No. 4 Penn State Men’s Hockey Bounces Back With 5-2 Win Over Clarkson
No. 4 Penn State men’s hockey (3-1-0, 0-0-0 Big Ten) rebounded from a tough loss on Thursday night to beat Clarkson (1-2-0, 0-0-0 ECAC) 5-2 and secure a series split at Pegula Ice Arena on Friday night.
Penn State fell into a 2-0 hole in the opening period, but rallied for three in the middle frame and coasted to a three-goal victory. Ben Schoen tallied a pair of goals, and freshman goaltender Josh Fleming made 21 saves in his collegiate debut.
How It Happened
The Nittany Lions started with a bevy of lineup changes. Notably, Fleming made his first career start in net, and captain Dane Dowiak replaced Luke Misa between Gavin McKenna and Aiden Fink.
Fleming was rudely greeted in his debut, as a blue line turnover immediately led to an odd-man rush the other way. Luka Sukovic potted his first goal of the year for Clarkson, and Penn State was immediately in a 1-0 hole at 0:21.
The energy shift from the first game was evident. The visiting Golden Knights played with more juice and intensity, getting the first five shots on goal. The first Penn State shot on goal came six minutes in from Lev Katzin. Matt DiMarsico got the team’s first quality chance at 7:17 but missed the net.
Despite not getting many pucks to the net, the Nittany Lions got persistent pressure and forced Clarkson to block a lot of shots. That eventually drew the game’s first penalty, as Shawn O’Donnell went off for tripping to send Penn State to a power play, but one that would be among their least effective of the year, with zero shots on net.
Not many shots got through in the first period for either team, but Clarkson would find a stronger lead right before the end of the first period, as Tate Taylor sniped one that went off the post and in at 19:46 to make it 2-0 after one period.
Needing some juice, Penn State came out of the break with a renewed push on offense, with a two-on-one leading to a penalty on Ryan Bottrill for tripping at 1:48. Aiden Fink and Bryce Sookro went off for dueling roughings after an ensuing scrum.
When the team needed it most, the power play came through. Once again, it was JJ Wiebusch, assisted by Charlie Cerrato and Jackson Smith, scoring his fifth goal of the series on the power play at 3:07 to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Shortly after, Clarkson broke into the offensive zone, but their lone chance was stopped by Fleming. On the other end, an over-aggressive forecheck by Ben Schoen led to an ugly collision on the boards, which resulted in a five-minute major at 3:30, much to the dismay of the crowd.
Just as they’ve done all season, the penalty kill remained stout despite the circumstances. The Golden Knights’ best chance came early, with a shot by Bottrill going off the pipe at 5:07. Midway through the kill, Fink and McKenna threatened shorthanded and got in deep, but Fink was taken down with the puck loose in the crease. The lack of a call once again put the crowd into an uproar.
The emphatic kill required incredible work from every skater and Fleming in the net, and they were rewarded in a big way. As clear as the penalty expired, it led to an odd-man rush with Schoen and Carter Schade. Schoen, fresh out of the box, looked off Schade on the two-on-one and ripped a game-tying unassisted goal at 8:40.
Schade was assessed a roughing penalty after the goal was scored, immediately putting the Nittany Lions back on the kill. By this point, the momentum had swung so far in favor of Penn State that an extra two minutes on the power play did nothing for Clarkson.
Midway through the power play, a blocked shot by Nick Fascia sprung an odd-man rush for the Nittany Lions, where Reese Laubach carried in deep before delivering a gorgeous pass to Dowiak, who buried the shorthanded goal to take the lead at 9:49.
Three consecutive goals despite spending seven minutes shorthanded had the Nittany Lions buzzing. The next several minutes were spent with multiple lines taking residency in the offensive zone. Chance after chance, including a Showtime Lakers-esque sequence between McKenna and Fink, threatened but didn’t get past Shane Soderwall.
Clarkson’s Talon Sigurdson took a holding penalty at 15:26, but Penn State couldn’t get one of several shots past Soderwall. A shorthanded chance the other way sprung off a giveaway, with Maël St-Denis nearly tying the game on a play which saw him drop the puck on his stick in the crease, but Fleming stopped it. The game went into the third period with Penn State up 3-2.
A giveaway in the first few seconds of the period gave Clarkson a chance early, but Fleming smothered it. Nic Chin-DeGraves nearly found the back of the net two minutes in on a deflection, but Soderwall had settled in after the three quick goals in the second.
Chin-DeGraves stayed involved by drawing a hooking penalty on Jared Mangan at 6:11. McKenna looked for a deflection early in the power play, but it got through and was saved by Soderwall. Clarkson got a pair of shorthanded opportunities in what turned out to be a sloppy power play for the Nittany Lions. The Golden Knights got a four-on-two and a huge rebound chance at the nine-minute mark, but a beautiful sliding play by Smith broke it up.
Chin-DeGraves served a faceoff violation penalty at 10:54 that again put Clarkson on the power play, but another phenomenal kill kept the lead at two goals, holding the Golden Knights without a shot attempt.
Play began to loosen up with both teams getting out in transition, but it would be Cerrato to find the back of the net next, streaking up the ice and fighting through two defenders to put a loose puck into the net for his third of the season, assisted by Wiebusch and Jarod Crespo, at 10:38 to make it 4-2 Nittany Lions.
McKenna almost delivered a sparkling first goal at Pegula, but his shot was blocked after shaking one defender with a nifty move. Just seven seconds later, a crisp pass from Fink found the stick of Schoen, who tapped home his second goal of the game at 14:29 to make it 5-2. Crespo added his second assist.
Clarkson head coach Jean-Francois Houle pulled the goalie with four minutes to play. Penn State iced it a pair of times before forcing the goalie back in after getting an offensive zone draw. A desperate Clarkson team got too aggressive, resulting in a game-sealing five-minute major for cross-checking by Sookro.
Penn State spent the next 2:30 looking for one last goal, but a scuffle led to Cerrato going off to make it four-on-four. In the final ten seconds, play stopped due to a massive brawl in front of the net, with every player on the ice getting involved. Fighting is illegal in college hockey, but Katzin and Ty Brassington dropped the gloves anyway.
Several players went off for the remainder of the game due to the skirmish, which was only 9.4 seconds.
Takeaways
- There’s nothing more back-breaking than giving up goals in the first or final minute of the period, but that’s exactly what Penn State did in the first: surrendering a goal 21 seconds in and with 14 seconds to go.
- Whatever Guy Gadowsky told them during the first intermission, it worked. After looking a step slow and being completely bottled up early, the Nittany Lions exploded for 17 shots in the second period.
- JJ Wiebusch was unbelievable in this series. Five goals and an assist. On a team full of stars, the sophomore who’s between-the-legs goal lifted Penn State to a road sweep of Michigan last year has been lost in the shuffle, but he’s been unstoppable on offense.
- The theatrics in the final minute resulted in 14 penalties, 11 game misconducts, and a total of 116 penalty minutes. Fun!
- 19 goals through four games against Arizona State and Clarkson. Not too shabby.
Up Next
The men’s hockey team continues its non-conference slate, hosting Long Island at 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 17. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus.
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