FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Senior captain Simon Mack (Brockville, Ontario) lit the lamp 2:52 into overtime to lead Penn State to a 4-3 victory over Alaska Fairbanks in non-conference action to open the season at Big Dipper Ice Arena on Saturday evening.
GRITTY DUB!! 😤#HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/XgP2WGU6Qo
— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) October 6, 2024
HOW IT HAPPENED
Penn State (1-0-0) opened the scoring as junior Jarod Crespo (Seven Lakes, N.C.) sent sophomore Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) and senior Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) in on an odd-man rush with the former finding the latter at the near post and Dzhaniyev ripped the puck past the outstretched blocker of Nanook net-minder Nicholas Grabko for the 1-0 lead at 4:33 of the first period.
The Nittany Lions extended the lead with a shorthanded tally following a delayed penalty as freshman Charlie Cerrato (Fallston, Md.) sent a cross pass to classmate Braedon Ford (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and he slipped it over the goal line for the 2-0 advantage at the 8:59 mark.
The Nanooks (0-1-0) got one back just over a minute later as Braden Birnie finished a one-timer below the left dot for the 2-1 score at 10:36 of the first period.
Penn State regained the two-goal advantage midway through the second period with another goal off the rush as Cerrato stopped on a dime along the near wall letting his defender slide on by before throwing a tape-to-tape, cross-ice pass to freshman JJ Wiebusch (Verona, Wis.) and his twisted wrister didn’t miss the yawning net for the 3-1 margin at the 9:50 mark.
Alaska cut the deficit to a single-goal early in the third period as Matt Hubbarde flipped home a rebound off the left pad of Nittany Lion junior goaltender Arsenii Sergeev (Yaroslavl, Russia) for the 3-2 score at the 2:07 mark.
Just 53 ticks later the Nanooks tied the contest off a 3-on-1 rush as Luke Johnson fired the puck into a yawning net off a rebound for the 3-3 score at 3:00 of the third period.
Senior Ben Schoen (Maumee, Ohio) started the rush during a 3-on-3 overtime and Wiebusch hesitated at the near post before feeding a streaking Mack who one-touched the puck into a yawning net for the 4-3 victory at the 2:52 mark of the extra session.
GOALTENDING
Sergeev secured his first win as a Nittany Lion improving to 1-0-0 on the year after making 26 saves while Grabko falls to 0-1-0 after stopping 23 shots.
NOTES
The Nanooks outshot the Nittany Lions 29-26 while the two teams combined for 0-for-7 on the powerplay in the game. Penn State went a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
Penn State improves to 4-2-0 all-time against Alaska and are now 9-3-1 all-time in season opening contests and have won six of the last seven and four-straight. The Nittany Lions are now 2-2-1 all-time in the state of Alaska.
After lighting the lamp first 16 times a season ago and going 10-6-0 in such games, the Nittany Lions started fast in 2024-25 scoring the first goal of the game less than five minutes in moving to 1-0-0 when scoring first.
The shorthanded goal for Ford was the first by a Nittany Lion since Reese Laubach scored a man down against Alaska Anchorage last October.
With one goal and one assist, Mack secured his first multi-point effort of the season and the fifth of his career.
The two primary assists for Cerrato mark his first career multi-point game while Wiebusch added one goal and one assist for his first career multi-point game.
Dating back to last season, Dzhaniyev has now registered a point in a career-best six games.
The overtime victory was the first for Penn State since March 4, 2023, a B1G Quarterfinal victory at Ohio State on a goal by Kevin Wall ’23.
For more information on the 2024-25 season, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.