Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Penn State's players would lose a season of play.

The 34-day layoff hamstrung the team and it showed in their poor performance; despite outshooting Notre Dame in both games, the Nittany Lions lost both by a combined score of 3–12.

By losing an entire months-worth of games, Penn State couldn't overcome their bad start and the team's only path into the NCAA Tournament was by winning the Big Ten.

They faced the same Fighting Irish team that had soundly beaten them a week earlier in the first round, but the game time appeared to have knocked the rust off of the Penn State and the Lions scored 5 consecutive goals to give themselves a solid 6–3 win.

Once the game got into overtime, the fast pace of regulation seemed to have caught up with PSU and they were overwhelmed by the Badgers, surrendering 10 shots in under 7 minutes and they could only watch as the nation's leading goal-scorer ended their season.