Penn State’s Tessa Janecke is selected third overall by Las Vegas in the PWHL draft
Janecke, who played for Team USA's gold medal team in the Winter Olympics, is hoping to bring the same success she achieved at Penn State to Las Vegas, one of four expansion teams joining the PWHL.
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.
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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 the 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.
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Janecke said she plans to carry her experience and lessons from Penn State to the next level.
“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.”