A two-goal lead vanished, then overtime heartbreak. Unlikely scorers emerged, but Wisconsin stormed back, crushing Michigan State's Frozen Four dreams in a stunning comeback.
Michigan State’s season didn’t end with a whimper. It ended with a collapse.
For the first overtime game of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament, the stakes could not have been bigger. A trip to Las Vegas. A trip to the Frozen Four. A chance for Michigan State to make its 12th Frozen Four appearance in program history — and its first since 2007, the same year the Spartans won the national championship.
Instead, they’ll have to wait another year.
The Spartans fell to Wisconsin 4-3 in overtime in a gut-punch of a regional final, watching a two-goal third-period lead disappear before the Badgers slammed the door on Michigan State’s season just 24 seconds into overtime.
In a game where Michigan State needed somebody to step up after the injury to Charlie Stramel, it got goals from three unlikely sources: Gavin O’Connell, Patrick Geary, and Matt Basgall. Three players with just 12 combined goals on the season coming into the game.
But in the end, it wasn’t enough.
A lackluster third period allowed Wisconsin to crawl all the way back from down two goals with under five minutes to play. The Badgers dominated the third because they simply were not ready to go home. Michigan State, meanwhile, took its foot off the gas at the worst possible time.
And overtime told the final story.
Wisconsin completed the comeback with a game-winner just 24 seconds into the extra frame, ending the Worcester Regional and ending Michigan State’s season in devastating fashion.
It marked the third NCAA regional meeting between the two programs. Wisconsin won in 1995. Michigan State won in 2001. And now, in 2026, it was the Badgers’ turn again.
First Period: Belonged to the Goaltenders
The opening period belonged to the men in net.
Michigan State goaltender Trey Augustine came up with a huge early save on a Wisconsin 2-on-1, one of several key moments that kept the Spartans from falling behind early. Wisconsin had the better forecheck to start and looked like the more aggressive team out of the gate.
The Spartans had a big push around the 9:22 mark and generated a few nice chances, but the pace of the period was mostly dictated by Wisconsin. By the end of the first, the score remained 0-0, but it felt like Michigan State had spent more time reacting than controlling.
Wisconsin outshot MSU 11-9 in the opening frame.
Even more notable, Michigan State’s first line — usually its bread and butter — was held to just one shot total in the period.
After the first, MSU captain and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Matt Basgall kept it simple.
“Little slow to start…”
And that it was.
What Basgall said after the first turned out to be a foreshadowing of the change that was about to come.
Second Period: Belonged to the Scorers
Then came the second period, and everything changed.
Just 18 seconds into the middle frame, Wisconsin struck first. Off a faceoff win from Gavin Morrissey, the puck found Quinn Finley — the Badgers’ top goal scorer — and he fired through traffic. The puck B-lined right over Augustine’s glove, and suddenly Wisconsin had a 1-0 lead.
At that point, Michigan State still looked like it was playing on its heels. There was never really a stretch early where the Spartans felt fully in control of the game.
But then, the response came.
With 11:50 left in the second, Michigan State capitalized on the power play. Gavin O’Connell threw a puck on net, and after it deflected off a Badger stick, it turned into a complete knuckler. It floated and danced right past the goalie’s mask and glove and somehow found its way into the net.
Tie game. 1-1.
In between Wisconsin’s goal and O’Connell’s equalizer came a huge blow for the Spartans: Charlie Stramel was officially ruled out for the rest of the game after coming up limping. That was no small loss. Stramel, a Hobey Baker nominee, entered the night as Michigan State’s second-leading goal scorer and top point producer.
At that point, somebody else had to answer.
And 31 seconds later, somebody did.
Tommi Mannisto sent a beautiful backhand pass across the middle of the ice, knowing Patrick Geary was crashing down, and Geary buried it to give Michigan State a 2-1 lead.
Just like that, the Spartans had flipped the game.
