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Jan. 8, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Minnesota man Vince Pedrie (Rochester, Minn.) scored his first career game-winning goal in overtime as the No. 15 Nittany Lion men's hockey team defeated Minnesota, 3-2, on Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena in front of 6,025 fans. Junior goaltender Eamon McAdam (Perkasie, Pa.) made a season-high 40 saves in a spectacular performance.
"That was certainly the most courageous goaltending performance," Head coach Guy Gadowsky said. "We were down 5-on-3 for a minute-45 and they were zipping the puck around, making great plays and he was unbelievable. He was hurt at the time and then, it's funny it seems when you have momentum and you want momentum to continue you get a lot of whistles and here your goaltender's hurt. We were just waiting for a whistle and the play went on for seven, eight, nine minutes and that time where he was hurt and he just stopped everything was a tremendous goaltending performance but absolutely the most courageous goaltending performance we've had."
McAdam stopped all 18 Minnesota shots in the second period including six during the 5-on-3 penalty kill that brought the Pegula Ice Arena faithful to its feet with a 2-0 lead. Earlier in the second, Zach Saar (Richland, Mich.) and Andrew Sturtz (Buffalo, N.Y.) gave Penn State (13-3-3, 3-0-0-0 Big Ten) a two-goal cushion.
Minnesota (8-10-0, 3-2-0-0 Big Ten) was sure to make a game of it in the third as Brent Gates scored a pair of goals in the third period to even the score and rip momentum away from the Nittany Lions, setting up a thrilling overtime session.
The Nittany Lions controlled the pace of play in the extra frame, out-shooting the Gophers, 5-1, and it was on the fifth shot that Pedrie connected on his fourth goal of the season on Tommy Olczyk's (Long Grove, Ill.) second assist of the night.
A long spell of possession in Minnesota's defensive zone allowed for a shift change as Erik Autio (Espoo Finland) swung the puck to the right side of the ice where Olczyk retrieved it. He slid it over to Pedrie in the high slot who used a Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) screen to set off a victorious scene in Hockey Valley.
"Tommy Olczyk made a great play," Pedrie said during a Big Ten Network interview. "I think he slid that pass right under their winger's stick and the puck had eyes, luckily it went in. Good net presence by Berger and I'm just happy it went in."
The victory was Penn State's second over the Golden Gophers and came in a similar fashion to last season's where Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ontario) tallied an overtime game-winner after PSU let a two-goal lead get away.
The game had a free-flowing style to it as there were only 55 faceoffs. In the scoreless first period, the best scoring chances came less than a minute apart as David Goodwin (Des Peres, Mo.) dinged the right post and Minnesota's Steve Johnson hit the left post at the other end of the ice.
Saar tallied his third goal of the season in a scrum in front of Gopher netminder Eric Schierhorn (36 saves) after a little more than two minutes of action. Kevin Kerr (Bensalem, Pa.) had a shot from the left circle that caromed off the end boards where Ricky DeRosa (Aston, Pa.) and Olczyk all got opportunities to score. Eventually, Saar came in and poked it home for the score.
Penn State doubled its advantage at the seven-minute mark as a gritty defensive play by Sturtz was well rewarded with a terrific offensive play for his ninth goal of the season.
Sturtz won a chipped puck along the right dashers to Alec Marsh (Bridgewater, N.J.) as PSU's blue line. Marsh played a cross-ice pass back into the Nittany Lion end to Autio whose stretch pass found a hustling Sturtz as he split the defense before going forehand-backhand to beat Schierhorn on the left post.
Despite the lead, Penn State took back-to-back penalties 15 seconds apart to give Minnesota a golden opportunity to cut the lead in half with a 5-on-3 power play. The Gophers unleashed six shots on net and seemingly twice that amount that were blocked by Nittany Lion defensemen. Nevertheless, Penn State withstood the onslaught as the Hockey Valley roared with delight.
Two turnovers in the third allowed Gates to tally the first multi-goal game of his career and end McAdam's bid for a second shutout. The first goal game 99 seconds into the frame as Vinni Lettieri took a turnover and found Gates all alone in front of the net. The second had Lettieri breakup a pass as Brisdedt left the puck behind for Gates to finish the play midway through the frame.
Minnesota out-shot Penn State, 42-39, the first time the Nittany Lions failed to out-shoot an opponent this season. Penn State and Minnesota each went 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Nittany Lions won the faceoff battle, 36-19. Dylan Richard (Sherwood Park, Alberta) went 12-4 and Berger was 9-3.
With the victory, Penn State remains the lone unbeaten team in Big Ten play at 3-0-0-0 on 9 points, tied with Minnesota for second place. The Gophers have played two more games than the Nittany Lions, who trail Michigan by two points. The Wolverines have also played two more games than Penn State.
NITTANY NOTES
Penn State improved to 2-7-0 all-time against Minnesota, 10-0-1 when scoring the game's first goal and 13-0-0 when holding a lead after two periods.
The Nittany Lions met Minnesota for the first time as a ranked team and played the Golden Gophers for the first time as an unranked team.
Olczyk notched his second multi-point game of his career. Both efforts have come in the last four games.
Saar scored his first even-strength goal of the season and his first goal since Nov. 29 against Vermont.
Penn State improved to 12-2-1 when a freshman scores and 2-0-3 in games decided by a goal or less.
McAdam is 8-2-0 and owns the best winning percentage in the conference (.800).
Penn State is 22-4-4 in Pegula Ice Arena the past two seasons.
Penn State played in front of its 45th sellout in 48 regular-season games at Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions have played in front of 25 straight home sellouts.
After losing the first nine games in Big Ten play in 2013-14, Penn State has gone 16-16-2 since then. The Nittany Lions are 10-2-1-0 at Pegula Ice Arena in Big Ten games the past two seasons.
Guy Gadowsky won his 225th career game at the Division I collegiate level.
Penn State blocked a season-high 22 shots on Friday. Four Nittany Lions (Juha, Kerr, Pedrie and Connor Varley) each had three blocks.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State and Minnesota close out its two-game series with a Saturday matinee (3 p.m.) inside Pegula Ice Arena. The game will be streamed live on BTN Plus ($) with free audio on Penn State's GoPSUnow. The radio broadcast will be carried by the Penn State Sports Network.