Sept. 24, 2015
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Pegula Ice Arena | |
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State women's hockey team defeated the University of Guelph Gryphons, 1-0, in an exhibition contest Thursday night at the Pegula Ice Arena.
"I am certainly pleased with the end result," head coach Josh Brandwene said. "But more important than that was the in-game and mid-game growth from our hockey team. We worked really hard during the first period, saw some good things happen, needed to make some adjustments for the rest of the game that are going to help us going forward. And really pleased with the response that we got from the entire hockey team. So, a lot to go on from today. Lot of work still to do. Growth mindset is the theme, and that's where we're headed in the next couple days and weeks here."
During the first 20 minutes of play, the Nittany Lions outshot the Gryphons, 5-3. Penn State recorded a balanced offensive attack, as five Nittany Lions each tallied one shot attempt in the opening frame. The Nittany Lions continued the offensive pressure in the second period, as they recorded seven shots on net.
Thirteen minutes into the second period, freshman Victoria Samuelsson (Leksand, Sweden) put the Nittany Lions up 1-0. Off a turnover near the Guelph blueline, Samuelsson picked up the puck, charged towards the net and placed the puck over Stephanie Nehring's glove for the goal.
After a Nittany Lion penalty in the middle of the third period, the Gryphon offense went to work looking for the tying goal. The Nittany Lions though, were able to kill the Gryphon power play with 9:15 left in regulation.
Roughly seven minutes later, Penn State went on the power play for the second time in the contest with 4:31 remaining in regulation. The Nittany Lions were unable to take advantage of the power play and they held on to their 1-0 lead with 2:31 left in regulation.
With 39 seconds left in regulation, the Gryphons pulled Nehring for the extra attacker. With the extra attacker, the Guelph offense was unable to tally the game-tying goal, securing the 1-0 win for Penn State.
In net for the Nittany Lions, Celine Whitlinger (Garden Grove, Calif.) stepped up for three saves during the first period. Whitlinger made an additional four saves during the first ten minutes of play in the second period. At the 10:07 mark in the second period, Hannah Ehresmann (Minnetonka, Minn.) took to the ice. Ehresmann closed out the contest for the Nittany Lions, as she made two saves during final 30 minutes of play.
Guelph's Nehring made 14 saves on the night, while Ehresmann and Whitlinger combined for nine saves for the Blue and White.
The Nittany Lions open the regular season next Thursday (Oct. 1), as they welcome the No. 1 Minnesota Golden Gophers to the Pegula Ice Arena for a two-game series.