UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Junior Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alberta) scored twice as Penn State defeated Brock University, 3-2, during the fourth installment of the International Game this evening at Pegula Ice Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring right after a power-play expired as they took advantage of a defensive zone turnover by Brock as junior Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) found sophomore Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) who fed junior Nikita Pavlychev (Yaroslavl, Russia) on the right side of the crease for the finish and 1-0 lead at 11:55 of the first period.
- Junior Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alb.) wasted little time opening the scoring in the second period as he finished off a nice feed from classmate Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) in front of the crease for the 2-0 edge just 30 ticks into the frame.
- Justin Brack was able to cut the Brock deficit in half early in the third period as he backhanded he own rebound off a blocked shot through the five-hole of Penn State freshman goaltender Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) for the 2-1 score.
- Tyler Rollo then took advantage of a miscue at the offensive blueline and skated into the Penn State zone on an odd-man rush firing toward the far post and in from the right slot to tie the contest, 2-2, at the 6:45 mark of the final period.
- Biro then potted he second of the game this time on the power-play after great passing sequence with Sucese, he was left with a yawning net and he didn't miss for the 3-2 score at the 17:20 mark of the third period.
GOALTENDING
- Senior Chris Funkey (Orland Park, Ill.) started the game and didn't allow a goal over the opening 20 minutes of action while stopping all six shots he faced.
- Junior Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) also pitched a shutout in his one period of action collecting eight saves.
- Autio, who entered in the third period, settled in after allowing a pair of goals and finished with 10 saves on the evening to earn the victory.
- Logan Thompson went the distance for Brock allowing all three goals while making 40 saves in the game.
NOTES
- Penn State improves to 3-1 during the International Game avenging last season's loss in overtime to Ottawa.
- The Nittany Lions held the 43-26 edge in shots on goal while going 1-for-3 with the man-advantage and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
- Senior Ludvig Larsson (Malmo, Sweden) went 16-3 on the draw as Penn State held the 38-29 edge in faceoffs.
- Both sophomore Cole Hults (Stoughton, Wis.) and junior Kris Myllari (Kanata, Ontario) collected four blocked shots while Penn State had 19 as a team.
- Biro had a team-high six shots on goal.
NEXT UP
No. 16 Penn State opens regular season play next Thursday and Friday October 11-12 as they welcome the 17th-ranked Clarkson Golden Knights to Pegula Ice Arena for a pair of 7 p.m. contests.