McMenamin’s Golden Goal Completes the Penn State Comeback in 5-4 VictoryMcMenamin’s Golden Goal Completes the Penn State Comeback in 5-4 Victory
Mark Selders

McMenamin’s Golden Goal Completes the Penn State Comeback in 5-4 Victory

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – It was déjà vu at Pegula Ice Arena on Sunday afternoon as sophomore Connor McMenamin (Collegeville, Pa.) raced down the leftwing and into the Arizona State zone on an odd-man rush in overtime and like his classmate Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) did two nights prior, the second-year forward sniped a bar down beauty over the right shoulder of Evan DeBrouwer for the golden goal as Penn State defeated the 20th-ranked Sun Devils, 5-4, completing the weekend sweep.

Penn State improves to 3-5-0 on the year following the victory while the Sun Devils fall to 3-6-1 with the setback.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • ASU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first five minutes of the contest scoring three times over a 69 second span as Jax Murray and Benji Eckerle potted goals just 24 seconds apart before James Sanchez took advantage of an errant pass in the defensive zone and buried a shot past the blocker of Nittany Lion freshman net-minder Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) at 4:14.
  • Penn State got one back as freshman Christian Sarlo (Lynnbrook, N.Y.) ripped home a rebound at the net mouth after senior Sam Sternschein's (Syosset, N.Y.) initial bid was turned aside at 5:20 of the first period.
  • ASU took advantage of a hooking call against the Nittany Lions to regain the three-goal margin as Willie Knierim nudged a rebound through the five-hole of Souliere for the 4-1 margin at 14:05.
  • PSU cut back into the deficit as McMenamin intercepted a pass at his defensive blueline and skated in on a 2-on-1 rush with senior Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) and the latter stuffed home a juicy rebound for the 4-2 score at 17:27 of the opening frame.
  • Penn State wasted little time cutting the deficit to a single goal as just 11 ticks into the second period junior Aarne Talvitie (Espoo, Finland) cut toward the slot and laced a shot inside the near post and past the glove of Sun Devil goaltender Evan DeBrouwer for the 4-3 score.
  • The Nittany Lions pulled the game even just over four minutes later as Limoges redirected a feed from senior Tim Doherty (Portsmouth, R.I.) through DeBrouwer on the powerplay for the 4-4 tie at 4:21 of the middle frame.
  • After over 35 minutes of scoreless hockey, Penn State wasted little time in the extra session as it was McMenamin skating in on a 2-on-1 and like his classmate MacEachern did two nights prior he laced a shot over the right shoulder of DeBrouwer for the golden goal just 1:28 into overtime.

GOALTENDING

  • Souliere made a career-best 36 saves to secure his first collegiate victory and move to 1-2-0 on the year while DeBrouwer fell to 2-3-0 after stopping 40-of-45 shots.
  • Souliere also registered his first collegiate point with the only assist on McMenamin's game-winning goal.

NOTES

  • The Nittany Lions outshot ASU 45-40 while going 1-for-2 on the powerplay. Arizona State was 1-for-3 on the man-advantage. Penn State has now registered at least one man-advantage tally in three-consecutive contests.
  • Penn State also dominated the faceoff dot for the second-straight game winning 47-of-74 draws (63.5 percent).
  • The Nittany Lions are now 7-1-0 all-time against the Sun Devils with the last three games of the series going into overtime and the last four games being decided by a single goal.
  • The three-goal comeback victory ties the largest comeback in program history and it was the first time Penn State has comeback from a three-goal deficit since January 23, 2015 against Northern Michigan.
  • Sternschein skated in his 99th game on Sunday afternoon putting him just one-shy of the century mark for his career.
  • Limoges registered his fourth multi-point effort of the season, third in-a-row, and the 31st of his career with a pair of goals marking his first multi-goal game this season and the ninth of his career.
  • With three powerplay tallies so far this season Limoges is tied for the Big Ten lead in that category and now has 12 for his career pulling into a tie with Nikita Pavlychev '20 for second on the Penn State all-time list just one shy of the program record that is shared by four individuals.
  • Limoges maintains his team lead in points as he now has nine in eight games as he moves into first among active Big Ten players and second nationally with 46 career goals. He also moves past Casey Bailey for sixth. The senior is now tied for fifth in the Big Ten with nine points on the season while his five goals rank tied for third.
  • MacEachern also collects his third-straight multi-point effort and the third of his career while tying his career-best with a pair of assists.
  • With one goal and one assist, McMenamin registered just his second career multi-point game and his first of the season.

NEXT UP
Penn State does not know when its next game will be or who the opponent in that game will be as the Big Ten has yet to announce the second half of the 2020-21 hockey schedule. The conference is unofficially set to resume play in early January, but no official date has been given at this time.

For more information on the 2020-21 season presented by the Penn State Bookstore: the Official Bookstore of Penn State Athletics, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.