4 No. 17 Wisconsin (6-5-1, 2-2-0-0 B1G) |
Coach Gadowsky Postgame Comments Madison, Wis. • Kohl Center• Attendance: 10,079 | 3 Penn State (3-9-1, 0-2-0-0 B1G) |
Dec. 7, 2013
MADISON, Wis. - Both freshmen Ricky DeRosa (Aston, Pa.) and Zach Saar (Richland, Mich.) collected their first multi-point games, but the Penn State men's hockey team fell to No. 17 Wisconsin, 4-3, at the Kohl Center Saturday night. The Nittany Lions, who twice erased one-goal deficits, dropped to 3-9-1 overall (0-2-0-0 Big Ten), while Wisconsin improved to 6-5-1 (2-2-0-0 Big Ten).
The Nittany Lion forwards recorded a goal and an assist each, while redshirt sophomore Eric Scheid (Blaine, Minn.) netted his team-leading seventh goal during a first-period power play. Defenseman Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ont.) tallied his seventh power-play point of the season with a first-period assist, and sophomore netminder Matthew Skoff (McKees Rocks, Pa.) turned aside 27 shots.
Both teams netted a goal in both the first and second periods before the Badgers out scored the Nittany Lions, 2-1, in the final frame. Penn State went 1-for-2 with the man advantage, while Wisconsin finished 1-for-6 on the power play. Badger goaltender Joel Rumpel made 27 saves.
The Nittany Lions skated to a 1-0 lead during a five-on-three advantage. Freshman defenseman Mike Williamson (Leduc, Alta.) moved the puck across the blue line to Juha, who sent a diagonal pass to Scheid at the right side of the net. Rumpel got a piece of the Blaine, Minn., native's attempt, but the puck slid across the goal line with 13:21 left in the first.
Wisconsin tied the game at 10:14 of the frame. Jefferson Dahl forced a turnover behind the Nittany Lion net and located Sean Little in the slot for the tally.
In the second period, the Badgers scored on their fifth power play of the night to take a 2-1 lead. Nic Kerdiles took a Jake McCabe pass in the right circle and found Michael Mersch in front of the net, where he netted his own rebound for the go-ahead marker.
DeRosa evened the score with 7:51 left in the stanza. At the blue line, DeRosa passed Saar, who barreled into the Badger zone. The Richland, Mich., native's shot was stopped as he drove toward the net, but DeRosa crashed the cage and batted the puck out of mid-air. Redshirt junior defenseman Patrick Koudys (Smithville, Ont.) also collected an assist on the play.
Wisconsin re-gained its one-goal lead with 13:01 left in the third period. After a Penn State turnover below the goal line, Joe Faust corralled Keegan Meuer's pass and scored from the right circle. Little collected his second point of the game on the play.
Saar responded 42 seconds later to tie the game. DeRosa entered the offensive zone and moved the puck to junior forward Tommy Olczyk (Long Grove, Ill.), whose initial shot was stopped. While falling down, Saar located the rebound and swept the puck into the net.
With 8:08 left, Kerdiles put the Badgers ahead by a 4-3 margin when he collected Frankie Simonelli's pass in the slot and scored high.
The Nittany Lions pulled Skoff in favor an extra attacker for the final 1:02 of the game but were unable to tally the equalizer.
Penn State will return to action in three weeks when it plays at the Three Rivers Classic at Pittsburgh's CONSOL Energy Center Dec. 27-28.