Jan. 14, 2014
By Michael Renahan, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - For the second time in as many nights, the Penn State Nittany Lions hit the ice hard and pushed No. 1 ranked Minnesota to the brink, but unfortunately, like the series opening, 3-2 defeat, Monday's contest ended 5-2 in favor of the Gophers.
Gadowsky said prior to the weekend that Dec. 7 against Wisconsin was Penn State's best game of the year. That fact was probably true then, but without a doubt this weekend's series against Minnesota has taken its place.
Despite the losses, head coach Guy Gadowsky and his squad knows they've improved over the last 48 hours.
"I feel that we are a much tougher team mentally right now than we were when the weekend started and we owe that to this experience," Gadowsky said. "Anytime you can play the very top team in the nation, and you play hard and honest, and I think we did, they you can grow."
The Nittany Lions rose to the challenge. They stared down their opponent and never blinked. However you want to put it, Penn State played its best hockey on its biggest stage so far this season.
"You could see [our confidence] in the first period tonight [Monday] and that came from [Sunday's] game," said forward Curtis Loik. "We had them the whole game last night [Sunday] and even tonight we never gave up and that's one of our things. We have to pull as one and pull together every period, every minute, ever shift. I feel like the past few games we've really done that and we've really taken a few steps forward because of it."
Gadowsky has been asking for a full 60 minutes of hockey from his team all season, well he got it and more this weekend.
Penn State battled Minnesota for 120 minutes and showcased how well they can play against elite talent. For perspective, in 20 games this season, only three teams have outshot the Gophers as the Nittany Lions did Monday night, 38-25.
"You certainly don't expect that [to outshoot Minnesota]," Gadowsky said after the game. "So we are happy with that performance. As you know, the No. 1 team in the country doesn't need a ton of opportunities to finish. They proved that, so give them credit."
The Penn State offense found its stride in both games against the Gophers. The chances were coming often for Blue and White, but they struggled to capitalize. Gadowsky, however, pointed out that while his team didn't score on all their opportunities, it was outstanding how fast they were coming for his offense.
"I thought we played better tonight [Monday]," Gadowsky said. "I thought we generated a lot more chances. What doesn't show up here [on the stat sheet] is we hit a crossbar; we hit a post and I thought missed an open net on a two-on-one. We generated some legitimate chances and I feel good about that."
Maybe the fastest player on the ice during the series was Kenny Brooks. The high-energy forward seemed to be everywhere the puck was and continued to generate scoring chances for himself and his teammates. He finished his outstanding series off with a goal in the third period Monday night in front of a crowd of 6,154.
Brooks found himself behind the net with the puck on his stick. Quickly, the sophomore took a wrist shot off of the back of Gopher goalkeeper Adam Wilcox to cut the lead down to 3-1.
"I thought Kenny [Brooks] was fantastic," Gadowsky said. "Even before his goal he was fantastic. If he did not score that goal, I would have still said he was the best player on the ice. I thought that whole line played really well."
Eamon McAdam had stellar performances both nights, marking the first time the freshman goalkeeper made back-to-back starts in his career.
After stopping 42 shots on Friday night, McAdam earned the right to start again Monday night. According to Gadowsky, the 42 saves Sunday night was "probably our best goaltending performance of the year."
All in all, this Minnesota series might have been the most exciting two games in Hockey Valley this season. It also marked the beginning of what should be a tough Big Ten rivalry for years to come. The Nittany Lions are already anxious to get a shot to play the Gophers again and prove they can challenge in the conference.
"It was a great experience," Gadowsky said. "We're happy with our improvement and our performance, but not happy with the result. I'm sure [our guys] are looking forward to the next meeting already."