Jan. 27, 2014
By Tyler Feldman, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The biscuit was in the oven, but it was taken out too soon. The biscuit never had a chance to finish rising.
For the seventh time this season, Penn State (4-15-1, 0-6) was on the losing end of a game separated by just a single goal. This time around the Nittany Lions lost, 3-2, to No. 2 Boston College (18-4-3, 11-1-1) in front of a sellout crowd of 6,214 cheering fans inside Pegula Ice Arena.
Even though the Blue and White were unable to skate off the ice with a win Saturday night, a clear sense of confidence could be detected following the loss to a team Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky described as "the best offensive team in the nation."
Penn State looked impressive, atoning for its six-goal defeat back on Dec. 28 in the Three Rivers Classic championship game, to outshoot the Eagles, 35-30.
"Penn State has made remarkable improvements since we saw them during the [Three Rivers Classic]," said Boston College head coach Jerry York. "They seemed more cohesive as a team, they were strong and they were physical. I was very impressed with them. They are this close to winning a lot of games. They've got something pretty special going on here."
Something special indeed as the Nittany Lions managed to hold the high-octane Boston College offense, which is averaging 4.5 goals per game, to just three goals. That effort is thanks in large part to netminder Eamon McAdam and the Penn State defensemen.
"We were very good in the defensive zone today, and we were great at clearing out the front [of the net]. Because of that I was able to see a lot of the shots from the point and that was really helpful." said McAdam, who made a number of sprawling saves to keep the score close.
The teams that Gadowsky's squad has lost to by one goal all play a high-caliber brand of hockey. Such a list that includes UMass Lowell, Union, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan State, and now, Boston College. These results have provided Penn State with a wealth of confidence moving forward.
"You do get confidence when you play honest and you play well and you do have a good performance," said Gadowsky. "You can do it against a Boston College if you can limit them to the number of even strength shots we did and limit their goal production. We can take a lot of positives and confidence from that."
Team captain Tommy Olczyk echoed the words of his coach and noted that the numerous one-goal losses, especially the one to Boston College, instill confidence into himself and his teammates after each subsequent contest.
"We've been able to play with some of the best teams in the country," said Olczyk. "The last time we played Boston College, we only did it for 10 out of 60 minutes. Tonight we did it for a lot longer. We proved that we can play with the most skilled team in the country. So confidence is a key."
Penn State played with energy Saturday night that transparently originated from its previous tight one-goal losses to some of the most talented teams in the nation.
To be able to play with that chip on the shoulder and improve from a six-goal loss down to a one-goal setback in less than a month displays a growth that only a team moving in the right direction can exhibit. Scoring twice on Thatcher Demko, one of the top goalies in the nation, on an even strength goal from Eric Scheid and a short-handed goal from Taylor Holstrom, manifests the positive direction this young program is headed towards.
"We are very much in our infancy," said Gadowsky. "For us to have this kind of performance against a great team is huge for the coaching staff. We feel great about the direction we are going in."
As Olczyk put it, "It just comes down to being a smart hockey player. Knowing how much time is left in the game."
Rather, in the case of the biscuit, it just comes down to knowing how much time it takes to let the biscuit rise to the top and learning what it takes to stay there.