CHICAGO, Ill. – Junior goaltender Arsenii Sergeev (Yaroslavl, Russia) returned from injury and tied his career-high with 43 saves as Penn State and Notre Dame played to a 3-3 tie in Big Ten Conference action in front of 25,709 fans as part of the Frozen Confines: Big Ten Hockey Series at Wrigley Field on Friday evening.
The Nittany Lions push their record to 7-9-1 with the tie and are now 0-8-1-0-1-0 in conference play while the Irish move to 6-12-1 overall and are now 1-9-1-1-2-1 in Big Ten action.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Notre Dame opened the scoring as Grant Silianoff slipped a rebound into a yawning net after Jack Larrigan’s initial shot was turned aside for the 1-0 edge at 7:29 of the first period.
- Penn State answered just 56 ticks later as graduate student Tyler Paquette (Collegeville, Pa.) streaked up the near wall and fired a laser far-side past the glove of Irish net-minder Nicholas Kempf for the 1-1 scare at the 8:25 mark.
- The Irish regained the lead late in the first frame with a powerplay goal as Justin Janicke beat Sergeev past the blocker from the low slot for the 2-1 advantage with just 41 seconds remaining in the period.
- Penn State responded with the equalizer late in the second period as sophomore Matt DiMarsico (Wexford, Pa.) knuckled home a rebound from between the rings after freshman Charlie Cerrato’s (Fallston, Md.) initial bid was turned aside with just 32 ticks remaining in the stanza.
- The Nittany Lions kept their foot on the gas and grabbed their first lead of the game just 10 seconds into the third period as sophomore Dane Dowiak (Pittsburgh, Pa.) fed classmate Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) below the left dot and he whistled the puck to the back of the net for the 3-2 score.
- Notre Dame evened the contest midway through the third period as Carter Slaggert was the beneficiary of a yawning net after a feed from Silianoff and he finished at the near post for the 3-3 score at the 11:02 mark.
- The game entered a shootout after a scoreless overtime frame and senior Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) opened the scoring in the shootout which went eight rounds and ended with a goal from Notre Dame’s Ryan Helliwell.
GOALTENDING
Sergeev’s 43 saves were a season-high as he moves to 4-4-1 on the year while his counterpart, Kempf, now stands at 1-5-1 overall after stopping 39 shots.
NOTES
- Notre Dame held the 46-42 edge in shots on goal while going 1-for-2 on the powerplay. Penn State was 0-for-2 with the man-advantage.
- Fink’s goal 10 seconds into the third period is the third fastest goal to start a period in Penn State history.
- With one goal and one assist, Fink secures his seventh multi-point effort of the season and the 16th of his career while running his point-streak to three games.
- With the tie, Penn State remains unbeaten in its last eight second half openers and is now 9-3-1 all-time in the first game back after winter break.
NEXT UP
The two teams will close out the weekend series back in South Bend on Sunday evening with puck drop slated for 5 p.m. at Compton Family Ice Arena.
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.