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\t<\/p>\nPenn State men\u2019s hockey was outscored 5-2 in the first period during its most recent series with Notre Dame. Despite this, the Nittany Lions still managed to force overtime on both occasions, crawling back from 3-0 and 2-1 deficits.<\/p>\n
Playing from behind has been a theme for Guy Gadowsky\u2019s squad for a while now. Dating back to last year, the blue and white have consistently found themselves in early deficits in need of a comeback.<\/p>\n
Penn State has claimed victory seven times this season when trailing after two periods. But despite the Nittany Lions\u2019 ability to generate late-game momentum surges, Gadowsky and the players will look to get off to a quicker start against Wisconsin and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe keep striving for a situation where we don\u2019t have to [comeback],\u201d Gadowsky said. \u201cBut boy, did they play Friday night.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gadowsky was referring to Friday\u2019s matchup against the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame quickly jumped out to a three-goal lead before Aiden Fink and Shea Van Olm eventually helped knot the score 3-3. In a series where every point mattered for Penn State, being able to record a tie in the game and earn the extra shootout point meant a lot to the group.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs many times as it happens, it doesn\u2019t get less impressive,\u201d Gadowsky said.<\/p>\n
Gadowsky and his coaching staff take a more hands-off approach when it comes to coaching \u201cfast starts.\u201d While they make it a point of emphasis to develop player habits and systems, establishing pace and motive at different points of the game comes from within.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to coach a desire or an effort,\u201d Gadowsky said. \u201cI think that\u2019s something that should be ingrained in what Penn State hockey is. Moving forward, that\u2019s on them to be ready to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defenseman Jarod Crespo also believes that fixing the team\u2019s problem of slower starts is vital for long-term success. <\/p>\n
\u201cWorking on your first shift, and each line focusing on their first shift,\u201d he said, will be the key moving forward. \u201cThe mentality going into game two wasn\u2019t a great result for us, but as far as the start goes, it was a lot better, and that\u2019s kind of what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being able to foster this mentality stems from having a strong leadership group. With captain Dane Dowiak out for the rest of the season, Crespo is one of the players needing to step up in his absence, donning the \u201cA\u201d on his chest.<\/p>\n
But aside from the designated alternate captains in Crespo, Ben Schoen, and Reese Laubach, guys all across the roster are coming forward to help fuel Penn State\u2019s need for speed, physicality, and scoring.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think that there\u2019s guys that understand that are stepping up,\u201d Gadowsky said. \u201cBraedon Ford is one of them. I think Aiden Fink has been a guy that\u2019s really tried to take a leadership role on a lot of things away from the puck as well. In a sense, I think [Dowiak\u2019s injury] has been a catalyst for other guys to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n
So while Penn State heads into the last series of the regular season, postseason implications and seeding remain on the line. The Nittany Lions will aim to get on the board early and never look back, relying on each member of the group to do their respective part.<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s matchup with the Badgers will mark the annual \u201cWear White\u201d game at Pegula Ice Arena. The team will look to harness the crowd\u2019s energy, in addition to the fire within, to propel itself to success.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe White Out is an incredible experience,\u201d Crespo said. \u201cUsing that energy, it\u2019ll be helpful, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t<\/p>\n
Jamie is a third-year statistics student from Chappaqua, NY. He loves to swim and is a member of the club team here at Penn State. Jamie is also in the Schreyer Honors College, and wishes there was an advanced course in college football fandom (scored 118\/133 on the mascot quiz). He\u2019s an avid ping-pong player, dairy lover, and has met two U.S. Presidents. If you have anything to share, or want to debate the AP Poll with someone, email [email\u00a0protected]<\/a> or reach out on instagram @jamie.ly3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penn State men\u2019s hockey was outscored 5-2 in the first period during its most recent series with Notre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[377],"tags":[2142,50999,58079,51494,58080,2145,5,35748,4834,9669,2147,2149,4765,2150,2151,10549,58081,37495],"class_list":["post-486709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hockey","tag-aiden-fink","tag-braedon-ford","tag-crespo","tag-fink","tag-ford","tag-guy-gadowsky","tag-hockey","tag-jarod-crespo","tag-mens-hockey","tag-pegula-ice-arena","tag-penn-state","tag-penn-state-hockey","tag-penn-state-mens-hockey","tag-psu","tag-psu-hockey","tag-psu-mens-hockey","tag-wear-white-game","tag-white-out"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116175947166821402","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}