Men's Hockey Erases Early Deficit, Falls Late to No. 5 Michigan, 6-5Men's Hockey Erases Early Deficit, Falls Late to No. 5 Michigan, 6-5

Men's Hockey Erases Early Deficit, Falls Late to No. 5 Michigan, 6-5

For the third-consecutive game Penn State mounted a late comeback to erase a multi-goal deficit, but the Nittany Lions were unable to complete the feat as No. 5 Michigan used a late goal to secure the 6-5 victory in Big Ten Conference action on Friday evening inside Pegula Ice Arena.

Box Score

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – For the third-consecutive game Penn State mounted a late comeback to erase a multi-goal deficit, but the Nittany Lions were unable to complete the feat as No. 5 Michigan used a late goal to secure the 6-5 victory in Big Ten Conference action on Friday evening inside Pegula Ice Arena.

Penn State drops to 4-6-0 on the year and 0-5-0-0-1-0 in Big Ten play with the loss while the Wolverines move to 8-2-1 overall and 3-0-0-1-0-0 in conference action with the victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Penn State opened the scoring with an early powerplay tally just 90 ticks into the first period as freshman Charlie Cerrato (Fallston, Md.) danced into the zone and between the circles before finding sophomore Matt DiMarsico (Wexford, Pa.) driving to the net and he went forehand-backhand and slipped the puck through the pads of Wolverine net-minder Logan Stein for the 1-0 edge.
  • Michigan answered just over a minute later as TJ Hughes found open ice in front of the crease, and he redirected a point shot through Nittany Lion junior goaltender Noah Grannan (Germantown, Wis.) for the 1-1 score at 2:33 of the opening frame.
  • The Wolverines then took the lead as Michael Hage corralled a bouncing puck between the circles and beat Grannan past the glove with a snapshot for the 2-1 advantage at the 5:59 mark.
  • Michigan extended the lead to 3-1 as William Whitelaw snuck into the slot and ripped a wrister past the blocker of Grannan after a feed from behind the net by LaPointe at the 10:29 mark of the first stanza.
  • The visitors scored their fourth-straight goal of the period on the powerplay as a slapshot from the high slot by Jacob Truscott deflected off a Nittany Lion stick and fluttered over the shoulder of Grannan and into the back of the net for the 4-1 margin at the 14:21 mark.
  • The Nittany Lions cut into the deficit midway through the second period with another powerplay tally as Cerrato laced a wicked wrister through traffic and over the glove of Stein for the 4-2 score at the 8:53 mark.
  • The Wolverines got it right back with a powerplay tally of their own as Garrett Schifsky finished in the crease for the 5-2 lead at 13:58 of the second period.
  • Penn State continued to push as freshman Cade Christenson (Edmonton, Alberta) skied the puck to center ice and sophomore Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) raced it down, split a pair of defenders and sniped shortside over the glove of Stein for the 5-3 deficit at exactly 18:00 of the middle stanza.
  • The Nittany Lions opened the final frame strong scoring twice in the opening five minutes to pull the game even as sophomore Reese Laubach (San Jose, Calif.) slipped home a rebound after Fink’s initial shot was turned aside just 54 ticks into the period before DiMarsico notched his second of the night as he redirected a shot from the point by sophomore Casey Aman (Johnstown, Pa.) for the 5-5 tie at the 4:27 mark.
  • Michigan regained the lead and held on until the final horn after Hage secured his second of the game after collecting a loose puck off the end boards and wrapping it in at the far post for the 6-5 lead at 13:28 of the third period.

GOALTENDING

Grannan falls to 0-2-0 on the year with the loss after making 19 saves while Stein improves to 5-1-0 after stopping 24 shots in the victory.

NOTES

  • Penn State held the slim 29-25 edge in shots on goal while going 2-for-4 on the man-advantage. Michigan scored on each of its powerplay chances in the game.
  • DiMarsico secured the first multi-goal game of his career while notching his second multi-point effort of the season and the eighth of his career.
  • Cerrato now has goals in three-straight games after scoring in both games last weekend. He also secures his fourth multi-point effort of the season and second-straight with one goal and one assist.
  • Cerrato also helped the Nittany Lions control 62.3 percent (43-for-69) of the draws in the game by going 18-for-26 (69.2 percent). Sophomore Dane Dowiak (Pittsburgh, Pa.) was also 69.2 percent (9-for-13) at the dot for the game.
  • With a pair of secondary assists, graduate student Jimmy Dowd Jr. (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.) secures his first multi-point effort of the season and the 15th of his career, and he now has 65 points and 54 assists just 13 points and seven assists shy of Cole Hults who holds both program standards for points and assists by a defenseman with 78 and 61, respectively.
  • Fink collects his fourth multi-point effort of the season and the 13th of his career following his one goal and one assist performance.

NEXT UP

Both teams return to Pegula Ice Arena tomorrow evening to conclude the weekend series with a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.

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.