Fifth-Seeded Men's Hockey Completes Sweep of No. 4 Michigan with 5-2 VictoryFifth-Seeded Men's Hockey Completes Sweep of No. 4 Michigan with 5-2 Victory

Fifth-Seeded Men's Hockey Completes Sweep of No. 4 Michigan with 5-2 Victory

Penn State punches its ticket to the Big Ten Semifinals for the ninth time in 12 years and will await its opponent for next Saturday

Box Score

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Senior Carson Dyck (Lethbridge, Alberta) scored the eventual game-winning goal as No. 15 and fifth-seeded Penn State defeated No. 11 and fourth-seed Michigan, 5-2, to complete the sweep in the Big Ten Quarterfinals at Yost Ice Arena on Saturday evening.

The Nittany Lions become the first road team to sweep, and just the fourth to win, a Big Ten Quarterfinal series since the conference began its current postseason format for the 2017-18 season. The sweep at Yost Ice Arena is the first-ever series sweep for Penn State in this building as the Nittany Lions’ three wins at Yost this year are nearly double the mark of four they had entering the season.

Penn State secures its sixth 20-win season all-time improving to 20-12-4 following the victory while the Wolverines fall to 18-15-3 overall with the loss.

Penn State continues its impressive second half run moving to 13-3-4 since the calendar turned to 2025 with the 13 wins being the most-ever second half wins for the Nittany Lions all-time.

Penn State will await its fate for the semifinal round as the two other Big Ten quarterfinal series face a decisive game three tomorrow evening. Should both lower seeds win, the Nittany Lions would host a semifinal matchup at Pegula Ice Arena next Saturday.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Michigan opened the scoring taking advantage of a defensive zone miscue as Nick Moldenhauer intercepted a pass and burst down the slot beating Nittany Lion junior goaltender Arsenii Sergeev (Yaroslavl, Russia) past the glove for the 1-0 edge at the 1:23 mark.
  • Penn State responded just 14 ticks later as freshman Nic DeGraves (Edmonton, Alberta) finished into a yawning net off a slick backdoor feed from senior Dylan Lugris (Buffalo, N.Y.) for the 1-1 score.
  • The Nittany Lions grabbed their first lead of the game late in the opening period as senior Ben Schoen (Maumee, Ohio) slipped a rebound into a yawning net at the near post after sophomore Reese Laubach’s (San Jose, Calif.) initial chance was turned aside with just one second remaining on the man-advantage for the 2-1 lead at the 18:07 mark.
  • The visitors pushed the lead to 3-1 midway through the second stanza with a gritty fourth-line goal as Dyck scored into a yawning net at the near post off a beautiful centering pass from the far halfwall by DeGraves at the 10:45 mark.
  • The Wolverines responded to cut the deficit back down to a single goal with a powerplay goal of its own as William Whitelaw one-timed the puck from below the left dot past the outstretched blocker of Sergeev for the 3-2 score at 11:42 of the middle frame.
  • Penn State regained the two-goal lead late in the second period off a clean offensive zone faceoff win by freshman Charlie Cerrato (Fallston, Md.), junior Carter Schade (Mars, Pa.) collected the puck and scampered down the far wall before finding a wide-open JJ Wiebusch and he didn’t miss the yawning net for the 4-2 score at the 17:33 mark.
  • Cerrato converted a late penalty shot at 17:07 of the third period to account for the 5-2 final.

GOALTENDING

  • Sergeev moves to 17-7-4 on the year after making 31 saves in the victory while his counterpart, Logan Stein, falls to 11-10-2 after stopping 32 shots in the loss.
  • Sergeev’s 17th win of the season moves him into a tie with Peyton Jones (2017-18) for the fifth-most in a single-season in Penn State history.

NOTES

  • Penn State held the, 37-33, edge in shots on goal and converted on its lone powerplay chance in the first period along with Cerrato’s penalty shot while Michigan went 1-for-3 on the man-advantage.
  • Penn State is now 18-0-1 when leading after two periods this season.
  • Senior defenseman Jarod Crespo (Seven Lakes, N.C.) skated in his 100th career game on Saturday evening.
  • With one goal and one assist, Schoen records his second-straight multi-point game, his third of the season and 12th of his career.
  • With one goal and one assist, DeGraves secures the first multi-point game of his career and with a pair of assists, Lugris registers his second multi-point effort of the season and the third of his career while tying his career best in points.
  • With a secondary assist on Schoen’s first period powerplay tally, senior Simon Mack (Brockville, Ontario) moves into a tie with Kris Myllari ’20 for the third-most points all-time by a Nittany Lion defenseman in program history with 62 now for his career. His 24 assists for the season also break a tie with Trevor Hamilton ’18 for the most in a single-season by a Penn State blueliner and tied for the 10th-most all-time.
  • The goal for Dyck is just the second of his career and first since December 4, 2021, a 1,190-day span between goals.
  • With his one goal and one assist, Cerrato has 36 points on the season moving into a tie with Nate Sucese ’20 for second-most by a Nittany Lion rookie all-time while registering his 13th multi-point effort of the season.
  • Cerrato’s 20 assists on the season are second-most by a Nittany Lion rookie all-time breaking a three-way tie for second while his 15 goals are tied with Fink for the fifth-most by a Penn State freshman.
  • The penalty shot goal for Cerrato is the first for Penn State since Kevin Wall ’23 against Niagara on October 22, 2021.
  • Freshman Cade Christenson (Edmonton, Alberta) was a force on defense blocking eight shots in the game as Penn State had 20 blocks as a team.

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.