MSU hockey's season ends in heartbreaking overtime loss to Wisconsin
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WORCESTER, Mass. – This one might have been the hardest pill to swallow yet for the Michigan State hockey team.
After leading 3-1 and being less than five minutes from reaching the Frozen Four, things fell apart for the Spartans, resulting in a 4-3 overtime loss to Wisconsin on Saturday, March 28, to end MSU's season.
This was the third straight season the Spartans entered the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed and failed to reach the Frozen Four.
Just 24 seconds into overtime, Wisconsin defenseman Ben Dexheimer's shot from the point took a deflection and beat a screened MSU goaltender Trey Augustine, sending the Badgers to Las Vegas.
Trailing 3-1, Wisconsin scored twice in a 34-second span with under five minutes to go to send the game to overtime. MSU's season ends in the regional final with a 26-9-2 record.
Wisconsin started the scoring just 18 seconds into the second period, when after a faceoff win in the MSU zone, Badgers forward Quinn Finley wired a wrist shot past Augustine.
At the end of MSU's first power-play opportunity, junior forward Gavin O'Connell took a pass on the wing and looked to center the puck, but a Wisconsin stick deflected the pass, which wound up fluttering over Wisconsin goaltender Daniel Hauser to level the score.
Thirty-one seconds later, senior forward Tiernan Shoudy led his linemate Tommi Mannisto with a pass to start an odd man rush. Mannisto patiently waited before centering a puck to defenseman Patrick Geary, who jumped into the rush and beat Hauser for his second goal of the season.
The Spartans went up 3-1 with just over 11 minutes remaining on its second power-play goal of the evening. The puck was worked to senior defenseman Matt Basgall at the point, and the MSU captain fired a shot off the post and behind a screened Hauser.
MSU operated the majority of the game without top line center Charlie Stramel, who left the game midway through the first period with an undisclosed injury.
This story will be updated.
Contact Nathaniel Bott at [email protected] and follow him on X @Nathaniel_Bott at Bluesky @nathanielbott.bsky.social
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU hockey's season ends in heartbreaking overtime loss to Wisconsin