2 Ohio State (16-13-5, 6-9-5-4 B1G) |
University Park, Pa. • Pegula Ice Arena • Attendance: 5,892 | 4 Penn State (7-25-2, 3-16-1-0 B1G) |
March 15, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Redshirt junior defenseman Nate Jensen (Shorewood, Minn.) recorded a goal and two assists for his first career three-point game and sophomore goaltender Matthew Skoff (McKees Rocks, Pa.) turned aside 27 shots, as the Penn State men's hockey team closed out the inaugural season at Pegula Ice Arena with a 4-2 victory against Ohio State Saturday afternoon.
Penn State (7-25-2, 3-16-1-0 Big Ten) played in front of a sellout crowd of 5,892 fans, marking the 16th sellout of the season. The Nittany Lions were one of five NCAA Division I programs to play at more than 100 percent capacity at their home events.
Jensen, who etched his name in the Penn State record books with the first goal at the facility against Army Oct. 11, 2013, opened the scoring with a power-play tally at 2:51 of the first period. Sophomore forward Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, B.C.) doubled the Nittany Lions' lead and, after Ohio State made it a 2-1 game, junior captain Tommy Olczyk (Long Grove, Ill.) scored Penn State's third first-period goal for the 3-1 advantage.
After Ohio State made it a one-goal game with a second-period tally, redshirt junior Taylor Holstrom (Yorba Linda, Calif.) redirected a power-play strike with 13:05 left in the third to account for the 4-2 final. Freshman forward Dylan Richard (Sherwood Park, Alta.) recorded his fourth multi-point game of the season with two assists, while sophomore Casey Bailey (Anchorage, Alaska) assisted on Holstrom's seventh marker of the year.
Penn State, which went 2-for-5 with the man advantage, netted at least one power-play goal for the fourth straight game and seventh time in a 10-game span. The Nittany Lions out shot Ohio State (16-13-5, 9-9-5-4 Big Ten), which went 1-for-3 on the power play, by a 32-29 margin. Curtis Gedig and Anthony Greco tallied the Buckeye goals, while Matt Tomkins made 28 saves.
The Nittany Lions, who bookended the first season at their new facility with a pair of victories, will return to action next week when they compete in the Big Ten tournament at Saint Paul, Minn.'s, Xcel Energy Center March 20-22. The sixth-seeded Nittany Lions will face third-seeded Michigan in the quarterfinal round March 20 at 3 p.m. ET. The game will air live on BTN.