Tessa Janecke’s year has had no shortage of big moments, from winning gold with the United States women’s hockey team at the Winter Olympics in Milan, to playing in the Frozen Four on home ice at State College.
On Tuesday night she added another, as Las Vegas of the Professional Women’s Hockey League selected Janecke with the third pick of the PWHL Draft.
The new expansion team in Las Vegas is the fourth team to be announced as part of the league’s second round of expansions for the 2026-27 season, taking the league from eight teams to 12. Detroit, Hamilton, and San Jose are the other three.
After helping lead Penn State to its first women’s hockey Frozen Four appearance, Janecke says she knows what it’s like to help build a program and is prepared to do the same in Vegas.
“Me and my class have kind of built that place into what it is today and hopefully into what it continues to be and I’m really excited to be able to do that with Las Vegas as well,” Janecke said.
Janecke added: “It takes so much hard work and adversity even if you’re not winning games to still make those around you feel like they belong and feel that sense of community in the team.”
As Penn State’s leading goal scorer this season with 26 goals, the 5-foot-8 forward also led the team in points (48), and finished with 201 career points, the most ever for a Penn State hockey player.
She also became the first Penn State athlete to win a Winter Olympic gold medal after competing in Milan this winter, putting up five assists in the United States’ seven games.
Janecke also played for Team USA in the 2025 IIHF World Championship where she scored the golden goal.
The Orangeville, Ill. native was named to the Atlantic Hockey America conference first-team four times, and won three straight AHA Player and Forward of the year awards, the second woman in the conference to achieve that feat. She also became the first ever Penn State women’s player to be a top-three finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, given to the top women’s college player. She was a top-10 finalist the previous two seasons.
Janecke said she plans to carry her experience and lessons from Penn State to the next level.
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“I think there’s an edge to Penn State that people don’t always realize. They kind of fly under the radar,” Janecke said. “Maybe that’s a good thing and a bad thing, but I think I’m going to take that 200-foot play that I’ve developed at Penn State and bring that to Las Vegas.”
Penn State representation and a local connection
Wynnewood’s Grace Dwyer, a Harriton High graduate, was also drafted in the first round, 10th overall to the Boston Fleet.
The blueliner had 76 points (18 goals, 58 assists) during her four-year career at Cornell. She was named to the All-Ivy first-team this season. She also previously played for the Philadelphia Junior Flyers, along with Penn State’s Leah Stecker, who went 27th overall to Boston in the third round.
Stecker, one of several Nittany Lions to be drafted, was a four-year contributor, playing in all of Penn State’s games over the last three seasons.
The Randolph, N.J. native finished her career with 57 points (12 goals, 45 assists), but was most productive in the defensive zone, recording 83 blocks in her career.
Maddy Christian, an Elk River, Minn. native, was also drafted in the third round to her hometown team, the Minnesota Frost. She had a 84 total points (46 goals, 38 assists) in four seasons at Penn State.
Goalie Katie DeSa was drafted with the first pick of the fourth round to the Vancouver Goldeneyes after finishing her career with the most shutouts in program history (25), earned back-to-back AHA Goaltender of the Year honors, and finished with a .932 save percentage during her collegiate career.
Forward Katelyn Roberts was taken 43rd overall in the fourth round by the New York Sirens. She scored a career-best 16 goals during her senior season. She also set a program record for most single-season game-winning goals (7), which was tied for the second-most nationally. She is one of six athletes in the program’s history to record 100 or more career points.
In the fifth round, Kendall Butze joined Janecke after she was selected by Las Vegas. Butze was named the AHA’s Best Defensemen in back-to-back seasons and is Penn State’s all-time leader in points by a defenseman (94).
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