WORCESTER, Mass. — Senior captain Ben Dexheimer’s point shot deflected and found its way into the net 24 seconds into overtime to send the Wisconsin men’s hockey team to a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over top-seed Michigan State on Saturday in the NCAA Regional Final.
With the win, the Badgers (23-12-2) move on to the NCAA Frozen Four in Las Vegas on April 9 and 11.
A two-goal outburst 34 seconds apart with under five minutes left from the sticks of Luke Osburn and Gavin Morrissey tied the game at 3-3 and made Dexheimer’s overtime goal possible at DCU Center.
A scoreless first period led to three combined goals in the second. Quinn Finley started it just 18 seconds in, taking a Morrissey faceoff win and sniping far post and in past MSU netminder Trey Augustine.
MSU’s Gavin O’Connell tied it on a flukish power-play goal at 8:10 of the second when his pass deflected off a Badger stick and floated over UW goaltender Daniel Hauser.
Thirty-one seconds later MSU’s Patrick Geary took advantage of a line change and finished to give the Spartans their first lead of the game.
Michigan State grabbed a two-goal cushion with a second power-play goal on a point shot from Matt Basgall that hit the post and then the net to make it 3-1 early in the third period.
Shortly after, Daniel Hauser stopped an MSU 2-on-1 to lock down the two-goal deficit.
Held mostly to the outside for the third period, slowly but surely the Badgers started to push, with Grady Deering getting a puck from the corner out front to Adam Pietila to ignite things.
The Badgers worked from there and then Osburn found a rebound to the right of the goal and beat a sprawling Augustine at 15:13 to pull within 3-2.
Thirty-four seconds later, Morrissey found a rebound on the other side to tie it up, 3-3.
It went to overtime from there, where Dexheimer scored 24 seconds in and sent the Badgers to their first Frozen Four since 2010.
Hauser stopped 24 shots in the victory.
Up Next: Wisconsin advances to the 2026 NCAA Frozen Four set for April 9 and 11 in Las Vegas to face North Dakota, which defeated Quinnipiac, 5-0, in the Sioux Falls Regional Saturday.
