Nov. 23, 2015
By Maria Canales, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska. ââ'¬" After the lengthy journey across North America, the Nittany Lions returned to State College on Sunday after picking up a win and a tie against Anchorage Alaska over the weekend.
Penn State (7-2-3) rocketed past Alaska Anchorage (6-4-2) Friday night with three unanswered goals, tallying a 5-2 victory.
The Nittany Lions grabbed the lead quickly thanks to two goals from freshman Andrew Sturtz.
Sturtz's second goal, a wrist shot on the penalty kill, was his first shorthanded goal as a Nittany Lion and Penn State's fourth this season.
"It was a good play by [David Glen] who forced the defenseman across the blue line and he got by and turned the puck over and I took it down, kind of a 2-on-1, and I just drove it to the net and ended up getting one," said Sturtz.
Alaska Anchorage answered with two goals of its own, but the Nittany Lions rallied to pull away from the Seawolves. Three unanswered goals later, and Penn State had its victory.
"Playing on the road, we didn't really mind being tied 2-2 but we had to refocus and really bury down during the second period and we ended up getting the win," said Sturtz.
After their stellar performance Friday, the Nittany Lions returned to Sullivan Arena on Saturday night to finish off their series. This time, it would take more effort from the offense, and a goal by a seasoned defenseman to get Penn State on the board.
"I think the energy was really good, we're a very focused team so obviously we wanted to win both but unfortunately we got the tie," said Sturtz. "[UAA] played a really good game Saturday night and their goalie did very well and we were very fortunate that we got that power play together and Juha was able to get the tie for us."
Senior defenseman Luke Juha scored Penn State's lone goal Saturday night, and it came at a key moment to secure a 1-1 tie.
For Penn State, its two goaltenders were the backbone of the team's success this weekend.
Head coach Guy Gadowsky has been adamant that each goaltender will get their rightful amount of split starting time this season, and that system has worked well for the Nittany Lions.
"Whenever my name is called I just have to do my best to give my team the chance to win it," said senior goaltender Matt Skoff. "I think just being consistent, I think at this point in the season if you can get one percent better every day, that's huge."
Junior Eamon McAdam started on Friday night, making 19 saves during his time between the pipes, while Skoff started in net Saturday night and made 20 saves. Both goaltenders showed confidence and poise in net, making several outstanding saves each to keep the Nittany Lions in the games.
"I thought we played a good game, [UAA] didn't get a lot of shots on net, fortunately," said Juha. "But it really just came down to us playing our game and we knew Skoff would save a lot of shots that were coming our way."
The Nittany Lions are very confident behind the two young men splitting time between the pipes.
Although this week is Thanksgiving, the Nittany Lions will be traveling to Philadelphia for the Philadelphia College Hockey Faceoff this Sunday against Vermont. In the meantime the Nittany Lions will rest up from their cross-country travels and refocus their energy on the game ahead.