Jan. 10, 2014
By Michael Renahan, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After almost a month away from home, the Penn State men's hockey team will return to Pegula Ice Arena on Jan. 12 for the first home Big Ten contest in program history vs. No. 1 Minnesota.
The Nittany Lions (4-10-1, 0-2-0-0 Big Ten) have faced off with a ranked opponent in nine of the last ten contests and head coach Guy Gadowsky and his players know what it is going to take to come away from this weekend with a good result against the Gophers (13-2-3, 3-0-1-0 Big Ten).
"We hung in there with UMass Lowell and we were right there in both games with Union," said forward Eric Scheid. "We played an outstanding game against Wisconsin, too. All of those teams are top-20 in the nation and we know that any given night, we can beat those type of teams. We just have to focus and play our game."
So what's the difference between Minnesota and all the others?
The Golden Gophers enter the weekend as the top ranked team in the NCAA.
This marks the first meeting between the two programs as Division I opponents, and with the Nittany Lions coming off a second place finish in the Three Rivers Classic, this two-game series with Minnesota will be an excellent test to see how far the Gadowsky's squad has come over the last few weeks.
Minnesota has been college hockey's No. 1 ranked squad 13 of the last 14 weeks. They have the No. 2 ranked offense in the nation, scoring an average of 3.94 goals per game, while also ranking No. 7 nationally in defense, allowing just 2.11 goals a game.
Prior to the season, the Gadowksy and his Nittany Lions were well aware of the challenges of their schedule presented. They knew this season wouldn't be easy and the Big Ten slate was going to be no exception.
"When we play our game we can have success," said Gadowsky. "When we face a great team like Boston College, [it's] a great reminder that if you want to have success you have to do the little things really well. Now we have to go out and do it against the top team in the country."
Just a little over two weeks ago, the Nittany Lions battled then-No. 7 Boston College for the Three Rivers Classic championship in what was their toughest test to date.
Despite the setback against the Eagles, Gadowsky and his team left Pittsburgh having learned some of hockey's most valuable lessons. They noticed the mental toughness of their opponent and understand what it means to be a program in the upper echelon of college hockey.
"When you play good teams you are going to continue to get better," said Gadowsky, "and that's what we're trying to communicate to our guys. We didn't have great results against Boston College, but it is about what we do with the lessons learned and we feel that we're definitely moving in the right direction."
So what does Penn State, a program still in its infancy, have to do to compete with the brass of college hockey?
Do the little things right and play their game.
"We know that if we play our style and focus on the little things, like we did early on against Boston College, we can play with almost anyone," said Scheid. "We were hanging right with them. We were up 1-0, but we kind of let it get away from us and got away from who we are. I think we learned that if we believe we can do it, we can do it."
The Nittany Lions will have to do the little things, like beat the Gophers to the puck, challenge in front of the net, cut back on time spent in the penalty box and play a mentally tough game.
That lesson of mentally is something that Gadowsky has been driving home to the Nittany Lions all season and it seems that his players are starting to take that mentality.
"We just got to play our game and stick to what we do well," defenseman Patrick Koudys said. "If we stay within our game-plan and keep ourselves in the game mentally we will be just fine. We have to play our game and not worry what their trying to do."
Over the last several weeks, Penn State has shown the ability to rise to the challenge of playing ranked opponent after ranked opponent and this weekend will be no different.
Penn State and No. 1 Minnesota drop the puck at 7 p.m. on Sunday Jan. 12 and Monday Jan. 13.