No. 8 Penn State men’s hockey (18-6-0, 10-4-0 Big Ten) finished off a weekend sweep at the Kohl Center on Saturday night, beating No. 5 Wisconsin (15-7-2, 8-6-0 Big Ten), 3-1.

Kevin Reidler made 40 saves in net and kept the Nittany Lions in the game before a pair of late goals by JJ Wiebusch and Reese Laubach flipped the script and gave Penn State its second comeback victory of the weekend.

How It Happened

Reidler got the start in net, continuing the goaltending platoon with his 13th start of the season. Even after allowing seven goals on Friday night, Wisconsin stayed with Daniel Hauser in net.

The Badgers got the first two shots of the game in the opening minute, but unlike Friday night, Penn State wasn’t being completely caved in to start the game. The first five minutes of the game were relatively quiet until Jack Horbach caught Nick Fascia up high with the shoulder at 4:57, giving Penn State an early power play.

The man advantage was relatively quiet for the first 80 seconds until a nifty tic-tac-toe play from Gavin McKenna, JJ Wiebusch, and Matt DiMarsico nearly got Penn State on the board early, but Hauser made a spectacular save on DiMarsico in the crease.

After a clear by Wisconsin and a re-entry, an offensive zone turnover and a great outlet pass by Tyson Dyck led to a Christian Fitzgerald breakaway, who slipped one through the five-hole of Reidler for a shorthanded goal at 5:50 to open the scoring for the Badgers.

Trying to bounce back up off the mat, Aiden Fink tried to lead a one-man rush but was stopped by Hauser. On the other end, a defensive breakdown gave Joe Palodichuk a clean look at the net, but Reidler kept it out.

The next several minutes saw both teams go back-and-forth with little offense, but the Badgers began to impose their will on the Nittany Lions’ defense around 12 minutes in, getting several shots on net with sustained time in the offensive zone. Penn State was able to flip things after a TV timeout, getting chances from Carter Schade and Dane Dowiak, but couldn’t get one past Hauser.

The Badgers got their first power play at 14:31 on a Reese Laubach interference penalty, but did not convert despite three shots on net. Those shots weren’t too dangerous, but the relentless Wisconsin pressure continued after the power play concluded, as Reidler had to stop three different chances from Adam Pietila in the crease on bouncing pucks and rebounds.

Reidler had to stop another big chance from Quinn Finley a minute later, but Penn State was able to get a late power play when Finley held the stick of Nic Chin-DeGraves at 18:56. Wisconsin held the Penn State power play off the board for the next minute to end the period, albeit nearly surrendering the game-tying goal when a bouncing puck landed on the stick of an open Mac Gadowsky in front of the net, only for the defenseman to send it wide.

The Nittany Lions had a couple more cracks at it on the man advantage for the first period, but couldn’t capitalize as Finley came out of the box. The momentum carried over after it expired, however, as after Reidler made a big save on the other end, Penn State got consistent zone pressure and got their best chance of the day when Lev Katzin picked up a rebound and tried to feed Luke Misa in the slot, but it was off-line.

Wisconsin was able to spring opportunities in transition all night, and Fitzgerald got one of them at the eight-minute mark that Reidler saved off the blocker, but Penn State would go on the penalty kill shortly after when Nolan Collins went off for interference at 8:18.

The Badgers would manage just one shot on net, as Schade and Jackson Smith did a good job getting in front of the puck. Penn State used the kill as momentum, quickly pushing the other way and threatening when Fink set up Misa for a one-timer in front of the net at the 11-minute mark, but Hauser once again kept it out.

At the 12:30 mark, Pietila fired a long shot off Reidler that bounced out to a pair of open Badgers in the crease, but Horbach hit the side of the net, and Bruno Idzan was robbed by a sprawling Reidler to keep it 1-0. Penn State got a power play a few seconds later on a too many men on the ice call, but Wisconsin killed it off without yielding a shot on net.

As the final minutes ticked down in the period, the Nittany Lions kept pushing for the equalizer, but some over-passing and continued strong play from Hauser kept it from happening.

Wisconsin nearly doubled the lead with 3:05 left in the second when Ryan Botterill put one in the back of the net, but it was immediately ruled no goal because Dyck had bulldozed Reidler a few seconds earlier and gave him no chance to make the save. Wisconsin head coach Mike Hastings challenged the call, but it was quickly confirmed by the replay room.

DiMarsico tried to tie the game on the other end, but had his shot partially blocked from a sharp angle. Blake Montgomery got a big chance for the Badgers with just over a minute left in the period, but Reidler again made a tough save while the Nittany Lions scrambled around to control the rebound.

