Sucese Nets a Pair as Penn State Blanks Mercyhurst, 7-0

2-1-0 0-1-0 1st 2nd 3rd OT --> Final Mercyhurst 0 0 0 0 Penn State 2 2 3 7

Oct. 14, 2016 | Erie Insurance Arena Box Score Box Score --> (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)

SHOTS 1st 2nd 3rd OT -->	Final
Mercyhurst	4	4	12	20
Penn State	17	16	10	43

POWER PLAY 1st 2nd 3rd OT -->	Final
Mercyhurst	0-2	0-1	0-6	0-9
Penn State	1-3	0-4	2-4	3-11

GOAL SUMMARY Team Scoring Pd. Time PSU Nikita Pavlychev (1) - SH Hamilton, T. (3) 1 3:56 PSU Chase Berger (1) - PP Goodwin (2), Kerr (1) 1 12:57 PSU Nate Sucese (2) Kerr (2), Folkes (2) 2 1:09 PSU Nate Sucese (3) Goodwin (3) 2 13:21 PSU Denis Smirnov (1) - PP Richard (1), Pedrie (1) 3 13:55 PSU Trevor Hamilton (1) - PP Pavlychev (2), Berger (3) 3 15:26 PSU Andrew Sturtz (3) Berger (4), Autio (2) 3 18:24

GOALTENDERS Min GA SV MER Brandon Wildung (L, 0-1-0) 60:00 7 36 PSU Peyton Jones (W, 2-0-0) Empty Net 59:43 0:17 0 0 20 0

ERIE, Pa. - Freshman Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) collected a pair of second period goals which really put the game out of reach as the Penn State University men's ice hockey team defeated Mercyhurst University, 7-0, this evening in a non-conference affair from the Erie Insurance Arena.

With the win the Nittany Lions improve to 2-1-0 on the year while the Lakers fall to 0-1-0

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Freshman Nikita Pavlychev (Yaroslavl, Russia) netted his first collegiate goal, a short-handed effort, at 3:56 of the first period. Junior Trevor Hamilton (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.) had the lone assist on the goal.
• The Lions then went up 2-0 off a power-play goal with some crisp passing from sophomore Kevin Kerr (Bensalem, Pa.) and senior David Goodwin (Des Peres, Mo.) to find sophomore Chase Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) for the score at 12:57 of the opening frame.
• Sucese wasted little time extended the Penn State lead to 3-0 in the second as he found himself ahead of the defense off a great pass from Kerr and the rookie made a nifty move to slide the puck five-hole at 1:09 of the stanza.
• Sucese then collected his second goal of the game during a 4-on-4 period of play as he slapped home a rebound off the initial shot from Goodwin at 13:21 on the middle period.
• Freshman Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) netted the first goal of his collegiate career on the power-play as he sniped the top right corner of the net from just inside the dot at 13:55. He was assisted by senior Dylan Richard (Sherwood Park, Alb.) and sophomore Vince Pedrie (Rochester, Minn.).
• Hamilton then added his first goal of the season picking up the garbage in front of the net with Pavlychev and Berger collecting assists on the play at 15:26 of the third period.
• Sophomore Andrew Sturtz (Buffalo, N.Y.) tucked one under the cross-bar making the score 7-0 at 18:24 of the third period. Berger and junior Erik Autio (Espoo, Finland) with assists on the play.

NEAR MISSES

• With the man-advantage late in the opening frame Pedrie fired a shot from the right dot that hit everything, including the cross-bar, but stayed out of the net.
• Smirnov rang the cross-bar during a 5-on-3 man-advantage at 16:00 of the second period.
• Sophomore Andrew Sturtz intercepted a pass and raced up the right slot during a 2-on-1 shorthanded attempt and found Berger on the left side, but Mercyhurst net-minder Brandon Wildung slide over and got the pad to it in the opening minute of the third period.
• Freshman Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ont.) rang iron off a blast from the left dot during a power-play at 4:07 of the third period.

POWER-PLAYS

• There was a lot of whistles in the game tonight as the teams combined for 23 penalties for 65 minutes.
• Penn State went 3-for-11 with the man-advantage while the Lakers were unsuccessful in nine attempts.
• Penn State improves their penalty kill to 15-for-15 on the season.
• The second period featured three penalties on each side, but the teams combined to go 0-for-6 with the man-advantage.
• Mercyhurst also committed a major penalty for contact to the head which resulted in a game misconduct and they were also hit later with a 10-minute misconduct after a tripping call.
• The Lakers would kill off 1:43 of a 5-on-3 power-play during that major penalty.

SHOTS FIRED

• Penn State held the 43-20 advantage in shots on goal.

GOALTENDING

• Freshman Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) improves to 2-0-0 on the season after making 20 saves and collecting his first collegiate shutout.
• Wildung collected 36 stops in the defeat to fall to 0-1-0 on the season.

NOTES

• This marks the first shutout for Penn State since a 4-0 victory over Vermont last November.
• This also marks their first road shutout since their inaugural season and a 4-0 victory over Fredonia State on December 11, 2012.
• 11 players notched points in this game while six players had multiple points led by Berger's three points (2G, 1A).
• This marks the second game in the first three contests this season where at least 11 players have registered a point.
• A pair of Nittany Lions notched their first goal in the Blue and White with Pavlychev and Hamilton's goals

WHAT'S NEXT

Penn State returns to action next weekend as they travel to South Bend to take on the University of Notre Dame in a two game set next Friday and Saturday. Friday's game will start at 7:35 p.m. while Saturday's contest will be available on NBC Sports Network with a 7:05 p.m. puck drop.