After a disheartening sweep in East Lansing at the hands of No. 1 Michigan State, everyone was looking forward to getting back in front of the home fans at Pegula Ice Arena this weekend in another blockbuster matchup with No. 2 Michigan.

However, in its first chance to get the stink off from last week, Penn State men’s hockey fell flat on its face, losing 7-1 in the program’s largest loss since February 2024 against Wisconsin. After a decent start, the Nittany Lions surrendered a shorthanded goal at the seven-minute mark of the first period and found themselves down three goals at intermission.

The lone goal, scored by Shea Van Olm late in the second, was a brief respite in the beatdown, as the Wolverines added three goals in the third and sent a majority of the Roar Zone to the exits before the final whistle, a rarity at Pegula.

“I’m disappointed,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said in his opening statement at postgame media. “I thought we came out all right. They scored a couple of goals, but I still thought we were playing well. After that fourth goal, I think we lost a lot of our fight.”

After a loss like that, nobody would fault Gadowsky if he laid into his team in the locker room or was openly frustrated when talking to the media, but the veteran coach stayed composed and even revealed he did not speak to the team after the game, letting the players sort it out on their own.

“I walked in, I told Cade Christenson that ‘I’m not going in, I’m not speaking,’…If I went in, it would have been all emotional reaction, and I want to look at things before I do. We need direction right now, so I want to be very sure the next time we communicate from the coaching staff to the team, I want to be sure it’s not just an emotional reaction,” Gadowsky said.

For the first time all season, players were not made available to the media postgame due to their meeting still being ongoing.

Penn State entered this series with a 5-1-0 record at home, although all in non-conference play. In their lone loss, the home opener against Clarkson, the tone in postgame media was more positive than the game outcome. In many aspects, this one was more representative of the game that was played.

A Nittany Lions offense that was one of the most dynamic in the country entering last weekend has been ice cold all of a sudden, scoring a total of only two goals in their last three games. When asked about his team’s sudden lack of offense, Gadowsky didn’t blame the absence of Aiden Fink, although he admits it’s a factor, but attributes it to relying on skill, rather than team effort.

“I think we’re relying on skill, and that’s a really dangerous thing to do in high-quality hockey. I do not think we give enough of ourselves to the team, and we’re more focused on what’s going to happen when we get the puck, not actually getting the puck.”

A lot of high-danger chances against in the last two weeks were created off turnovers by the Nittany Lions, whether trying to complete a home run pass or mishandling the puck in the defensive zone.

Despite mixing up the lines in an attempt to supercharge the offense, it was mostly unsuccessful on Friday, with the new line consisting of Gavin McKenna, Charlie Cerrato, and Reese Laubach, especially not appearing on the same page at times, with late changes, passes into traffic, and not enough shots towards the net.

The most concerning aspect of the last two games, which have seen the Nittany Lions outscored 12-1, has been the defense. Josh Fleming was left out to dry for the vast majority of last Saturday’s shutout defeat to the Spartans, and the same can be said for Kevin Reidler on Friday night.

“I felt bad for him. I’ll just leave it at that,” remarked Gadowsky after the game when asked about Reidler, who allowed a season-high seven goals. On several Michigan goals, the Swedish netminder was left out to dry, including a third-period goal by TJ Hughes, which saw him glide to the net between four Nittany Lions who were only spectators.

TJ Hughes might be Superman @SportsCenter pic.twitter.com/eqiNSTLOR7

— Michigan Hockey (@umichhockey) November 15, 2025

As Gadowsky put it when asked about the play, most of the skaters are not out of position, but when Hughes got past Ben Schoen on the wall, the defensemen around him were stuck. If they over-pursued the puck, they would leave open a wide-open man in the crease, but if they stayed home, Hughes would waltz in for a 1-on-1 chance with Reidler.

Ultimately, it’s a game the Nittany Lions will have to put in the rearview when they go to sleep tonight. If they don’t come out with energy on Saturday night to close the series, they risk a rerun of the last three times the Wolverines visited Hockey Valley.