Feb. 10, 2014
By Michael Renahan, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - As the horn sounded, Matt Skoff threw his arms in the air and jumped into a pile of ecstatic teammates. It was time to celebrate a marquee win for a young Penn State men's hockey team. A moment the players, coaches and all of Hockey Valley had been waiting for.
The Nittany Lions had defeated Big Ten rival Michigan, 4-0, in front of a sellout crowd of 6,170 Penn State faithful. The shutout came courtesy of Skoff, who stopped all 32 shots he faced, and nine different players recorded points in the programs first Big Ten victory.
"It feels fantastic," said Gadowsky. "Not just the win itself, but because of the work we have had to put in to get to this point. Maybe we got a little inspiration from Coach [Jeff] Tambroni and the men's lacrosse team from their win over Michigan earlier today.
"We talk about timely goaltending, and [Matt] Skoff made some huge saves early that gave us confidence. Great goaltending is more about timely goaltending and I thought that really started us off well. You really have to give credit to the defense, because we had two defenders go down."
The timely saves enabled Skoff to post the third shutout of his young career, but the head coach knows it was a team effort.
"The whole team really did a heck of a job," Gadowsky said. "I am very proud of them."
Beating Michigan marks the team's first win in conference play. It is also their first win since beating Robert Morris in the Three Rivers Classic on Dec. 27. The energy inside Pegula Ice arena was palpable throughout the game and the players fed off the student body's constant encouragement.
The scoring for the Nittany Lions got started early, 6:31 into the game, when Zach Saar registered his fourth goal of the season. He snatched a rebound and beat Michigan netminder Zach Nagelvoort with a quick shot.
Shortly after that, David Glen - back on the ice for just his second game after a bone marrow transplant - won a faceoff to himself, drove the net and shot the puck off of the back of Nagelvoort and into the goal for his third goal of the season.
With a 2-0 lead the Nittany Lion offense was full in sync in front of the home fans. The passes were crisp, the pucks were right on target and the Blue and White never looked content with their production on the ice.
That might have been the biggest highlight for these Nittany Lions and their bench boss. Despite playing with a lead, Penn State never once took their foot off the gas.
A few minutes after Glen's goal, Casey Bailey joined the party and registered his fifth goal of the season. He took a quick wrist shot from the slot and beat Nagelvoort to his glove side.
At that point, Michigan head coach Red Berenson decided to make a goaltender switch and he went to Steve Racine. It was a role reversal from the previous night when Gadowsky chanced goaltenders in the second period.
Racine would enter into a tenacious Nittany Lions attack, as the blue and white clad squad continued to put pressure on the Wolverines. For the fans in attendance and watching at home on ESPNU, it almost felt as if most of the game was spent in the Michigan defensive zone.
Freshman Ricky DeRosa was the last Nittany Lion to score when he deflected a David Thompson slap shot past Racine. It was a fitting ending for a team that needed a win.
Penn State registered 40 shots against Michigan, marking the fourth time this season Penn State took at least 40 shots.
As a reporter was quick to point out afterwards, the last time Penn State recorded a shutout was exactly one year ago, February 8, 2013 against Alabama Huntsville.
Earning their first conference win in front of a sellout crowd is the way this team wants to win. Simply said, that's why most of them are here.
"That's why I came here: To compete against the best teams in the nation, and in the Big Ten," Gadowsky said.
The Nittany Lions now head back to work with a tally in the win column and doing so was is huge step for the program; the next stop comes this week in practice where they have to stay focused.
"Right now I think I'm still in a little bit of awe because I grew up kind of worshiping the Big Ten teams," Saar said. "Right now is a good first step for our program. You're stuck between not wanting to be too excited and conducting yourself with an expectation to win more. We're going back to work on Monday, just like we would any other time. We'll soak it in right now, but we have to get back to work, as well."
In a year of "firsts", the most exciting might have happened on Saturday night.