off the cross bar and popped into the netting behind the goal.

The teams continued to trade scoring chances as both could not capitalize on golden opportunities to seal the game. The Huskies rang a shot off of the post at one end of the ice while Penn State missed an open net at the other.

With two minutes to go, Penn State sealed the deal after Cerrato forced a turnover at the blue line. The forward then deked out a UConn defender to get into the offensive zone, where he dished a pass to DiMarsico, who went bar down to send Penn State to its first Frozen Four in program history.

Takeaways

• It happened, folks. For the first time in the team’s short history, Penn State is headed to the Frozen Four. After it seemed their season was all but over in January, the Nittany Lions roared back and did something that seemed impossible a few short months ago. Now, Penn State has an opportunity to win its first-ever men’s hockey national championship.
• As it has for much of the second half of the season, the line of DiMarsico-Cerrato-Wiebusch once again came up big for Penn State. After combining for three goals in the Nittany Lions game against Maine, the trio was responsible for Penn State’s second goal courtesy of Wiebusch.
• After it surrendered just 27 shots in its upset over Maine, Penn State again tightened up on defense and excelled in shot prevention. The Nittany Lions allowed 30 shots through regulation and consistently suffocated the Huskies whenever they carried the puck.

What’s Next?

Penn State travels to St. Louis after clinching its first Frozen Four appearance in program history and will face Boston University in the national semifinals at 5 or 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 10.