ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The No. 11 Penn State University (PSU) men’s ice hockey team (21-15-1) took to the ice against No. 13 Michigan Tech (MTU) (24-10-4) on Friday, March 24 at 5 p.m. for the first round of the NCAA Ice Hockey Regionals in Allentown, Pennsylvania. PSU was able to notch a 8-0 win over the Huskies. The winner of the Allentown Regional will move on to the Frozen Four tournament that will begin on April 4 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
This game is a historic moment for both teams, as Penn State and Michigan Tech have never competed against one another before.
“The difficulty is not having familiarity with [Penn State],” Michigan Tech head coach Joe Shawhan said. There’s certainly nuances within their game. They’re really unique. They do things a little bit differently. I think that Stevie Wonder could see that they’re going to throw pucks at the net and have a lot of traffic and try to disrupt things as much as they can. It’s been fun to prepare for that because when you watch other teams that you don’t see you pick up things. They’re a good team, they have a lot of strengths, a lot of speed, mobile defense, the forwards like to get up and go and they can make plays. So it should be a lot of fun.”
Along with the historic meeting of these teams, it’s also monumental for a number of Penn State players who hail from the Greater Philadelphia area: Connor McMenamin, Tyler Paquette, Tyler and Dylan Gratton. “So definitely a lot of family and friends are coming out for the game on Friday. It’s exciting. It’s nice to be able to be close and have that close pool,” McMenamin said.
The first period came with some face-off success from both teams, with a 11-10 split in favor of MTU. However, MTU continually failed to keep the puck in the Penn State zone. MTU was able to keep up on defense, though, with goalie Blake Pietila only allowing one goal in the period. This sole goal was scored 2:12 into the period by Paquette as he came from behind, pulling off a wraparound shot.
Michigan Tech is granted a power play 10:15 into the period as Tyler Gratton is assigned a two-minute minor penalty for hooking. MTU failed to capitalize on this opportunity. The period ends 1-0 in favor of Penn State.
Things took a turn for the worse for MTU in the second. While they tallied 13 shots on goal in the period, they only won three face-offs. PSU was able to send three pucks through Pietila. The first goal of the period was a “D-to-D” goal, as Jarod Crespo scored via an assist from fellow defenseman Carter Schade.
The second goal of the middle stanza, and third goal of the night, was scored by Ashton Calder, with assists from Simon Mack and Ture Linden at 14:46 into the period.
Four minutes later, Christian Berger, assisted by Ryan Kirwan and Xander Lamppa, lit the lamp to notch Penn State’s final goal of the period.
Michigan Tech challenged a play in the final seconds of the second period as coach Shawhan believed a major penalty against Penn State was missed, but the challenge was unsuccessful and they lost their only timeout available in the game.
Going into the final period, the game was in favor of the Nittany Lions who were leading Michigan Tech 4-0. The deficit was quickly extended, and PSU was able to keep up an impeccable defense by allowing MTU to only tally four shots on goal. Only three minutes into the period, Penn State’s top goal scorer this season, Kevin Wall, sent the puck into the goal via a no look, behind-the-back shot.
At 7:31 into the period, Chase McLane sends the puck in through the right side of the net, notching the fifth goal of the night.
After Lamppa made an attempt on goal, there were some extracurriculars after the referees blew the whistle. Penn State’s Christian Sarlo and Michigan Tech’s Logan Pietila are both sent to the penalty box to sit for a two-minute minor for roughing at 14:11. Both teams were left to play 4-on-4 hockey, and lots of action was set to happen in quick succession.
Nine seconds into the 4-on-4, McMenamin tallied a point with an assist from Connor MacEachern and Paul DeNaples.
Penn State rallied together and scored the eighth and final goal of the game, as Kirwan sent one past Pietila with assists from Wall and Berger. Penn State wins, 8-0.
“I don’t think that in an 8-0 game that you often look toward the goaltender, but we had a couple stretches that were pretty poor. Sometimes it’s not the pucks you see, but when you save them. Souly’s timing was great, and if one of those goes in, it would’ve been a much different deal,” Nittany Lions head coach Guy Gadowski said. “Another big factor tonight was – you could feel it on the bench – the support we get for Penn State University is unbelievable. It never ceases to amaze me the support of our alumni, our fans, our supporters, and it was absolutely a factor tonight.”
Goalie Liam Souliere was able to block all 24 shots that the Huskies sent his way. “It was a tough game from the start for us,” MTU Captain Arvid Caderoth said. “We were talking about winning every shift and every five minutes but their goalie was really good.”
RECORDS BROKEN:
Penn State broke the NCAA records for both largest margin of victory and largest shutout in NCAA tournament history.
Paquette’s opening goal at 2:12 into the contest sets the new program record for fastest goal to open an NCAA Tournament game.
THREE STARS:
2. Jarod Crespo
3. Kevin Wall
UP NEXT:
The Nittany Lions will face the winner of tonight’s 8:30 p.m. game between Michigan and Colgate at the regional final on Sunday, March 16 with puck drop at 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcasted on ESPN2 and ESPN+.
This marks PSU’s second entrance to regional finals in program history.
(Photo: Eagle Eye/Ashley Lawson)
