ALLENTOWN, Pa. – No. 11/10 Penn State annihilated No. 13/13 Michigan Tech, 8-0, in NCAA Tournament opening round action on Friday evening inside the PPL Center.
The 8-0 victory is the largest shutout in NCAA Tournament history while also providing the largest margin of victory in an NCAA Tournament game surpassing the previous mark of seven goals held by four other teams, most recently Penn State in a 10-3 victory over Union in 2017.
The Nittany Lions will move on to the regional finals for the second time in program history and face the winner of the Michigan/Colgate contest which is currently being played.
Penn State improves to 22-15-1 on the year while the Huskies see their season come to an end with a 24-11-4 record. The 22 wins for Penn State this season are tied for the second-most in a single-season in program history.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State opened the scoring just 2:12 into the first period as junior Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pa.) slipped behind the net and snuck a wraparound shot through Husky net-minder Blake Pietila for the 1-0 edge.
- The Nittany Lions extended the lead early in the second period as a pair of freshmen defensemen went coast-to-coast with Carter Schade (Mars, Pa.) dancing his way through neutral ice and into the offensive zone before dishing to classmate Jarod Crespo (Eastampton, N.J.) in the slot as he beat Pietila over the glove for the 2-0 margin at the 4:34 mark.
- PSU extended the lead later in the frame as sophomore Simon Mack (Brockville, Ontario) sent senior Ashton Calder (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.) in on a breakaway with a great stretch pass and he slipped the puck under the pad of Pietila on the backhand for the 3-0 edge at the 14:46 mark of the middle stanza.
- Junior Christian Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) pushed the Nittany Lion lead to 4-0 with just 75 ticks left in the second period as he finished off a pass from sophomore Ryan Kirwan (DeWitt, N.Y.) during an odd-man rush for the 4-0 advantage.
- Penn State continued to push the pace extending the lead early in the third period as senior Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) corralled the puck at the near post, twirled around and fired a no look behind-the-back shot that beat Pietila past the far pad for the 5-0 score at 3:02 of the third period.
- The Nittany Lions just kept coming as junior Chase McLane (Trenton, Mich.) fired a shot goalline extended from the near halfwall that ramped off Pietila's back and into the net for the 6-0 lead at 7:31 of the third period.
- Senior Connor McMenamin (Collegeville, Pa.) and Kirwan added goals just 33 seconds apart at the 14:20 and 14:53 marks, respectively, to account for the 8-0 final score.
GOALTENDING
- Junior Liam Souliere (Brmapton, Ontario) secured his third shutout of the season with a 24-save effort improving to 19-14-1 on the year with the victory.
- For Souliere, his three shutouts this season are a new Penn State single-season shutout record and he is now tied with Matt Skoff for third on the Nittany Lion all-time shutout list just one shy of both Peyton Jones '20 and Oskar Autio '22.
- Pietila ends the season 23-11-3 after stopping 31 shots.
NOTES
- Penn State is making its third NCAA Tournament appearance running its record to 2-2 in such games advancing to its second regional final game.
- Paquette's goal just 2:12 into the contest is the fastest goal to open an NCAA Tournament game in program history.
- Penn State held the commanding 39-24 edge in shots on goal including a 14-4 clip in the third period. Penn State was not awarded a powerplay the entire game while going 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.
- Penn State scored the opening goal for the 26th time in 38 games this season moving to 18-7-1 in such games with the victory. The eight goals are also a season-high.
- Fifteen different Nittany Lions found the statsheet with eight players registering multi-point efforts.
- Penn State had eight individual goal scorers in a game for the first time since its other NCAA Tournament victory against Union on March 25, 2017.
- The eight goals scored also mark the most for the Nittany Lions since a 9-5 victory over Michigan on December 3, 2020.
- Penn State has now scored seven or more goals 27 times. The Nittany Lions are also now 100-1-2 all-time when scoring five or more goals in a game.
- The eight-goal win also ties the largest margin of victory for Penn State dating back to an 8-0 win against Arizona State on November 19, 2016.
- For Schade his two assists mark the first multi-point effort of his career while Crespo's one goal and one assist contribute to his second career multi-point game.
- Mack collected a pair of assists to secure a new career-high marking the first multi-point game of his career.
- With a pair of assists, junior Jimmy Dowd Jr. (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) tallied his fifth multi-point game this season and the 13th of his career.
- Berger had one goal and one assist securing his third multi-point game of the season and the sixth of his career.
- Kirwan's one goal and one assist give him three multi-point games this season and nine for his career.
- Wall also tallied one goal and one assist for the sixth multi-point game of the season and the 20th of his career.
- MacEachern collected a pair of assists to tie his career high and mark his sixth multi-point effort of the season and the 15th of his career.
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.