UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- At first glance, the only thing Connor MacEachern and Connor McMenamin share is a first name.
But, after last weekend, they now share a lot more than that. Back-to-back game-winning goals by MacEachern and McMenamin, respectively, have cemented each of their impacts on the first phase of the season.
Penn State came into the Arizona State series with a 1-5 record on the season. It felt like at least a split, if not a sweep with the Sun Devils, would be needed to salvage the early part of the schedule. At the conclusion of regulation in game one, the two teams were gridlocked at two. It would take a hero to lift the Nittany Lions to victory.
The three-on-three overtime period was its usual fast-paced self. Then, as the period was winding down, Arizona State got caught in a long change. MacEachern picked up the puck and saw himself on a two-on-one with teammate Alex Limoges.
"The goalie was squared to me so the pass across would give him an empty net," MacEachern said. "I feel like the defenseman was pushing over to him too much for my liking."
MacEachern wanted to pass it to Limoges, but that's not how they do things at Penn State.
"Here at Penn State, we always preach a shoot-first mentality," MacEachern said. "In that moment I knew I was shooting that puck, as soon as I picked it up. I certainly looked at Limo, but everyone on our team is shooting that."
From the bench, the perspective was pretty much the same. Head coach Guy Gadowsky recognized the line before MacEachern, and Limoges was doing a great job of getting pressure on the Sun Devil zone.
"When MacEachern got on the ice, he was a little fresher than the rest of the guys," Gadowsky said. "We were able to regroup in the neutral zone and come back on a 2-on-1. I think he was looking at Limoges, but he obviously made a great decision with a heck of a shot."
As incredible as game one was, game two may have raised the bar even more. Penn State fell down 3-0 early on, and later 4-1. Then, three unanswered goals by the Nittany Lions evened the game up at four. It tied the largest comeback in team history. The previous time Penn State came back from a three-goal deficit was January 23, 2015 against Northern Michigan.
For the second consecutive game, the Nittany Lions and Sun Devils went to overtime. MacEachern was on the ice again for a big shift early in the frame. But, this time, it was his fellow sophomore classmate Connor McMenamin, who was Sunday's overtime hero.
McMenamin picked up the puck in the Penn State zone and the Nittany Lions had another odd-man rush. McMenamin and MacEachern quarterbacked that rush into the Arizona State zone. As McMenamin was charging towards the goal he saw MacEachern, but remembered that at Penn State, it's always shoot first.
"I looked for the pass, but I saw the defense take it away," McMenamin said. "Then, I looked at the net and saw the goalie was giving me short side, so I just tried to put it there."
The Collegeville, Pennsylvania native found the back of the net for the second time this season. It wasn't McMenamin's first time scoring an overtime goal. He netted the game-winner at Michigan State last January.
"The guys who often score OT goals like that, it's often guys who play for the team, and that's certainly [McMenamin]," Gadowsky said. "He's an extremely reliable player that comes up big in big times and that's exactly what you saw."
At first glance, both overtime goals look like carbon copies of each other. A lefthanded puck handler coming down the left wing with a two-on-one opportunity. Both McMenamin and MacEachern opting not to pass and each firing a shot short side and above the blocker of ASU net-minder Evan DeBrouwer to win the game for Penn State.
When reflecting, those two goals will be remembered as huge goals for Penn State and unique in how similar each was. Moving forward, they could serve as a catalyst for bigger things to come in phase two of the schedule and beyond.
It remains to be seen when Penn State takes the ice next, but the strides the Nittany Lions took over the last two series will set them up for bigger things to come in the new year. Gadowsky learned a lot about his team thus far and is excited for what's to come next.
"We've learned that those guys have a lot of guts and fight," Gadowsky said. "I give them a ton of credit for that."
