Michigan State University Athletics
Friday, January 30
State College, Pa.
6 PM
Michigan State University
20-5-0, 11-4-0
6
at
3
Penn State
18-7-0, 10-5-0
1
2
3
F
Michigan St.
3
1
2
6
Penn State
0
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Photo by: Michael Caples
Romani’s Hat Trick Powers No. 2 Hockey Past No. 5 Penn State
1/30/2026 11:34:00 PM | Men's Ice Hockey
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Freshman forward Anthony Romani scored three goals, recording his first career hat trick in No. 2/2-ranked Michigan State's 6-3 victory over No. 5/5-ranked Penn State on Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena. Romani's four points (three goals, one assist) matched the most single-game points by a Spartan this season. It's the first hat trick by a Spartan since Isaac Howard's four point (3g, 1a) effort against Penn State in a 6-4 win on January 10, 2025.
"I thought we executed at a high level," said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. "Obviously we're playing a good team and they're going to push us. I thought our penalty kill did a really good job on that five-minute major when you've got that much talent on the ice for Penn State. Trey (Augustine) was really good and made some big time saves for us."
Michigan State improves to 20-5-0 overall and 11-4 in Big Ten action while Penn State falls to 18-7-0 (10-5 B1G). Saturday's season series finale gets underway outdoors at 1:00 p.m. from Beaver Stadium.
While Romani paced the Spartans with four points, he wasn't the only Spartan to turn in a multi-point performance. Freshman Porter Martone was close behind with a goal and two assists, senior Daniel Russell added a goal and an assist, and junior Maxim Strbak tallied a pair of assists. Sophomore Owen West scored his second goal of the season in the first period.
Also with assists on Friday night were junior Trey Augustine, junior Patrick Geary, freshman Matt Lahey, senior Charlie Stramel, freshman Cayden Lindstrom and junior Gavin O'Connell.
Augustine made 33 saves in goal on 36 shots faced, good for a .917 save percentage, and improves to 18-5-0 in net this season and 14-5-2 against Top 5-ranked opponents for his career.
How It Happened
It was a dominant first period of action for Michigan State, which took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission utilizing a pair of power play goals to its advantage. Romani opened the scoring for MSU just 4:02 into the period when he collected a stretch pass from Strbak and dangled his way past the Nittany Lion goaltender 1-on-1. Augustine prevented an equalizing goal just a minute into the action later when he stretched to stop a back door shoot.
West scored the first power play goal of the period 14:59 in, ripping a shot from the point for his second goal of the season. A Nittany Lion penalty at 16:33 negated a Penn State power play chance late and provide the Spartans with 26 seconds of power play time of their own, which they took advantage of. With four seconds left on the power play, Lindstrom found himself alone with the Nittany Lion goaltender but made the smart pass to Romani who tallied his second goal of the period.
Michigan State's penalty kill started the period strong killing off a five-minute major to keep the Nittany Lions scoreless early. Penn State eventually got on the board just past the mid-way point of the period, scoring late on a power play to make it 3-1. Martone got one back for the Spartans with less than five minutes to play in the period however, cleaning up a puck in front of the net to bring the Spartan lead to 4-1.
MSU started the third period on a power play after Penn State was whistled for throwing a stick at a loose puck as time expired in the second. A pair of Nittany Lion goals in the first nine minutes of the period brought the score within one goal at 4-3 in favor of Michigan State. The Spartans earned a key penalty kill late, holding PSU shotless on their power play. Penn State pulled its goaltender with 2:21 to play in regulation to get an extra skater on the ice, but an empty net goal by Romani at 2:01 and a second empty-netter by Russell with 22.1 seconds left ended the Nittany Lion comeback bid.
"I thought we executed at a high level," said Michigan State head coach Adam Nightingale. "Obviously we're playing a good team and they're going to push us. I thought our penalty kill did a really good job on that five-minute major when you've got that much talent on the ice for Penn State. Trey (Augustine) was really good and made some big time saves for us."
