No. 5 Men's Hockey Falls to No. 2 Michigan, 7-1No. 5 Men's Hockey Falls to No. 2 Michigan, 7-1

No. 5 Men's Hockey Falls to No. 2 Michigan, 7-1

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 5 Penn State dropped a 7-1 decision to No. 2 Michigan in Big Ten Conference action at Pegula Ice Arena on Friday evening.

The Nittany Lions fall to 9-4-0 overall and 2-3-0 in conference action with the loss while Michigan moves to 11-2-0 on the year and 4-1-0 in the Big Ten with the win.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • The Wolverines opened the scoring with their national leading seventh shorthanded tally of the season as Josh Eernisse disrupted play in the neutral zone before beating Nittany Lion sophomore goaltender Kevin Reidler (Gavle, Sweden) under the blocker for the 1-0 edge at 7:15 of the first period.
  • Michigan extended the lead taking advantage of a defensive zone turnover as Will Horcoff slipped the puck between Reidler’s legs uncontested for the 2-0 margin at 14:43 of the first period.
  • Nick Moldenhauer then redirected a point shot over the shoulder of Reidler for the 3-0 advantage at the 17:53 mark.
  • The visitors got another one early in the second period as Garrett Schifsky laced a one-timer between the rings off a feed from behind the net for the 4-0 score at the 4:20 mark.
  • Penn State finally broke the ice late in the middle frame as sophomore Charlie Cerrato (Fallston, Md.) sent a beautiful backhand pass between the rings connecting with freshman Shea Van Olm (Calgary, Alberta) and his one-timer didn’t miss cutting the deficit to 4-1 with just 24.4 ticks remaining in the second period.
  • The Wolverines got two more early in the second period as Adam Valentini finished off a nice passing sequence on the man-advantage just 51 seconds in before TJ Hughes danced through the offensive zone before lifting a backhand over the outstretched pad of Reidler for the 6-1 score at the 4:29 mark.
  • Cole McKinney added a late one just after a powerplay expired at 17:35 of the third period to account for the 7-1 final.

GOALTENDING

Reidler falls to 5-3-0 after making 30 saves in the loss while his counterpart, Jack Ivankovic, improves to 11-2-0 after stopping 26-of-27 shots in the victory.

NOTES

  • Michigan held the 37-27 edge in shots on goal while going 1-for-4 on the powerplay and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
  • Van Olm’s second period goal ended a scoreless streak of 125:34 for the Nittany Lions.

NEXT UP

Both teams return to Pegula Ice Arena to conclude the weekend series tomorrow evening with puck drop slated for 6 p.m.

For more information on the 2025-26 season, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.