SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Sophomore Connor McMenamin (Collegeville, Pa.) scored twice as fifth-seeded Penn State used five unanswered goals to erase an early two-goal deficit and defeat No. 4 Notre Dame, 6-3, on Sunday afternoon in Big Ten quarterfinal action from Compton Family Ice Arena.
Penn State improves to 10-11-0 on the year while the Irish fall to 14-13-2 overall.
The Nittany Lions move on to the Big Ten semifinals for the sixth-straight season and the seventh time in the eight years of the Big Ten Hockey conference. Penn State will battle top-seeded Wisconsin at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow evening in the opening semifinal.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Notre Dame got off to a flying start taking advantage of a too many men call on Penn State as Colin Theisen jammed home a rebound on the ensuing powerplay and then just 31 ticks later Jesse Lansdell added another Irish tally for the 2-0 lead just 2:41 into the opening stanza.
- Penn State looked to have cut the deficit in half at 8:20 of the first period as senior Alex Limoges (Winchester, Va.) finished off a nice feed from classmate Tim Doherty (Portsmouth, R.I.), but the play was ruled offside and the goal was taken off the board.
- The Nittany Lions did end up cutting the deficit in half late in the first period as freshman Christian Sarlo (Lynnbrook, N.Y.) laced a shot from the left dot, short side and over the shoulder of Irish net-minder Dylan St. Cyr for the 2-1 score with just 63 ticks remaining in the frame.
- Penn State struck early in the second period for the equalizer as a strong fore-check produced a turnover in the Irish zone and sophomore Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) fed McMenamin and he beat St. Cyr through the five-hole for the 2-2 score at 3:19 of the period.
- The Nittany Lions then took their first lead of the game midway through the middle stanza as Wall sent a beautiful stretch pass to McMenamin at the Notre Dame line and the sophomore faked forehand and slipped the backhand shot through the five-hole for his second of the period and the 3-2 margin at the 10:10 mark.
- Penn State extended the lead with its fourth-straight goal, this time on the powerplay, as Limoges found Doherty all alone out front for the 4-2 lead at 14:55 of the second period.
- Freshman Chase McLane (Trenton, Mich.) added an insurance goal midway through the final period as he cashed in on the doorstep after sophomore Mason Snell's (Courtice, Ontario) initial shot was turned aside at the 8:20 mark.
- Notre Dame got one back with a second powerplay tally Ryder Rolston at the 12:56 mark, but McLane hit the empty net with just 32 seconds remaining for the 6-3 final.
GOALTENDING
Junior Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) settled in nicely after a rocky first few minutes and finished the game with 33 saves while improving to 9-8-0 on the year. St. Cyr also made 33 stops, but fell to 11-9-1 with the setback.
NOTES
- Penn State held the slim 39-36 edge in shots on goal while going 1-for-3 with the man-advantage. Notre Dame was 2-for-3 with the powerplay.
- Penn State finally gets over the hump of beating Notre Dame on home ice in the Big Ten Tournament as the Nittany Lions hand the Irish their first loss in a Big Ten Tournament game at Compton Family Ice Arena. The Irish were previously 6-0 in such games including 2-0 against the Nittany Lions.
- Penn State is now 4-8-1 in South Bend and improve to 7-13-3 in the all-time series.
- The Nittany Lions improve to 82-1-2 all-time when scoring five or more goals and increase their already Big Ten best mark to 11 tournament victories with an all-time record of 11-6.
- Penn State has now scored at least five goals in a Big Ten Tournament game six times improving to 6-0 all-time when doing so while the six goals tie its program-high in tournament play and mark the third time they have reached that mark.
- The Nittany Lions improve to just 3-7-0 this season when allowing the opening goal of the game, two of those victories have now come against the Irish while Penn State is 0-3-0 when scoring first this season against Notre Dame.
- Both McMenamin and McLane each registered their first-career multi-goal games. For McMenamin it was his fifth career multi-point game and fourth of the season while for the freshman McLane it was his second of the season.
- Limoges collected his sixth multi-point effort of the season and the 33rd of his career as he now has 14 points in nine Big Ten Tournament games, the second-most all-time.
- With a pair of assists Wall collected his sixth multi-point game of the season and the seventh of his career while sophomore classmate Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) also added a pair of assists marking his fourth career multi-point game and his fourth of the season.
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.