Michigan State improves to 20-5-0 overall and 11-4 in Big Ten action while Penn State falls to 18-7-0 (10-5 B1G). Saturday's season series finale gets underway outdoors at 1:00 p.m. from Beaver Stadium.
While Romani paced the Spartans with four points, he wasn't the only Spartan to turn in a multi-point performance. Freshman Porter Martone was close behind with a goal and two assists, senior Daniel Russell added a goal and an assist, and junior Maxim Strbak tallied a pair of assists. Sophomore Owen West scored his second goal of the season in the first period.
Also with assists on Friday night were junior Trey Augustine, junior Patrick Geary, freshman Matt Lahey, senior Charlie Stramel, freshman Cayden Lindstrom and junior Gavin O'Connell.
Augustine made 33 saves in goal on 36 shots faced, good for a .917 save percentage, and improves to 18-5-0 in net this season and 14-5-2 against Top 5-ranked opponents for his career.
Denied by Trey Augustine! pic.twitter.com/7Ux828ZDh9
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) January 30, 2026
How It Happened
It was a dominant first period of action for Michigan State, which took a 3-0 lead into the first intermission utilizing a pair of power play goals to its advantage. Romani opened the scoring for MSU just 4:02 into the period when he collected a stretch pass from Strbak and dangled his way past the Nittany Lion goaltender 1-on-1. Augustine prevented an equalizing goal just a minute into the action later when he stretched to stop a back door shoot.
Anthony Romani makes it 1-0 in the first!
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) January 30, 2026
Strbak and Augustine with the assists after a great stretch pass from Max pic.twitter.com/5SfN1ZVfj3
West scored the first power play goal of the period 14:59 in, ripping a shot from the point for his second goal of the season. A Nittany Lion penalty at 16:33 negated a Penn State power play chance late and provide the Spartans with 26 seconds of power play time of their own, which they took advantage of. With four seconds left on the power play, Lindstrom found himself alone with the Nittany Lion goaltender but made the smart pass to Romani who tallied his second goal of the period.
Cayden Lindstrom with the vision to find Romani for his second goal of the night!
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) January 30, 2026
3-0 Spartans in the first period pic.twitter.com/ucenXhWnQS
Michigan State's penalty kill started the period strong killing off a five-minute major to keep the Nittany Lions scoreless early. Penn State eventually got on the board just past the mid-way point of the period, scoring late on a power play to make it 3-1. Martone got one back for the Spartans with less than five minutes to play in the period however, cleaning up a puck in front of the net to bring the Spartan lead to 4-1.
Poster Martone collects the loose puck and scores to make it 4-1! pic.twitter.com/qOJfXmPmK0
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) January 31, 2026
MSU started the third period on a power play after Penn State was whistled for throwing a stick at a loose puck as time expired in the second. A pair of Nittany Lion goals in the first nine minutes of the period brought the score within one goal at 4-3 in favor of Michigan State. The Spartans earned a key penalty kill late, holding PSU shotless on their power play. Penn State pulled its goaltender with 2:21 to play in regulation to get an extra skater on the ice, but an empty net goal by Romani at 2:01 and a second empty-netter by Russell with 22.1 seconds left ended the Nittany Lion comeback bid.
Hats off to Anthony Romani, a hat trick for the freshman makes it 5-3! pic.twitter.com/CdSFByi0tQ
— Michigan State Hockey (@MSU_Hockey) January 31, 2026
Team Stats
MSU
PSU
Shots
36
36
PPG
2
2
SHG
0
0
Penalties
9
10
Penalty Mins
40
39
Faceoffs Won
28
52
Game Leaders
+/-
2
Goals
3
Sh
4
A
1
+/-
1
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
2
+/-
1
Goals
1
Sh
6
A
1
+/-
3
Goals
0
Sh
0
A
2
Players Mentioned
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