DiMarsico’s Hat-Trick Highlights, 4-1, Victory Over Notre Dame For No. 8 Men's HockeyDiMarsico’s Hat-Trick Highlights, 4-1, Victory Over Notre Dame For No. 8 Men's Hockey

DiMarsico’s Hat-Trick Highlights, 4-1, Victory Over Notre Dame For No. 8 Men's Hockey

Box Score

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Junior Matt DiMarsico (Wexford, Pa.) tallied his third hat-trick of the season to lead No. 8 Penn State past Notre Dame, 4-1, in Big Ten Conference action at Pegula Ice Arena on Friday evening.

The hat-trick is the fifth of the season for the Nittany Lions and the 20th in program history as Penn State has registered 1/4 of its all-time hat-tricks this season alone.

Penn State moves to 15-6-0 with the victory and 7-4-0 in Big Ten play while the Irish fall to 4-16-1 overall and 0-11-0 in conference action with the loss. The Nittany Lions have now won four-straight entering Saturday’s series finale.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Penn State opened the scoring just past the midway point of the first period with a powerplay tally as some crisp passing by freshmen classmates Gavin McKenna (Whitehorse, Yukon) and Luke Misa (Oakville, Ontario) set up DiMarsico in the slot for a one-timer and he didn’t miss for the 1-0 edge at the 8:42 mark.
  • The Nittany Lions doubled their lead taking advantage of a major powerplay as DiMarsico secured his second of the game off a centering pass the deflected into the net off an Irish defender for the 2-0 advantage at 6:53 of the second period.
  • Notre Dame responded with a powerplay tally of its own midway through the second frame as Evan Werner wheeled into the slot and ripped a wrister over the glove of PSU freshman net-minder Josh Fleming (Montreal, Quebec) for the 2-1 deficit at the 10:13 mark.
  • The hosts answered late in the period with their third man-advantage score of the game as Misa one-timed a feed from senior Ben Schoen (Maumee, Ohio) into the back of the net for the 3-1 score at 17:35 of the middle stanza.
  • Penn State sealed the contest late in the third period as DiMarsico tipped the hat with an empty-net score for the 4-1 final at 18:14 of the third period.
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GOALTENDING

  • Fleming moves to 7-3-0 on the year and is now a perfect 6-0-0 at Pegula Ice Arena after stopping 41-of-42 shots, just two shy of his career-high.
  • Fleming now leads the nation with his .943 save percentage while his 1.82 goals-against average is good for fifth.
  • Irish goaltender Nicholas Kempf slides to 4-14-1 after making 39 saves in the defeat.

NOTES

  • Penn State held the slim 43-42 edge in shots on goal while going 3-for-6 on the powerplay. ND was 1-for-5 with the man-advantage in the game.
  • This marks the second time this season the Nittany Lions have scored three powerplay goals after not achieving that mark once a season ago.
  • Penn State has now won four-straight against the Irish the longest such streak for them in the series and tying the longest streak overall matching a run of four-straight by the Irish at the end of the 2021-22 season.
  • Misa set a career-high with three points on one goal and a pair of assists while registering his second multi-point effort of the season.
  • DiMarsico registers his third multi-goal effort of the season and the fifth of his career while securing his sixth multi-point effort this season and the 18th of his career.
  • With a pair of primary helpers, McKenna secure the seventh multi-point effort of the season.
  • Sophomore JJ Wiebusch (Verona, Wis.) also chipped in a pair of assists to secure his seventh multi-point effort of the season and the 15th of his career.
  • The Nittany Lions improve to 9-1-0 when scoring first and an identical mark when leading after two periods of play this season.

NEXT UP

The two teams return to Pegula Ice Arena tomorrow to conclude the weekend series with an 8 p.m. puck drop with the game airing live across the nation on the B1G Network.

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.