30 years of Penn State women’s hockey from the Collegian archives

What began three decades ago as a student-founded club program culminated last weekend in the most accomplished season for Penn State women’s hockey. The Lady Lions made history with its first appearance at the Frozen Four, just weeks after four players represented their countries at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic Games.

Take a look back at the program’s evolution through the Collegian archives.

1996-97: Humble beginnings

Eighteen young women hit the rink on Oct. 30, 1996, for the then-Lady Icers’ first practice. The team was started by Ellen Bradley and Kathy Beckford and coached by Vinnie Scalamogna, who was the assistant manager and programs director of the Penn State ice pavilion at the time.

Scalamogna told the Collegian that the team would function within the intramural ice hockey program and later petition the student government for club team status. As they worked to get the team off the ground — a process he acknowledged wouldn’t be short or easy — he said the athletics department and then-men’s club hockey coach Joe Battista were supportive.

"Eventually maybe it will become like the Icers," Scalamogna said. "I'd like to have half a dozen games and get some interest. The bottom line is to have fun.”

The Lady Icers later played its first game in January 1997 against the Harrisburg Rockettes, which was a newly-formed travel team of women aged 21-45. Penn State won 5-4.

According to Collegian reporting, the Rockettes tied the game at 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4 before center Ellen Zajko scored a game-winning goal with 2:21 left in the game. She was later named MVP of the game and went home with the puck.

“I’m very psyched for the next game,” an emotional Zajko said after the game. “It was a really exciting win. It was a good game to watch, very evenly matched. That’s how hockey’s played.”

Though the Collegian doesn’t appear to have any record of when the student government officially approved the team’s club status, the archives do document a March 1997 game against Rutgers in which the Lady Icers are identified as a club team.

While the Collegian also doesn't have a record of that game’s score, it reported in December 1997 that the team played Rutgers again at the start of its second season and lost 3-1. Later that same weekend, the Lady Icers faced Chatham College and fell 6-4.

“We’ve got a couple of big games left next semester,” then-Assistant Coach John Phillips said. “Hopefully, we can get things rolling and get some momentum so when next semester comes around, we can keep going.”

1998-99: The Lady Icers compete in first collegiate tournament

In February 1998, 13 players made their way to Potsdam, New York, to play in its first collegiate tournament. Hosted by Clarkson University, the All-East Regional Club Championship Tournament gave the team the opportunity to go head-to-head with other club teams in the region.

“We are not going to get any better as a team until we start playing teams that are better than us,” said goaltender Missy Werner, who recorded her first-ever shutout that weekend over Syracuse University.

The Lady Icers fell 8-2 to Massachusetts, who was the tournament’s runner up, and 8-0 to Trinity College. Still, then-coach Jessica Ferrer was optimistic and learned from the game, including the need to be more aggressive.

“I was very pleased with our team’s performance,” Ferrer said. “We played some teams that could go varsity very soon. They have an established backbone, something we are trying to achieve.”

The following year, the team played its best season in its three-year history with a record of 9-4-1.

2000-01: The Lady Icers become MAWCHA champions after an undefeated season

With just one minute and 21 seconds on the clock, the Lady Icers called a timeout, knowing the University of Pittsburgh needed just two goals to tie the game. Penn State entered the Mid-Atlantic Women's Collegiate Hockey Association (MAWCHA) tournament as the No. 1 seed, desperate to remain undefeated.

The team claimed a 2-0 win over the No. 2 seed Ice Panthers after a heated season rivalry. The Lady Icers beat Pitt in 3-1 and 7-1 in regular season games.

"I'm just assuming that we will be coming home with the first-place trophy. I love banners. I love trophies. I'm very materialistic like that. I can't wait to bring one home this weekend," Pittsburgh's Jess Preite told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review before the tournament, according to Collegian archives.

The Lady Icers read the story before the game, saying it motivated them more.

2001-02: The Lady Icers are invited to compete in its first national competition

The team was one of eight schools to play in the inaugural American Collegiate Hockey Association’s (ACHA) national competition in April 2001.

The Lady Icers faced schools out west for the first time, falling 3-1 in its first game against Arizona State University. The team later fell to Pitt and the University of Wisconsin.

Despite the loss, the team still gained a valuable learning experience, strong sportsmanship and even a piece of memorabilia placed in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto alongside items from the other competitors.

“It’s great to be a part of the history of women’s hockey,” said center Ellen Zajko, who was named one of the strongest players of the tournament.

The following season, the team finished third, and Lady Icers forward Andrea Lavelle was named ACHA Women’s Division Player of the Year.

2012-13: Move to the big stage

The Lady Icers played their last game in the ACHA, a league formed in 1991 and originally built to aid the transition to D1 hockey. When that goal didn’t come to fruition, both the women’s and men’s teams left for the next level.

