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Kevin Wall Tallies Twice in His Homecoming as No. 5 Men's Hockey Downs No. 20 RIT, 6-1

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Senior Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) tallied twice while adding an assist in a homecoming of sorts to lead Penn State to a, 6-1, victory over No. 20 RIT in non-conference action on Friday evening inside the Gene Polisseni Center.

The Nittany Lions improve to 16-5-0 overall and a perfect 9-0-0 this season in non-conference play with the win while the Tigers drop to 12-5-0 on the year with the setback.

Penn State will look to complete its first-ever spotless non-conference season tomorrow night at Pegula Ice Arena in the series finale.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Wall opened the scoring as he skated coast-to-coast before centering the puck and having it deflect off an RIT player and through the legs of Tiger net-minder Tommy Scarfone for the 1-0 edge at 3:05 of the first period.
  • The Nittany Lions extended the lead with a pair of goals in just 19 seconds to take the 3-0 lead near the end of the first period as junior Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pa.) finished off a breakaway at the 17:35 mark before senior Ashton Calder (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.) deposited his own rebound at the 17:54 mark of the opening stanza.
  • The Tigers cut into the deficit early in the second period as Tyler Mahan found the back of the net shorthanded at the 1:07 mark for the 3-1 score.
  • Penn State regained the three-goal edge as sophomore Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) feathered a backhand pass to Wall during a 2-on-1 rush and he finished over the glove of Scarfone for his second of the game at the 4-1 lead at 5:39 of the second period.
  • The visitors extended the lead with a powerplay tally as Calder secured his second goal of the night off a beautiful feed from sophomore Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) for the 5-1 advantage at 14:45 of the second frame.
  • Penn State extended the lead further early in the third period as Wall found senior Connor MacEachern (Brooklin, Ontario) at the welcome mat for a tap in score and the 6-1 margin at 4:49 of the final stanza.

GOALTENDING

  • Junior Liam Souliere (Brampton, Ontario) improves to 14-4-0 on the year after making 28 saves in the victory while Scarfone falls 11-3-0 after stopping 41 shots in the loss.
  • Souliere's 14 victories move him ahead of Eamon McAdam and into fifth on the Penn State single-season wins list while his 22 career victories break a tie with Oskar Autio '22 for third on the all-time Nittany Lions win list. He is now 10 shy of Matt Skoff for second.

NOTES

  • The teams went to the locker rooms 2:53 early for the first intermission as one of the RIT bench doors had to be fixed after it was blown off its hinges following a body check.
  • Penn State held the commanding 47-29 edge in shots while going 1-for-4 with the man-advantage and a perfect 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
  • Senior captain Paul DeNaples played in his 154th consecutive game tying the Penn State Iron Man streak set by Chase Berger '19. Like Berger, DeNaples has yet to miss a game in his Nittany Lion Career.
  • The opening goal for Wall marks the 15th time in 21 games this season that Penn State has scored first running its record to 13-2-0 in such contests.
  • Wall secured his first multi-goal game of the season and the fifth of his career while collecting his third multi-point effort of the season and the 17th of his career.
  • Wall has now registered at least one point in five-straight games to tie his career-long five game point streak achieved last November.
  • Calder notched his first multi-goal game as a Nittany Lion and the 11th of his career while collecting his second multi-point effort this season and the 32nd of his career.
  • MacEachern and senior Ture Linden (Great Falls, Va.) each collected their fourth and fifth multi-point efforts of the season and the 13th and 19th of their respective careers, MacEachern with one goal and two assists and Linden with a pair of helpers. MacEachern's three points tie his career high.
  • Penn State improves to 98-1-2 all-time when scoring five or more goals.
  • The Nittany Lions are now 6-5-0 this season against ranked opponents and remain a perfect 11-0-0 when leading after two periods.

NEXT UP
The two teams will conclude the weekend series back in Hockey Valley tomorrow night with a 5:30 p.m. puck drop at Pegula Ice Arena. Tickets are available HERE.

For more information on the 2022-23 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.