Penn State Men’s Hockey Falls To No. 5 Michigan 6-5
Penn State men’s hockey (4-6, 0-5 Big Ten) fell to Michigan (8-2-1, 3-0 Big Ten) in the first game of a two-game set at Pegula Ice Arena.
After falling behind 4-1 after the first period, Penn State stormed back to tie the game at five early in the third period before ultimately falling short thanks to a late Michigan goal. Charlie Cerrato continued his excellent freshman campaign by recording one goal and assisting on another. Matt DiMarsico found the back of the net twice, with Aiden Fink and Reese Laubach also recording goals.
How It Happened
Penn State was awarded an early power play after Josh Eernisse boarded Jarod Crespo behind the Penn State net, and the Nittany Lions immediately responded. DiMarsico received a pass from Cerrato and snuck a backhanded shot past Logan Stein to put Penn State ahead 1-0 just two minutes into the game.
Not even one minute later, the Wolverines got that goal right back. TJ Hughes was parked in front of Noah Grannan and deflected a Will Felicio wrist shot from the point past Grannan to tie the game at 2:33 of the period.
Four minutes later, Michigan struck again. This time, it was Michael Hage who beat Grannan on a wrist shot from the slot to put the Wolverines ahead 2-1. Evan Werner and Garrett Schifsky had the assists on the go-ahead goal.
After Penn State began to get its legs in the offense zone for the first time since the opening minutes, the Wolverines came right back down the ice to score. Philippe LaPointe had the puck behind the net and fired a pass to William Whitelaw, who was wide open in the slot and fired a wrist shot past the blocker of Grannan to extend the Michigan lead to 3-1 at 10:29 of the period.
Things continued to go sideways for the Nittany Lions as they headed to the penalty kill after Ben Schoen was sent to the box for tripping at 13:29. Less than a minute into its power play, Michigan scored. After a failed attempt by Penn State to clear the zone, Jacob Truscott unleashed a slap shot from just above the faceoff circles past Grannan to give the Wolverines a three-goal lead.
The final minutes of the period were spent in the neutral zone or the Michigan offensive zone, as Penn State could not get anything going offensively. The teams headed to the locker room with Michigan up by three.
Penn State had its best scoring chance since scoring early in the first period to begin the middle period. Five minutes into the second, Schoen received a cross-ice pass and fired a one-timer from the left circle. A nice sliding save by Stein kept Michigan ahead 4-1.
Needing to get back into the game, Penn State was awarded a power play at 7:42 of the period after Thomas Daskas was sent to the box for interference. Michigan nearly scored a short-handed goal seconds into the power play, but Grannan made a huge save on a breakaway to keep the Penn State deficit at three.
After it regrouped and established the zone with the man advantage, Penn State got the goal it desperately needed. Cerrato fired a long wrist shot from the point over the glove of Stein to cut the Michigan lead to 4-2, with Jimmy Dowd Jr. and Schoen recording the assists.
The Nittany Lions continued to buzz after the Cerrato goal and nearly cut their deficit to one. Danny Dzhaniyev and Keaton Peters played catch on a two-on-one, but Dzhaniyev’s final pass just hopped over the stick of Peters, and Michigan cleared the zone.
Michigan headed to the power play after Laubach was sent to the box for holding at 13:39 of the second period. Just 21 seconds into the man advantage, the Wolverines got their three-goal lead back as Schifsky tapped home a Truscott shot that stopped on the goal line.
Looking to get that goal right back, Penn State was sent to the power play, with Mark Estapa getting sent to the box for tripping. The Wolverines clogged the middle of the ice and many of the shooting lanes on their strong kill, causing Penn State to operate from the outside.
Shortly after the penalty to Estapa expired, Penn State responded to its failed power play. Fink skated around a Michigan defender and into the Wolverines’ zone, where he fired a wrist shot from the slot past the blocker of Stein to make it a 5-3 game with two minutes remaining in the second period. Cade Christenson had the lone assist.
The Nittany Lions weathered a burst of Michigan pressure in the final minute of the period to return to their locker room trailing by two goals.
The teams filed onto the ice for the final period of play, and Penn State immediately made a statement. After a nice zone entry by Dane Dowiak, he dished a pass to Fink, who fired an initial shot that Stein stopped, but Laubach was parked beside the next to smack home the rebound to cut the Nittany Lions’ deficit to one goal just 54 seconds in.
Penn State continued to dominate play in its offensive zone, and the hard work once again paid off. Casey Aman fired a shot from the point with DiMarsico alone in the front of the net to tip the puck past Stein, tying the game 5-5 at 4:27 of the third period.
As Michigan began to get its legs after the DiMarsico goal, Grannan made multiple big saves to keep the game even. Shortly after, Cerrato dished a wicked behind-the-back pass to an on-rushing DiMarscio, who deflected the puck on the net. A nice save from Stein kept the game moving.
After the scoring chance from DiMarsico, much of the middle part of the period was spent between all three zones as play was as even as it had been all night.
With under seven minutes remaining in regulation, Michigan got the goal it had been searching for all period. Hage was parked in front of the net and fired a shot past Grannan to put Michigan back up by a goal. Hunter Hady recorded the lone assist.
Head coach Guy Gadowsky opted to pull Grannan for an extra skater with 2:04 left in regulation, as Penn State needed one goal to tie things up. With 24 seconds remaining, Penn State headed to the power play after Ethan Edwards was sent to the box for interference.
With a two-man advantage, as Grannan remained on the bench, an early Michigan clear down the ice killed any hope for a final comeback, and the Wolverines held onto their lead to secure the win.
Takeaways
- Slow starts and first-period woes have been a continued problem for the Nittany Lions, and Friday was no different. Despite scoring the opening goal of the game less than two minutes in, Penn State surrendered four goals before the final horn of the first period and did not look good doing it. Whether it was defensive lapses or poor penalty killing, this continued issue reared its ugly head again.
- Once again, it was a tale of different periods for Penn State. After once again falling behind early, Penn State roared back to tie the game at five early in the third period. If the Nittany Lions can put it all together, they will have a chance to make some late-season noise in the Big Ten.
- Coming into tonight’s game, Penn State had converted just 17.9% of its power plays to begin the season. In game one against the Wolverines, the Nittany Lions delivered as they scored two goals with the man advantage.
- Arsenii Sergeev remained sidelined with an injury he sustained in the first period of game two against Wisconsin, meaning Grannan got the start in between the pipes for Penn State. Much like his team, the backup settled in after a rough first period, allowing just two goals across the final 40 minutes of play.
What’s Next?
Penn State men’s hockey returns to Pegula for the second game of its series against the Michigan Wolverines at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 23. For those who cannot attend, the game will be streamed on BTN+.
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