For the women’s team, it would now participate in the College Hockey America conference, which was eventually renamed to the current league the squad participates in today, the Atlantic Hockey America conference.

“We thought that the ACHA would foster that kind of a movement [to the D1 level],” Battista said. “But, given the cost of college athletics and issues with facilities and Title IX and budgets, the only way you are going to get it is if a Terry Pegula shows up. This would not have happened, of course, without Terry and Kim.”

Former Penn State men’s club team member Josh Brandwene joined to coach the squad in its inaugural D1 season, in which it finished 7-26-2. As for the ACHA, the league is still in operation, with Penn State hockey clubs participating.

2014-15: First home playoff series

For the first time in program history, Penn State hosted a playoff series in Happy Valley at Pegula Ice Arena, which was only in its second full year of operation after opening in 2013. The game would be a sign of what was to come, both on and off the ice.

In the first postseason series at the venue, the blue and white defeated Lindenwood with a combined score of 4-1 over a pair of wins to advance to the team’s first playoff semifinal. In the next round Penn State was sent home by Syracuse, but the program tasted its first bit of success.

In 2016, the Collegian launched an investigation of coach Brandwene for alleged emotional abuse. The findings led to an athletic evaluation of the coach, who retired from coaching a year later.

2017-18: Jeff Kampersal joins Penn State, first pro contract

In 2017, the blue and white snagged coach Jeff Kampersal from Princeton University, following prior success with Guy Gadowsky, another former Princeton coach hired to lead the men’s hockey team in 2011.

Kampersal recorded the most wins in program history and has been in charge for all of Penn State’s most successful seasons. In 2026, Kampersal was named the top head coach in all of D1 women’s hockey.

Also in 2017, Cassie Dunne became the first Penn State women’s hockey player to ink a professional contract.

“I always thought ice hockey ended after college,” Dunne said. “I never thought about playing after school, but after I played for Team USA, it solidified that hockey had more for me and I wasn't ready to give up that sport that I have been playing my whole life.”

2020-21: AHA Accolades

Penn State continued to make history and venture into uncharted territory. Former Nittany Lions’ goalie Jenna Brenneman became the first Penn State alum to hear her name called at the National Women’s Hockey League draft.

Brenneman was drafted No. 24 overall in the fourth round of the 2021 NWHL Draft and was the first goalie off the board.

In that same year, the 2020-21 Penn State unit finished with the CHA regular season title for the first time, but failed to make an NCAA Tournament appearance after a postseason loss in the CHA semifinals.

The season remained historic and crucial to program history, however, as Kiara Zanon earned the program's first AHA Player of the Year Award.

2025-26: Frozen Four

The year started with buzz, as the Frozen Four returned for the first time since 2022.

Throughout the course of the season, the Nittany Lions broke their attendance record for a women’s Penn State hockey game twice. The first of which came after the first-ever hockey game inside of Beaver Stadium, but that figure was over doubled in the blue and white’s final game of 2026.

“Here at Penn State, we get so much support it’s insane,” forward McKenna Walsh said. “I think that people are starting to realize women’s sports really matter. So, I think that was a big step for us, and then (fans) coming here supporting us, it’s super special.”

In the season finale, 5,176 people packed into Pegula Ice Arena for Penn State’s Frozen Four clash against Wisconsin, where the Nittany Lions fell short on an attempt to make ther first National Championship. Penn State had logged its highest USCHO ranking in history, No. 3, before the postseason clash.

It wasn’t just a Penn State record, however, but a new Women’s Frozen Four record, and the Nittany Lions’ captain, Tessa Janecke, put an exclamation point on the night with her 200th career point after already setting the program career point record earlier in the season.

“I couldn’t believe how packed it was,” Janecke said. “But we don’t just want that in a Frozen Four. We want that at every game, and I think we deserve it. You can see how much it helps the team on the ice when (the Roar Zone) is there supporting.”

A plethora of player personnel also logged new career records in the season’s journey. Defenseman Kendall Butze reached the top spot with career points by a defenseman, goalie Katie DeSa snagged the top spot in career shutouts, and forward Katelyn Roberts became the sixth skater to reach 100 career points, marking the first African American to do so in Penn State women’s hockey history.

All those new additions to the record book, but one moment shines at the pinnacle. An all-time high four Penn State women’s hockey athletes participated in the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympic Games, with Janecke bringing home the gold, an achievement never reached prior.

Janecke, the only player to earn AHA Player of the Year twice for Penn State, had her miraculous season earn the program’s first Patty Kazmaier top-three nomination. But despite not earning the award and her last collegiate game ending in defeat, Janecke stands as a program icon.

The program’s future appears to be heading in a new direction, but it’s certain that it wouldn’t be possible without the hundreds of women who skated before them and made women’s hockey at Penn State possible.