After a perfect 8-0 start to its season, Penn State faced its most daunting challenge to date, playing host to the No. 1 ranked Michigan Wolverines on Friday.
The No. 13 Nittany Lions responded to this task with clear resolve, blanking the opposition 3-0.
With this major rival in the building, the Nittany Lions knew they’d have to be the aggressors from puck drop. They displayed a willingness to get physical much earlier in the game compared to their usual playstyle in the opening frame.
Through the first ten minutes of action, Penn State fired off 12 shots compared to the Wolverines’ three, in addition to laying down a number of battering ram-style hits.
Despite the flow of the game for much of the first, Penn State Still went scoreless through the opening period.
Guy Gadowsky said his team’s efforts across the first 20 minutes informed Penn State’s showing the rest of the way because his skaters “seemed pretty calm” throughout the early scoring lull.
“I don’t think we got frazzled,” Gadowsky said. “Obviously Michigan is incredibly talented, so skilled, and I didn’t feel a lot of any panic, and when you look at the game, I thought that was a big part of it.”
Michigan was, at first, able to stifle the blue and white even while missing junior starting goalie Erik Portillo. With Portillo sidelined, fellow junior Noah West got the starting nod, and excelled by saving all 16 early Nittany Lion shot attempts.
When the second period rolled around, the Nittany Lions kept up the aggression, yet it still took them a while to put the puck in the net. Eventually, after 23 shot attempts, they struck paydirt.
Eight minutes into the second period, fifth-year senior Ture Linden sailed in his fourth goal of the season to put Penn State up 1-0.
Not long after, the blue and white stuck again when graduate student Ashton Calder snuck one past West off a crisp pass from senior Connor MacEachern that placed Calder in close proximity to the Michigan goalie. Senior Connor McMenamin was also credited with an assist, helping the Nittany Lions expand the lead to 2-0.
Forward Tyler Gratton (28) controls the puck during the Penn State men’s hockey game against St. Thomas at the Pegula Ice Arena on Friday, Oct. 21, 2022 in University Park, Pa. The Nittany Lions beat the Tommies 3-2 in overtime.
Calder said of his score that repetition with his linemates is what enabled his teamsmates to perfectly time when to kick out to him.
“We were in transition, we worked on that a lot,” Calder said. “The play worked out kind of how you’d want to draw it up, the same way we do every day in practice.”
When the middle frame concluded, the home team more than doubled the Wolverines’ offensive opportunities, firing off 34 pucks compared to Michigan’s 14.
After the game, Wolverines’ interim coach Brandon Naurato said that the swiftness of Penn State on the ice played a key factor in this shot disparity.
“We’re an offensive team, number one offense in the country, and they gave us nothing,” Naurato said. “They won every race and battle, and that’s the game of hockey.”
The third period saw the same themes of the game carry on: Penn State staying on the attack by winning those races and battles, and Michigan struggling to respond in a major way.
This eventually led to one final goal with under three minutes left in the contest by junior Xander Lamppa, who continued his recent hot streak by scoring on an empty net.
In the end, the blue and white held on for a 3-0 victory, and did so by playing forceful, yet sound, hockey.
Gadowsky’s team out-shot Michigan a staggering 49-17, a far cry from the blue and maiz’s usual 33 attempts per night.
Junior goalie Liam Souliere, who earned his second straight shutout in this win, said his teamsmates’ limitation of Michigan’s ability to generate consistent pressure helped him throughout the matchup.
“I think we had a great game in general, it made my job easier to contain them,” Souliere said. “They didn’t really get any chances off the rush, which is usually where they get their goals.”
Additionally, the Nittany Lions won 13 more faceoffs, blocked nine more shots and committed two less penalties than the nation’s top team while in front of the second-largest crowd in Pegula Ice Arena history.
The two Big Ten rivals will square off once again on Saturday night. It remains unclear if Michigan will have its regular goalie in Portillo back in action, but even if he returns, the Nittany Lions’ added confidence after this performance could potentially give them the edge once again.
Heading into night two against the Wolverines, Gadowsky said he hopes the game plan his players put into place can continue to succeed.
“It’s not a secret we play a pretty fast game,” Gadowsky said. “We won some good pucks, so hopefully that’ll continue.”
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