The roar was back in Hockey Valley this past weekend as No. 10 Penn State swept the previously-ranked Clarkson Golden Knights, with a 4-3 win in Thursday's game and a 5-1 lashing on Friday.
On Thursday, the Nittany Lions used three special-teams goals to come out with the win. Sam Sternschein (Syosset, N.Y.) and Liam Folkes (Scarborough, Ontario) potted goals on the power play, and Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) put home a short-handed goal for Penn State.
Friday's contest saw Penn State kill three penalties while maintaining a slim 2-1 lead, then pulling away later in the second and third periods.
Head coach Guy Gadowsky liked some elements of what he saw from his team, but wasn't pleased about Clarkson scoring a game-tying goal via the extra skater on Thursday.
"Well, we messed up one on the penalty kill Thursday night, so we still have work to do," Gadowsky said. "But as it turned out in that game, it was a big part of the victory. So, you feel good about that, but just because we happened to score a couple doesn't mean we don't have work to do. I'm happy it was a part of our win."
Penn State and Clarkson were tied at two after the Golden Knights tied the game at 1:50 of the third period in Thursday's game. In addition to the tying goal, Clarkson received a power play with a chance to take the lead. Sucese had other ideas on a defensive play that started courtesy of his line mate Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alberta).
"I think (Brandon) Biro made an unbelievable decision to pressure him, he saw there was a bobbled puck and that his only outlet was behind him," Sucese said.
"So I jumped on it, picked it off and managed to get the goalie moving because he was pretty far out of the net when I went down the ice and I was able to put it home from there."
Biro and Sucese each had four points on the weekend, and each player factored into four of the nine goals scored against Clarkson. Biro said he saw something similar on Sucese's goal.
"The defenseman kind of bobbled it a little," Biro said. "So I went to put pressure on him and Nate (Sucese) made a great read to take away his only outlet and the guy put it right on Nate's stick, so he made the read and finished from there."
Both players are instrumental parts of both special teams units, and their performances over the weekend were crucial for Penn State to get the sweep.
"I think our patience on the penalty kill and picking the right times to jump was huge," Sucese said. "On our power play, we got a lot of skilled guys and guys that can play different positions."
The puck movement we had and the time and space we allowed ourselves was huge to find openings and obviously that factored in on Liam (Folkes) goal and on (Sam) Sternschein's goal."
"It's definitely a momentum shifter and every time you get an opportunity, you've got to take advantage of it," Biro said.
"You don't know how many you're going to get, because on Friday we didn't get too many. When you get one, you have to bear down because you can see how important they are."
Defenseman Kris Myllari (Kanata, Ontario) was an important part of the penalty kill, emphasizing the shot-blocking that Penn State prioritized to deflect numerous Clarkson chances away from the net.
"Special teams is huge for us, and the momentum will swing whether you kill a penalty or get scored on," Myllari said.
"I just thought we did a great job at being detailed, guys were blocking shots and we had a lot of pass breakups. We cleared the puck effectively which was huge making them come back the length of the ice."
Penn State climbed to No. 10 in the latest USCHO.com poll, and will host Niagara for a two-game set at Pegula Ice Arena on Friday and Saturday. The Purple Eagles come into Hockey Valley after splitting with AIC over the weekend. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. on Friday and 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
