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Oct. 17, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State men's hockey team put together a complete team effort in a 5-3 win on Saturday afternoon over Notre Dame at Pegula Ice Arena in front of 6,150 fans. Kenny Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev.) had three helpers and Eamon McAdam (Perkasie, Pa.) made 30 saves to pace the Lions.
"I think the crowd played a big part in (our momentum)." Head coach Guy Gadowsky said. (The crowd) helped us out. I think we rolled off three in a row and sort of got that snowball rolling with the crowd into it and that makes it fun. That certainly adds to the momentum. It's nice to be on that side of it.
Penn State (2-1-0) used a potent power play (3-for-3) and three straight second-period goals to overcome a Notre Dame (1-1-0) lead and earn the series split. Five Nittany Lions contributed goals with Ricky DeRosa's (Aston, Pa.) goal midway through the second proving to be the game-winner.
Down 2-1, Penn State took advantage of a two-man advantage as Notre Dame's Thomas DiPauli committed a delay of game penalty on the penalty kill with 11:58 remaining in the second period to score two goals.
Only 13 seconds after DiPauli was penalized, Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) went five-hole on a Brooks feed to even the score. Brooks picked up his second assist of the game and Kevin Kerr (Bensalem, Pa.) collected his second assist of the year on the play.
With 13 seconds remaining on the DiPauli penalty, Alec Marsh (Bridgewater, N.J.) scored for the second straight game, putting away Brooks's third feed of the game for a 3-2 lead with 10:11 left.
Then Pegula Ice Arena got delirious.
Matt Mendelson (Pittsburgh, Pa.) forced a turnover in the Notre Dame zone, sending a pass to DeRosa who made no mistake to double Penn State's lead 47 seconds after gaining the advantage. Mendelson grabbed his first collegiate point on the play.
The Nittany Lions nearly made it four goals in three minutes as David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta) rang the post from the goal line. Going the other way, Mario Lucia scored his second goal in as many games, redirecting a shot on the power play less than two minutes after DeRosa's tally.
The third period was well played by the Fighting Irish who controlled the tempo and created multiple scoring chances, but McAdam was up to the task. McAdam turned aside all 14 Notre Dame attempts and Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, British Columbia) put away the empty-netter on the power play for the fifth and final goal.
In the opening period, Penn State came out strong for a second straight outing, out-shooting the Fighting Irish, 17-9, but not after an initial Notre Dame spurt. Ben Ostile made it 1-0 after 1:58, one of the first six shots of the game registered by the Irish. PSU would tally 17 of the next 20 attempts.
Junior defenseman David Thompson (Glen Mills, Pa.) tallied his second collegiate goal, poking home a Brooks shot from the left faceoff circle with 11:26 to play in the opening period. Loik was credited with his fourth assist of the year on the play as well. Thompson's goal was the first scored by a Penn State defenseman this season.
Dylan Malmquist scored his first collegiate goal, tallying on the power play after 7:38 in the second period for Notre Dame's 2-1 lead. Of the four goals McAdam has allowed this season, only one was an even-strength tally.
GAME NOTES
• Five different Nittany Lions scored on Saturday, the second time this season that has occurred.
• Penn State has scored on two-thirds of their power play opportunities, going 6-for-9; PSU has scored a power-play goal in all three contests this year.
• Penn State tallied its second 5-on-3 power-play goal this season after not recording one in 2014-15.
• Penn State last tallied three power-play goals in a game during a 6-4 win over Michigan (March 6, 2015). The Nittany Lions went 3-for-3 for the first time in program history.
• Kenny Brooks is the team leader in assists with five. Brooks and Curtis Loik lead the Nittany Lions with six points apiece.
• Brooks has tallied two multi-point games in the past three outings. Brooks had one entering the season.
• Eamon McAdam has started his campaign 2-0-0 for the second straight year. Last season, McAdam was in net for wins over No. 4 UMass Lowell and Michigan back in November.
• McAdam is 7-4-1 in his past 12 decisions after starting 0-9-0 his freshman year.
• The series split ensures the Nittany Lions its streak of avoiding sweeps at Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions have played 11 straight series without that occurring.
• Ricky DeRosa has both game-winning goals this season. He had one entering the season.
• David Glen, David Goodwin and Curtis Loik all created three-game point streaks on Saturday.
• Penn State played in front of its 35th sellout in 38 regular-season games at Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions have played in front of 14 straight home sellouts.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State continues its six-game homestand on Friday, Oct. 23 when AIC visits Hockey Valley for the first of a two-game series. AIC was PSU's first opponent as a Division I program back in 2012.