After two years of construction, countless hours of planning and hard work, and a $102 million donation from Terry and Kim Pegula, “The House that Terry Built” finally opened on Friday night. The Nittany Lions came out victorious to the tune of a dominating 4-1 win over Army in front of a sold-out crowd.

Penn State didn’t wait long to get things started. Nate Jensen scored the first goal in the new arena just 3:02 into the first period, assisted by Taylor Holmstrom, on a dead-center shot from just past the blue line. Both teams struggled to find offense after that, committing a combined four penalties through the remainder of the first period.

The second period was even sloppier by Penn State as the Nittany Lions committed four more penalties. Penn State recorded 14 shots on goal in the period, but the offense wasn’t able to get anything past Army goaltender Rob Tadazak who was almost certainly the team’s best player on the ice all night.

Curtis Loik scored a back-breaking goal on a short-handed breakaway just 3:24 into the third period to pull Penn State ahead 2-0. David Goodwin assisted on the score, but he made a much bigger play soon after to put the game away.

Army committed a penalty after the goal and wasn’t able to recover after that, as another goal by Goodwin at the 12:27 mark made it 3-0. Goodwin broke away from the defense and had a good few seconds to plan his attack as he charged the goal. Army’s Mac Lalor scored the only goal for the team on a 5-on-3 power play goal at 15:39. Penn State’s Eric Scheid tallied an empty netter late to make the final score 4-1.

Stars of the Game:

3. Taylor Holstrom — Holstrom tallied an assist on four shots, and won 33% of his faceoffs.

2. David Goodwin — Goodwin scored a goal in the 3rd period, as well as an assist, on just two shots. He also won all 3 of the faceoffs he attempted.

1. Matthew Skoff — Skoff only allowed just one goal, a 5-on-3 score from the slot, and made 25 saves. His stick was hit by a teammate on the goal.

Postgame Quote of the Night:

“The student section was definitely the first star tonight.” – Coach Guy Gadowsky.

What’s next?

Penn State travels to Colorado Springs, Colorado next weekend to take on Air Force in a two-game series. The Nittany Lions return home on Friday, October 25 against RIT.