| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| PSU |
Chase Berger (4) Hamilton (1) |
1 | 17:16 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
PSU
Curtis Loik (3)
Berger (1), Varley(1)
2
6:10
PSU
Erik Autio (1)
Marsh (2), Brooks (6)
2
9:56
PSU
Andrew Sturtz (1)
Juha (2)
2
12:55
PSU
Kenny Brooks (4)
Loik (6), Berger (2)
3
00:42
AIC
Lucas Bomardier (1)
Dubeau (1), Gandara (1)
3
2:25
AIC
Chris Porter (1)
Unassisted
3
7:51
PSU
Andrew Sturtz (2)
Goodwin (5), Marsh (3)
3
9:29
AIC
Johno May (2)
Mueller (2)
3
12:14
|
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Oct. 23, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Nittany Lion hockey team needed only three-plus minutes to score the first of a program-record eight goals in a dominating 8-3 victory over visiting AIC on Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena in front of a sellout crowd of 5,949. Freshmen forwards Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) and Andrew Sturtz (Buffalo, N.Y.) scored two goals apiece to pace the offense.
Friday's game was a rematch of the Nittany Lions' first Division I contest, which came over three years ago at Greenberg Ice Pavilion just south of Pegula Ice Arena.
"It's nice to see the puck went and a lot of other good things [happen)]" said head coach Guy Gadowsky. "It's nice to see [Andrew] Sturtz get his first goal, and he had a couple. Derian Hamilton had a great assist, his first assist. I thought obviously [Chase] Berger's line was tremendous, so a lot of good things."
Berger's line was outstanding as it featured seniors Kenny Brooks (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, British Columbia). Berger's two goals and two assists were aided by Loik's three-point effort (1g, 2a) and Brooks's two-point game (1g, 1a). The trio combined to score four times, dish five assists and post a plus-13 with both Berger and Brooks holding game-high plus-five ratings.
In all, six Nittany Lions scored goals including tallies by Tommy Olczyk (Long Grove, Ill.) to make it 2-0 at 8:51 into the first period after Berger put away Loik's initial shot 3:16 into the game. Olczyk's goal was assisted by Luke Juha (Mississagua, Ontario) who made his season debut. Juha had two assists.
Berger doubled his output and gave PSU a 3-0 lead by cleaning up a Derian Hamilton (Port McNeill, British Columbia) coast-to-coast effort with 2:44 remaining in the first. Hamilton was denied on the doorstep of Alex Murray (25 saves, 5 goals against), but Berger fought off two Yellow Jacket defensemen for his fourth goal of the season.
Berger has scored in three of four games this season and Hamilton picked up his first collegiate point in his third appearance.
The second period was more of the same for the Nittany Lions, tallying three goals and out-shooting AIC 23-7. Loik was the beneficiary of a Berger's first college assist six minutes into the frame for a 4-0 lead and Erik Autio (Espoo, Finland) provided a highlight-reel goal, backhanding an Alec Marsh (Bridgewater, N.J.) pass from the corner for a five-goal lead.
Sturtz would tally his first college goal, also a highlight-reel worthy goal, using a stretch pass from Juha, driving down the left wing and sliding across the crease to score past reserve Jacob Caffrey (24 saves, 3 goals against) for a 6-0 lead. Sturtz went airborne to avoid Caffrey as Olczyk picked up the puck for the freshman's first goal.
Brooks tallied his first goal of the season to stake PSU a 7-0 advantage after only 42 seconds. Loik and Berger teamed up to put shots on net and Brooks found space on the left side of the net for the tally.
AIC would grab three of their own in the third period with back-to-back tallies by Lucas Bombardier at 2:25 and Chris Porter at 7:51. The Nittany Lions saw Sturtz put away a nice feed from David Goodwin for an 8-2 lead midway through the third period. AIC's Johno Mayo capped the scoring with his second goal two minutes later.
Penn State out-shot AIC 57-25 as both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play. PSU tallied 50+ shots for the first time since Jan. 23, 2015 against Northern Michigan (53). The Nittany Lions failed to convert on the man-advantage for the first time all season.
The Nittany Lions dominated the faceoff circle with a 45-23 record paced by Berger's 12-2 mark. Goodwin went 15-10 and Ricky DeRosa (Aston, Pa.) was 10-2. Eric Scheid (Blaine, Minn.) made his season debut as well for the Nittany Lions as the second line's center.
Goalie Matthew Skoff (McKees Rocks, Pa.) picked up his first win of the season, turning aside 22 AIC shots, 10 of which came in the first period. Skoff earned his 25th career win in net.
GAME NOTES
Penn State scored a record number of goals (8). The Nittany Lions had scored seven goals on three occasions previously (Jan. 17, 1942 vs. Carnegie Tech, Oct. 11, 2014 vs. Connecticut, Oct. 26 vs. Holy Cross).
Six different Nittany Lions tallied a goal on Friday (Last: March 6, 2015 vs. Michigan, 6-4)
Chase Berger tallied a career-high four points and his first two-goal game of his college career.
Four Nittany Lions registered their first points of the season (Luke Juha, Derian Hamilton, Andrew Sturtz, Connor Varley)
Luke Juha and Eric Scheid made their season debuts on the ice. Juha had two assists and a plus-three rating, tallying his sixth multi-point game and his first in over a year (Oct. 11, 2014 vs. UConn).
Both Chase Berger and Kenny Brooks earned game-high plus-five ratings.
Eleven Nittany Lions tallied points on Friday night with five multi-point performances (Juha, Berger, Curtis Loik, Sturtz and Alec Marsh).
Curtis Loik and Kenny Brooks are riding four-game point streaks to begin the season.
Penn State's 7-0 lead early in the third period matched a varsity record set in 1942 and was the largest lead in the Division I era.
Penn State's 20 points matched the program record for a single game. PSU was one helper shy of matching the school record of 13 set in last year's 7-1 romp over Holy Cross on Oct. 26, 2014.
Friday was a re-match of the first NCAA Division I men's hockey game at Penn State, where AIC was a 3-2 overtime winner at Greenberg Ice Pavilion on Oct. 12, 2012. PSU improved to 2-1-0 all-time against the Yellow Jackets.
Penn State played in front of its 36th sellout in 39 regular-season games at Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions have played in front of 15 straight home sellouts.
The Nittany Lions donned special helmet decals on Friday night that read "CD16" to commemorate Penn State men's lacrosse goalie Connor Darcey, who passed away this past June. The hockey team will wear the decals for the remainder of the year in memory of Darcey, who was friends with many of the members of the team.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State caps its series with AIC tomorrow at 3 p.m. Tickets remain available on Ticketmaster.com and at the Gate A ticket window at Pegula Ice Arena starting two hours before the game.