Mack, No. 15 Men's Hockey Bury No. 2 Gophers in OvertimeMack, No. 15 Men's Hockey Bury No. 2 Gophers in Overtime

Mack, No. 15 Men's Hockey Bury No. 2 Gophers in Overtime

Senior captain Simon Mack (Brockville, Ontario) netted the overtime game-winner as No. 15 Penn State defeated No. 2 Minnesota, 4-3, in front of a raucous ‘Wear White’ crowd in Big Ten Conference action at Pegula Ice Arena on Friday evening.

Box Score

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Senior captain Simon Mack (Brockville, Ontario) netted the overtime game-winner as No. 15 Penn State defeated No. 2 Minnesota, 4-3, in front of a raucous ‘Wear White’ crowd in Big Ten Conference action at Pegula Ice Arena on Friday evening.

The win is No. 400 in the coaching career of Guy Gadowsky as he becomes the 30th Division I coach all-time to reach that milestone following the overtime victory.

Penn State is now 10-1-3 over its last 14 games and push its current unbeaten streak to seven games improving to 18-11-4 on the year and 9-10-4-1-1-3 in league play while the Gophers slip to 23-7-4 overall and 14-6-3-1-2-0 in Big Ten action.

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HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Minnesota opened the scoring early in the first period as Mason Nevers slipped a rebound into a yawning net after Beckett Hendrickson’s initial bid was turned aside for the 1-0 lead at the 2:40 mark.
  • Penn State responded midway through the second period scoring twice in a 46-second span to take the 2-1 lead as sophomore Matthew DiMarsico (Wexford, Pa.) danced between the rings and laced a wrist shot past the glove of Gopher net-minder Liam Souliere at the 10:09 mark before freshman JJ Wiebusch (Verona, Wis.) slipped home a rebound at the near post at 10:55 of the middle stanza.
  • Minnesota pulled the game even with a late powerplay goal as Connor Kurth finished from the low slot off a feed from behind the net by Erik Pahlsson for the 2-2 score at 17:56 of the second period.
  • The Nittany Lions regained the lead with a powerplay tally of their own midway through the final frame as senior Danny Dzhaniyev (Brooklyn, N.Y.) ripped a shot from the slot that ramped up off a Gopher defender and over the glove of Souliere for the 3-2 edge at the 9:22 mark.
  • The visitors wasted little time tying the contest again just over two minutes later as Jimmy Snuggerud snuck one through Penn State junior goaltender Arsenii Sergeev (Yaroslavl, Russia) from the far dot at the 11:42 mark.
  • In overtime it was sophomore Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) that fed the puck to space in the neutral zone and Mack raced onto it beating a defender to the dot before ripping a wrister off the far post and in past Souliere’s blocker for the 4-3 final at 3:09 of the extra session.

GOALTENDING

Sergeev moves to 15-6-4 on the year after making 31 saves in the victory while Souliere drops to 12-8-1 on the year after stopping 28 shots.

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NOTES

  • Minnesota held the slim, 34-32, edge in shots on goal, however, Penn State controlled the overtime frame with a 3-0 shot margin.
  • Penn State went 1-for-2 on the man-advantage for the game while the Gophers went 1-for-3.
  • The Nittany Lions have now won four-straight ‘Wear White’ games moving to 5-5-1 all-time in such contests.
  • Friday’s attendance of 6,577 marks the fifth-largest in Pegula Ice Arena history and the fourth-largest this year.
  • With a pair of assists Dowd Jr. secures his third multi-point effort of the season and the 17th of his career while moving into a tie with Cole Hults for the most assists by a defenseman in Penn State history with 61 now for his career while his 73 points are five shy of Hults’ program record for a blueliner.
  • The goal was Mack’s second overtime winner this season as he also secured the Golden Goal in the season opener at Alaska. It marks the 10th goal of his career to put him in a tie for seventh on the Penn State all-time goals list for defensemen with Clayton Phillips ’22 and Paul DeNaples ’23.
  • With a pair of helpers, Fink registers his 14th multi-point game of the season and the 23 rd of his career as he eclipses the 80-point mark as he now has 81 points for his career while his 47 this season are tied with Denis Smirnov ’20 for the second-most in a single-season all-time and are just three shy of Alex Limoges’ single-season record of 50.
  • Fink is now tied with Denver’s Jack Devine for the national lead with his 47 points.
  • Dzhaniyev’s goal gives him 90 points for his career as he becomes just the 10th Nittany Lion all-time to reach that mark and sits just five points shy of Evan Barratt for ninth on the all-time scoring list.
  • Penn State lost the faceoff battle for the second-straight game winning just 42.4 percent, but the Nittany Lions improve to 8-1-0 in games where they actually lose the faceoff battle. Freshman Keaton Peters (Sussex, Wis.) went 8-for-12 (66.7 percent) at the dot to lead Penn State.

NEXT UP

Both teams return to Pegula Ice Arena to conclude the regular-season with an 8 p.m. puck drop on Saturday with the game airing nationally on the B1G Network.

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.