UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky secured his 300th career victory on Saturday evening as the No. 13/10 Nittany Lions completed an opening weekend sweep with a 5-4 victory over Sacred Heart inside Pegula Ice Arena.
Penn State opens the season with a sweep for the second consecutive season improving to 2-0-0 with the victory while the Pioneers fall to 0-2-1 with the loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Nittany Lions opened the scoring for the second consecutive night as off a short-handed offensive zone draw sophomore Aarne Talvitie (Espoo, Finland) won the puck back to junior Cole Hults (Stoughton, Wis.) who slide to his right and fired over the left shoulder of SHU net-minder Josh Benson for the 1-0 lead at 8:30 of the first period.
- Hults then sprung classmates Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.) and Brandon Biro (Sherwood Park, Alberta) on an odd-man rush during a 4-on-4 span of action and the former found the later for the score and 2-0 lead at 17:14 of the frame.
- Penn State grabbed two more during the middle stanza as Sucese cleaned up Biro's initial shot in the crease for the 3-0 lead at 4:12 of the period before setting up Biro again for his second of the game as he went forehand, backhand and lifted one over the glove of Benson for the 4-0 lead at 14:46.
- Sacred Heart turned things up in a big way in the third period as Vito Bavaro and Jason Cotton netted goals just 68 seconds apart to cut the deficit to 4-2 at the 8:58 mark of the frame before freshman Mason Snell (Courtice, Ontario) netted his first collegiate goal at 10:39 pushing the PSU lead back to three goals.
- The Pioneers kept pressing and got within a single goal after using just six second to pull the score to 5-4 after Austin Magera and Cotton scored at 16:12 and 16:18, respectively.
GOALTENDING
Senior Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) stopped 35 pucks improving to 2-0-0 while securing his 60th career victory. Benson made 32 saves but falls to 0-2-1 with the loss.
GADOWSKY POSTGAME
Opening statement
Anytime you get a sweep you have to feel really good, but obviously we have some work to do and the third period is a great example of why.
Q: What was different about that third period that allowed them to come back?
A: I think we've struggled with this for a little while now, whether it's going into a third period when we have a lead or at times last year when we played really well on Friday, going into Saturday, something about us, we perceive that things are going well, that's when we get knocked, as a reminder that they're not. It's something we have to address with the team, that's something we haven't done a great job as coaches. It's been happening for a while. I don't have an answer for you but we're certainly going to try to figure this out.
Q: What did you say to your team during the timeout after Sacred Heart scored two quick goals?
A: Just a reminder of what we're doing. Basically, sit back, take a breath and not let the momentum get to us, not to let the snowball roll too far down the hill. A reminder to get back to doing what we do well.
Q: What kind of leadership did you see from your players at the end of the game?
A: I was pretty impressed, we do have really good leadership. For example, and this isn't the only one, but a guy like Kris Myllari is such a good leader when things aren't going well. There are other guys who are good leaders when things are really going well, but he's always had a knack of being a calming, positive influence when things aren't. He's not the only one but he's a really good example of it. I do believe very much in our leadership and I thought they were very appropriate.
NOTES
- Gadowsky is now the 13th active NCAA Division I coach to have 300 career wins and he is just 18 wins shy of cracking the top 50 all-time.
- Sacred Heart held the slim 39-37 edge in shots including an eye-popping 15-5 in the third period while going 1-for-5 with the man-advantage. Penn State was 0-for-3 on the power-play.
- With his first period assist, Talvitie has now registered a point in four-straight games dating back to last season prior to his injury, just one game shy of his career-high.
- Hults secured his second-straight multi-point game and the 13th of his career following his one goal and one assist performance.
- Hults also jumped past Trevor Hamilton '18 for fourth on the Penn State all-time goals list by defenseman with 13 for his career. The junior also leapt Vince Pedrie and senior Kris Myllari (Kanata, Ontario) for fifth on the all-time points list by defensemen as he now has 53 for his career.
- Sucese collected his second-straight multi-point effort to open the season and the 25th of his career inching closer to the top spot on the Penn State all-time goal scoring list as he is now just two shy of Andrew Sturtz who holds the record with 54.
- Biro again tied his career-high with his second-straight three-point game marking the 25th multi-point game of his career, but just his second career multi-goal game.
NEXT UP
Penn State remains home next weekend as they welcome Alaska Fairbanks to town for the first-time for a pair of 7 p.m. contests on Thursday and Friday evening.