No. 5 Penn State boasts some of the most premier talent in college hockey, like top NHL draft prospect Gavin McKenna, top-10 Hobey Baker finalist Aiden Fink, and two of the nation’s top-four leading scorers, to name a few.
While these elite offensive producers have helped make the Nittany Lions one of the top teams in the NCAA, scoring from up and down the lineup is a must for a successful season.
After Michigan State’s sweep of the blue and white last weekend, coach Guy Gadowsky emphasized the need for his team’s secondary scoring to start producing, and Saturday night, that message got through in the team’s 4-2 victory over No. 2 Michigan.
“We had a very poor night last night, and the guys regrouped, came out, and played really hard,” Gadowsky said. “It felt like us playing for each other, and so you give the team a lot of credit.”
After a less-than-ideal 7-1 loss to the Wolverines on Friday night, Penn State took the ice on Saturday with a chance at redemption, and it looked like a completely different team than just 24 hours prior.
The first period proved to be a defensive battle, with neither team generating many significant offensive chances.
The Wolverines were first to the penalty box after freshman forward Aidan Park was called for tripping about two and a half minutes into play, but Penn State’s power-play woes continued, and it couldn’t get anything going.
That proved to be a similar theme, with four more penalties rounding out the opening 20 minutes, but neither team could capitalize, and the first frame ended scoreless.
Once again, the second period opened with an intense defensive battle. Despite two of the some of the highest scoring offenses in the country, both teams couldn’t find their way to the back of the net.
That was, until nine minutes into the middle frame, when forward Shea Van Olm fired a shot wide of the Michigan goal, and freshman Luke Misa corralled the puck and wristed once past goaltender Jack Ivankovic to give Penn State its first lead of the series.
The tally marked Misa’s second collegiate goal, and first in front of the home crowd in Hockey Valley.
“(Misa’s) been playing really, really, well, and it’s nice to see him get rewarded,” Gadowsky said. “I think that the floodgates are going to open for him.”
Once again, another extended period of no scoring continued, but with just over a minute remaining in the period, the Nittany Lions doubled their lead.
This time it was forward Charlie Cerrato who handed the puck off to sophomore Nick Fascia at the blue line. The Blackwood, New Jersey, native skated in and rifled a shot off at the faceoff circle that whistled past Ivankovic, marking his first collegiate goal of his career.
“Every time I step on the ice, I want to help the team win and help contribute,” Fascia said. “So, I felt lucky enough to do that tonight, so it felt good.”
With a two-score lead against the No. 2 team in the country, the blue and white picked up right where it left off in the third period.
Penn State continued to stifle any of Michigan’s offensive attempts, and maintained most of the puck possession through the front half of the last frame.
After a blue and white 2-on-1 materialized with about 11 minutes to play, Pegula Ice Arena’s energy reached a new level, and when captain Dane Dowiak set up junior forward Reese Laubach out in front who fired one off the cross bar and in, the roof on the building almost came off.
Laubach’s tally was his second of the season, extending the Nittany Lions’ lead to three with about half a period of play left.
Things started to take a turn for the home team after Laubach’s score, however, after two Michigan goals cut its deficit back to just one with about four minutes left to play.
After the Wolverines pulled Ivankovic for a man-advantage in the remaining seconds of the third period, sophomore Nic Chin-DeGraves sealed the Nittany Lions’ win with an empty net goal.
Penn State’s four scorers have a combined seven goals on the season, and none are in the top-six producers on the team, yet they powered the team to one of its most important wins yet.
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