UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Freshman Ben Schoen (Maumee, Ohio) had a career-best three points with a pair of goals and one assist as Penn State defeated Wisconsin, 7-2, earning the series sweep in Big Ten Conference action on Saturday evening inside Pegula Ice Arena.
The Nittany Lions improve to 14-12-0 on the year and 5-11-0-1-1-0 in Big Ten play while the Badgers drop to 8-15-3 this season and 5-10-1-1-1-0 in conference action with the loss.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- After a scoreless first period, Penn State and freshman Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) once again opened the scoring as the rookie finished off a crisp passing display from sophomore Jimmy Dowd Jr. (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) and senior Ben Copeland (Edina, Minn.) for the 1-0 edge at 4:28 of the second stanza.
- Kirwan added his second of the game and fourth of the weekend just over ten minutes later as he went bar-down over the blocker of Badger net-minder Jared Moe for the 2-0 advantage at 14:31 of the middle frame.
- As time was winding down in the second period, junior Tyler Gratton (Pottstown, Pa.) was released from the penalty box and finished off a beautiful pass from classmate Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) at the far post for the 3-0 score at the 19:15 mark.
- Wisconsin cut into the deficit early in the third period with two goals in under three minutes as Carson Bantle ripped a shot off the pipe and in just 70 ticks into the frame and then stole the puck at the blueline and went in uncontested for his second goal and the 3-2 score at the 2:45 mark.
- The Nittany Lions responded in a big way scoring twice in the span of 43 seconds to regain the three-goal edge as Schoen went bar-down on the powerplay at 5:07 and classmate Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) followed with a snipe of his own at 5:50 for the 5-3 lead.
- Junior Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) pushed the lead to 6-2 as he sniped far corner during a 5-on-3 powerplay at the 8:27 mark of the third period.
- Schoen capped the scoring with his second goal of the game at 11:51 of the third period for the 7-2 final.
GOALTENDING
- Senior Oskar Autio (Espoo, Finland) improves to 10-10-0 on the year after making 20 saves in the game.
- Autio also collected his fourth assist of the season on Schoen's first goal tying Peyton Jones '20 for the single-season Penn State record and he is now also tied with Eamon McAdam for second all-time for points/assists by a goalie with four.
- Moe drops his second-straight decision moving to 6-10-3 this season after stopping 31 shots over the first 45:50 of game action before being lifted for Cameron Rowe for the second-straight night.
- Rowe made 13 saves over the final 14:10 and did not factor in the decision.
GADOWSKY POSTGAME
Opening Statement
Today the original Thor was here. A lot of you know that we give out the hammer after wins and it's based on mental toughness and perseverance because of what he's gone through. He's a great guy and he was here tonight. It's appropriate that he was because we have gone through some tough experiences lately that have made us become more mentally tough. I think it showed tonight so it was appropriate that he was here.
Q: Your freshmen had a great day today, what would you say about their contribution to the offense?
A: They were exceptional today. I think it's a factor of not just the offense, but what they've all been working hard to do. To just play quality Penn State Hockey, learn about it and become consistent with it. They're doing a good job and they're seeing the results.
Q: Do you think you could have done this two months ago?
A: No, I think the experiences that we've gone through lately, whether it be against Notre Dame, Michigan, or even against Wisconsin at Wisconsin, all build up to being able to do that. It's easy to talk about. You can talk about it, but you have to go through it to really get the lesson to stick.
Q: Special teams is something that has been difficult this season, how do you think it changed? Will it stick?
A: We will see, what I do think will stick is that we're going to play the right way. Now, that doesn't always mean that you're going to score on the powerplay. I do think that we feel confident that we've taken steps in that direction. To answer the first part of the question, the reason why is because we have a lot of work to do in a lot of areas. We just weren't spending the appropriate time in those areas. You can't do everything and have to narrow your focus or else that doesn't stick. We were able to get some time to get on the same page with it. I thought scoring or not, the powerplay was much better this weekend.
Q: Ryan [Kirwan] had a huge weekend, what kind of growth do you see from him?
A: Well, he deserves every bit of this because he's been so detailed in the things that he has to do to play good hockey and to be in the lineup. First, you have to give him a ton of credit for being meticulous about the details which he has, and the rest is his release. That's something you can't coach; you can't teach that. It's just special, obviously you saw that tonight. It's nice that we saw him use it, but you got to give him credit for giving himself a chance to put himself in those situations. He has played really good hockey to be in those [scoring] situations.
NOTES
- The Nittany Lions are now 13-3-0 on the year when scoring first and 13-3-0 when leading entering the third period.
- Tonight's attendance of 6,247 is the seventh most in Pegula Ice Arena history.
- Penn State is now 2-5-1 all-time in the annual 'Wear White' game snapping a streak of five-straight losses and securing its first win in such contests since a victory over these same Badgers on February 6, 2015.
- Penn State held the commanding 51-22 edge in shots on goal while going 2-for-4 on the man-advantage and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
- The 51 shots for Penn State are the second-most this season after putting up 52 against these same Badgers in Madison back on December 11.
- The seven goals for the Nittany Lions are the most since beating Michigan 9-5 on December 3, 2020.
- The weekend sweep for Penn State marks the first time the Nittany Lions have swept a Big Ten series and collected the full six points since the 2019-20 season during a two-game series at Minnesota on November 15-16, 2019.
- With his second period goal, Kirwan extends his point streak to six games tying his career-high from earlier this season.
- Kirwan added a second goal marking his second-straight and the second multi-goal game of his career. It was also his fifth career multi-point game. The freshman now has at least one point in 12 of his last 14 games played.
- With a pair of assists, Copeland collects his sixth multi-point game this season and the 17th of his career.
- The three assists for Dowd are a new career-high while tying his career-best mark of three points. Dowd currently ranks ninth all-time at Penn State for assists by a defenseman with 24 for his career moving past Nate Jensen and Connor Varley while his 28 points are just one shy of Jensen for 10th all-time. His 18 points this season are the 10th most in a single-season among Penn State defensemen all-time while his 15 assists are tied for ninth.
- With two more assists tonight, Wall collected his seventh multi-point game this season and the 14th of his career.
- The goal for MacEachern gives him a career-best six-game point streak.
- Penn State is now 12-1-0 this season when a freshman scores.
- The Nittany Lions are now a perfect 9-0-0 this season when scoring five or more goals and are 91-1-2 all-time in such games.
- Penn State improves to 24-18-4 all-time against Wisconsin including a 14-6-1 mark at Pegula Ice Arena. In 19 of the 21 games played at Pegula in this series the winning team has scored four or more goals.
NEXT UP
Penn State remains home to close out its brief four-game homestand with another crucial conference series next weekend against the Big Ten leading No. 15 Ohio State Buckeyes.
For more information on the 2021-22 season presented by the Penn State Bookstore: 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.