ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State women's hockey team picked up its 11th conference point of the season in its second-straight 1-1 draw against Mercyhurst at the Mercyhurst Ice Center Saturday afternoon.
The script was nearly the same as Friday's draw, with Mercyhurst (12-8-4, 6-2-2 CHA) taking a first-period lead and Penn State (9-9-6, 4-3-3 CHA) responding to tie the game, this time in the second period, on Katie Rankin's third goal of the season.
Chantal Burke made 32 saves in net for Penn State and got the support of her defense in front of her which blocked 34 shots and killed all five Mercyhurst power plays.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Mercyhurst appeared to score the game's first goal at the 7:10 mark, but the referees reviewed the play and reversed the call on the ice to keep the game scoreless.
The Lakers would still end up getting the first score of the game with 1:07 left in the first period. Emily Pinto buried the loose puck from in front of the net to give Mercyhurst the 1-0 lead at the first intermission.
During the opening shifts of the second period, Mercyhurst had a flurry of scoring chances thrown at Chantal Burke, including a pair of shots point blank, but Burke made an athletic play moving to her right to keep Mercyhurst from doubling its lead.
Penn State was able to tie the game at the 8:00 mark in the second period on a great individual play from Katie Rankin. She deked from her forehand and put a backhand shot past the goaltender, Jenna Silvonen, to tie the game, 1-1. Natalie Heising and Anna Promersberger picked up helpers on the goal.
The third period didn't see too many "grade-A" scoring chances until Mercyhurst went to the power play with 2:45 remaining. Penn State was up to the task once again, however, halting the fifth Laker power play of the afternoon.
In overtime, Mercyhurst spent the first two minutes in the attacking zone peppering Burke with shots, but Penn State's defense got in the way of several shots to deflect them aside and the ones that did get to Burke were stopped by the junior netminder.
The Nittany Lions two best chances in OT came on a Natalie Heising attempt on goal halfway through the extra frame and a couple of Morgan Rolph shots, one that narrowly missed the mark and the other which was saved by Silvonen.
Mercyhurst outshot Penn State 5-2 in the extra frame, but the game ended in yet another draw between the Nittany Lions and Lakers.
GAME NOTES
- After missing Friday's game due to illness, Rankin's second period score was her 18th career goal, ranking seventh in Penn State program history.
- Penn State's 34 blocked shots was a season-high by a seven-block margin. The team's previous high was 27 on November 1, 2019 at Robert Morris. Twelve different Nittany Lions blocked at least one shot with 11 getting in the way of at least two shots. Amy Dobson and Mallory Uihlein had five each to lead the team.
- Dobson and Katie McMillan, who have primarily played forward this season, were utilized as defenders with Izzy Heminger's absence due to illness.
- Anna Promersberger and Natalie Heising both led the team with four shots on goal.
- Since November 4, 2017, Penn State and Mercyhurst have played nine games with eight of those games going to overtime. The only two games that did not end in a tie were one-goal wins for Mercyhurst.
- Penn State has now battled to 25 ties since the beginning of the 2017-18 season, the most in division one collegiate women's hockey over that span.
NEXT UP
Penn State takes on another tough CHA opponent on the road against Syracuse Friday and Saturday, Jan. 24-25.