Dowiak Scores Twice as No. 18/18 Men's Hockey Fends Off Notre Dame, 5-3Dowiak Scores Twice as No. 18/18 Men's Hockey Fends Off Notre Dame, 5-3

Dowiak Scores Twice as No. 18/18 Men's Hockey Fends Off Notre Dame, 5-3

Sophomore Dane Dowiak (Pittsburgh, Pa.) tallied both a powerplay and shorthanded goal to lift No. 18/18 Penn State past Notre Dame, 5-3, in Big Ten Conference action at Pegula Ice Arena on Friday evening.

Box Score

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Sophomore Dane Dowiak (Pittsburgh, Pa.) tallied both a powerplay and shorthanded goal to lift No. 18/18 Penn State past Notre Dame, 5-3, in Big Ten Conference action at Pegula Ice Arena on Friday evening.

The Nittany Lions improve to 15-11-3 on the year and 6-10-3-1-1-2 in league play while the Irish fall to 9-19-1 overall and 3-15-1-2-2-1 in conference action.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • In a dominant opening frame, Penn State caught fire in the final four minutes scoring a trio of goals to take a 3-0 lead into the locker room. Two goals in just 41 seconds ignited the offense as a 3-on-0 rush led to a back-and-forth play between sophomore classmates Reese Laubach (San Jose, Calif.) and Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) with the former being the beneficiary of a yawning net and the 1-0 edge at the 16:01 mark.
  • Fellow sophomore Matt DiMarsico (Wexford, Pa.) gave the hosts a 2-0 lead as he redirected a shot-pass from senior Simon Mack (Brockville, Ontario) over the shoulder of Irish net-minder Owen Say at the 16:42 mark before Dowiak scored from atop the goal crease on the powerplay as he knocked down a point shot by Mack and slipped it past a sprawling Say for the 3-0 margin with just 10.7 ticks remaining in the first period.
  • The Irish cut into the deficit in the second period with a goal against the run of play as Carter Slaggert escaped from the far half wall with the puck and darted to the net slipping it through the five-hole of Nittany Lion junior goaltender Arsenii Sergeev (Yaroslavl, Russia) for the 3-1 score at the 5:18 mark.
  • Notre Dame continued to pressure and made it a one-goal game near the mid-point of the middle frame as Brennan Ali got loose in the slot and beat Sergeev past the glove for the 3-2 deficit at the 8:41 mark.
  • Penn State regained the multi-goal lead late in the second stanza as Dowiak slotted home his second goal of the game, this time shorthanded, for the 4-2 lead with just 3.1 ticks left on the clock.
  • The visitors once again cut the margin to a single goal early in the third period as Blake Biondi potted a powerplay goal just 53 ticks in for the 4-3 score.
  • Freshman Cade Christenson (Edmonton, Alberta) sealed the victory as he sent the puck off the glass and in for a 200-foot empty net goal and the 5-3 score at 18:52 of the third period.

GOALTENDING

Sergeev moves to 12-6-3 on the year after making 24 saves in the victory while Say drops to 7-12-0 after stopping 32 shots in the loss.

NOTES

  • Penn State held the, 37-27, edge in shots on goal including a 15-5 mark during the first period while each team converted once with the man-advantage as the Nittany Lions went 1-for-3 and the Irish went 1-for-2.
  • Friday night’s attendance of 6,606 marks another new Pegula Ice Arena record surpassing the 6,604 who saw the Nittany Lions knock off No. 9 Ohio State in overtime three weeks ago.
  • Mack’s three assists tie his career-high for both points and assists as he collects his sixth multi-point effort of the season and the 10th of his career.
  • Mack’s three assists give him 49 for his career tying him with Kevin Kerr ’19 for fourth on the all-time Nittany Lion assist list for defensemen while he also moves into a tie with Erik Autio ’18 for fifth on the all-time points list for Penn State blueliners with 58 for his career.
  • Mack’s 22 assists this season are now tied for the second-most in a single-season for a Penn State defenseman joining Cole Hults who registered 22 assists twice and Vince Pedrie.
  • Mack’s 23 points this season move him past Pedrie for the seventh-most by a Nittany Lion blueliner.
  • Laubach now has multiple points in six of his seven games since returning for injury notching his ninth multi-point effort of the year and the 14th of his career with one goal and one assist.
  • With his two goals, Dowiak secures his second multi-goal effort of the season and the third of his career while collecting his third multi-point game of the season and the fourth of his career.
  • The shorthanded tally for Dowiak marks his second of the season and the eighth of the year for the Nittany Lions, their third-most in a single-season all-time. The eight shortys are good for second in the nation, just one shy of national leader UConn. Penn State has now scored a shorthanded goal in four of its last five games.
  • With one goal and one assist, Christenson collects second multi-point effort of the season.
  • Fink’s 42nd point of the season is tied with Liam Folkes ’20 for the fourth-most in Penn State history.
  • Fink’s 41 points are now the fifth-most in a single season in program history while his 21 goals are good for the fourth-most in a single-season and are just two shy of Alex Limoges ’21 program record of 23.
  • Penn State improves to a perfect 14-0-0 when leading after two periods and are now 12-4-1 when scoring first this season.

NEXT UP

Both teams return to Pegula Ice Arena tomorrow evening to conclude the season series with a 5 p.m. puck drop in Hockey Valley.

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.