After getting punched early in the period, Michigan State finally started to play with pace. The second period was where the Spartans looked like the top seed in the region. They turned up the intensity, controlled the puck, and started to dictate the game rather than chase it.
They also survived another big moment.
After killing off their second penalty of the night, Ryker Lee flew out of the penalty box and found himself with a golden opportunity. He deked through traffic while being draped all over and nearly pushed the puck over the line. The play went to review, but no goal was confirmed because there was never a clear angle that showed the puck crossing.
Still, Michigan State stayed one step ahead for most of the second period and piled up a multitude of chances.
After two periods, the Spartans led 2-1.
And the stats told the story of exactly what this game was becoming: a nail-biter. Through two, Michigan State held a slim 21-19 edge in shots. Wisconsin led faceoffs 24-23. But special teams stood out most. Wisconsin was 0-for-2 on the power play, while Michigan State was 1-for-1.
Third Period: The Collapse
Then came the third.
And with it, the unraveling.
The period opened as a bit of a stalemate — slower, less pushy, and more cautious from both sides. A bad Michigan State giveaway led to a dangerous Wisconsin chance, but Augustine played it perfectly. Another strong Wisconsin opportunity was turned away by a huge defensive effort from Maxim Strbak.
The score stayed 2-1.
Then eight minutes into the period, it looked like Michigan State might have finally put the game away.
After Porter Martone beat the defense and got hooked on his shot in front, the Spartans went back to the power play. They had already converted once, and they did it again.
After a missed deflection attempt from Shane Vansaghi — who had moved onto the top line after Stramel’s injury — Michigan State recovered the rebound. Ryker Lee sent it back to the blue line, and Basgall fired a wrister through traffic so thick it was worse than Los Angeles.
The shot ricocheted off the post and into the net.
Suddenly, Michigan State had a 3-1 lead.
And in that moment, it felt massive.
A one-shot game is demanding on a goaltender. A two-goal lead gives you breathing room.
With five minutes left, the Spartans didn’t need to be perfect. They just needed to finish the job.
They didn’t.
Wisconsin, down two, started throwing everything it had at Michigan State. The pressure built and built. The Spartans tried to play prevent hockey, and it backfired.
The first crack came when Buffalo Sabres draft pick and freshman Luke Osburn buried a chaotic rebound in front to cut the lead to 3-2.
Then the floodgates opened.
Wisconsin kept coming in waves, firing pucks at Augustine. On another pressure sequence, Augustine failed to fully control the rebound, and Gavin Morrissey was there to bury what was basically an empty-net goal in front.
Just like that, the two-goal lead was gone.
3-3. Four minutes left.
And just like that, the game had completely flipped.
With under three minutes remaining, the officials called matching minors on both teams, including an especially strange embellishment call on Daniel Russell despite Russell being shoved to the ice repeatedly. The crowd — which had sounded far more like a Wisconsin home crowd than a neutral-site NCAA regional crowd all afternoon — erupted.
During the 4-on-4 sequence, Osburn nearly ended it with a wide-open look off a cross-ice pass, but Augustine stayed with it and turned him away.
Still, the warning signs were everywhere.
The third-period shot totals were ridiculous. Wisconsin outshot Michigan State 18-6 in the period. The Spartans simply took their foot off the gas they had found in the second and allowed the Badgers to bully their way back into the game.
After regulation, Wisconsin had outshot Michigan State 37-27.
That is not a recipe for winning.
And for a team that had once prided itself on structure and defense, the question became impossible to ignore:
Where did the defense go we once knew?
Overtime: Season Over
Then came overtime.
And it didn’t take long.
Just 24 seconds into the extra period, a random flick toward the net found its way past Augustine and into the cage.
Game over.
Season over.
For the first NCAA Tournament game of 2026 to go to overtime, Michigan State found itself on the wrong end of the madness.
One night after Michigan State basketball saw its season end, Spartan hockey followed with heartbreak of its own.
A trip to the Frozen Four was on the line.
Instead, the season crumbled to the ground.