Fink and Smith got shots on net in the final minute of the second, but Hauser stayed stout. Reidler broke up a crisp pass that would’ve yielded a sure goal with 20 seconds left, and the two sides went into the third period with the Badgers up 1-0.

15 seconds into the period, Finley broke out a partial breakaway for Wisconsin, but dinged the post after Reidler sprawled out to take away a clean lane. A minute later, Fink had a similar opportunity on the other end, but was rushed into a shot and was stopped by Hauser.

Penn State was the better team to start the third period, pushing play and forcing Hauser into difficult saves. The dam finally broke on the team’s 26th shot, when Wiebusch drifted from the wall to the middle of the ice and sniped his 13th goal of the season at 4:54 to tie the game. Schade and Dowiak picked up assists.

THE HOMETOWN KID TIES IT!!#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/ikZiryphNv

— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) January 25, 2026

Wisconsin tried to answer back in a hurry, as a tremendous pass from Oliver Tulk was gloved down by a streaking Montgomery, who tried the same five-hole trick as Fitzgerald earlier, but was denied by Reidler at 6:32. Tulk had his stick on a juicy rebound just a minute later in the crease, but Collins knocked him off the puck. A similar thing happened shortly after with Simon Tassy and Jarod Crespo.

Mac Gadowsky came the other way at 8:30 on a partial breakaway and nearly potted his first of the season. The teams continued to go back and forth, and scrums continued to gain intensity after whistles.

Penn State won a defensive zone draw with 7:04 left in the game and quickly got on the rush. Crespo fed DiMarsico for a slapshot that was stopped by Hauser, but Laubach cleaned up the loose change at 13:08 for his fifth goal of the season to give the Nittany Lions a 2-1 lead.

Laubach on the rebound and Penn State has the lead!!#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/gYAqePfQhO

— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) January 25, 2026

The desperation ticked up for the Badgers, now trailing for the first time. Finley and Fitzgerald got shots off as time ticked down to three minutes remaining, but the Penn State defense kept getting bodies in front of the puck. Hastings pulled Hauser with 2:06 left, and Chin-DeGraves iced the puck 27 seconds later.

All five Nittany Lions were gassed, and two had broken sticks, but the icing allowed them to catch a small breath. Van Olm nearly potted one in the empty net with 1:15 left, but it didn’t have enough on it to get all the way down. Once Wisconsin re-entered, they quickly gave it away, and McKenna fired the puck nearly 200 feet down the ice for a game-sealing empty net goal with 53 seconds left.

McKenna ices this one!!#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/fUMpbfDpVo

— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) January 25, 2026

Hauser was pulled again in desperation, but it was all but academic. A save by Reidler with 10.2 seconds to play allowed tensions to fully boil over, as all 10 skaters began brawling. The resulting penalties saw McKenna and Montgomery get five-minute majors for grabbing the facemask and being formally ejected. The other eight skaters involved were given game misconducts, ending their games a bit early.

Takeaways

• The Wisconsin student section, known as the Crease Creatures, joins a long list of road student sections to engage in vulgar anti-Penn State chants. They fared about the same as Arizona State’s did in October.
• JJ Wiebusch grew up in Verona, just a few miles away from Wisconsin’s campus in Madison. The hometown kid potted the game-tying goal in the third period, scoring in his second straight game after an 11-game drought.
• Wisconsin was more physical for most of the night, looking the part of a struggling team trying not to be swept at home. It didn’t really matter, as the lone Badger goal came on a shorthanded breakaway early.
• How smart does Guy Gadowsky look for this goaltending platoon? Much has been said about the platoon of Kevin Reidler and Josh Fleming, especially with Fleming’s performance eliciting Richter and Hobey Baker Award Watch List nods, but Reidler was fantastic again tonight, making 40 saves and once again locking in after allowing an early goal
• The Nittany Lions have no problem embracing the villain role in college hockey. The Big Ten is full of blue bloods with considerable history, and Penn State is the new kid on the block. With a roster full of NHL talent and NIL funding, they’re being jeered everywhere they go. In the final minutes, several Nittany Lions relentlessly trolled both the Badgers on the ice and in the stands, with captain Dane Dowiak even gesturing “scoreboard” to a rival skater in the late scrum. At the end of the game, Guy Gadowsky was spurned by Wisconsin coach Mike Hastings, and the two teams didn’t shake hands at the end.
• With the regulation sweep, Penn State is now tied with No. 1 Michigan atop the Big Ten standings with 31 points in 14 games. They remain in the hunt for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Up Next

The men’s hockey team returns home for a blockbuster battle with No. 2 Michigan State at Pegula Ice Arena at 6 p.m. on Friday, January 30. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus.