Through two periods of play, it seemed Quinnipiac was headed for a convincing victory against the Penn State men’s hockey. The Bobcats held a commanding 3-0 lead and outshot Penn State 18-12, and the Nittany Lions didn’t seem to belong on the same ice as their opponents.

“We weren’t ready at the drop of the puck,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said.

More of the same was expected when the teams filed onto the ice at the beginning of the third period until Penn State finally found its legs early on. Ben Schoen, who missed all of the 2023-24 season due to injury, scored his first goal in just under two years to get the Nittany Lions on the board 59 seconds into the period.

Penn State cut the Quinnipiac lead to one after Danny Dzhaniyev added a goal with just over six minutes gone in the final period. The Nittany Lions were the dominant team, both on the scoresheet and to the average observer.

While the comeback bid ultimately fell short, Penn State showed it can deal with adversity and play with one of the best teams in college hockey, an encouraging development before the Nittany Lions begin conference play in two weeks against another outstanding team in Minnesota.

“We finally got into the game,” Gadowsky said. “It was nice to see on one hand, but on the other hand, it was disappointing that we couldn’t do it right when it started.”

The encouraging third period didn’t completely dismiss the Nittany Lions’ play in the opening two periods, and Gadowsky acknowledged such when asked what his team learned from last Saturday’s contest.

“Be ready to go when the puck drops is No. 1,” Gadowsky said. “To be immensely prepared to be ready to compete at the highest level from the very drop of the puck is not an easy thing to do. It’s something that takes mental preparation and we learned that lesson.”

This sentiment was echoed by the players, who also acknowledged the need to start fast in future games.

“We’re young and thought we just weren’t ready to go from the start,” Schoen said. “Once we got our legs under us, everyone felt confident, and we realized how good we could be. I honestly felt in the third period, we were by far the better team.”

“Starting on time is probably the biggest lesson we have to take as a team,” Charlie Cerrato said.

The Nittany Lions will work to get back on track this weekend as they return to Pegula Ice Arena for a two-game series against St. Lawrence. Game one will take place at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 25, with game two at 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 26.