No. 8 Penn State Men’s Hockey Topples RIT 7-3
No. 8 Penn State men’s hockey (11-6-0, 4-4-0 Big Ten) bounced back from a shutout defeat on Saturday night, defeating RIT (11-8-0, 7-5-0 AHA) 7-3 at Pegula Ice Arena on Sunday.
After just one combined goal from the two teams on Saturday, they combined for 10 today. Senior alternate captain Jarod Crespo, who entered the game with one goal on the season and eight in his career, had his first career hat trick on Senior Night.
How It Happened
Kevin Reidler made the start for Penn State, continuing the goaltending platoon with Josh Fleming, who started in Saturday night’s defeat.
The first several minutes featured some back-and-forth action with increased physicality, as both teams did a good job preventing clean shots on net by negating open space. Reidler and RIT goaltender Jakub Krbecek made a few key saves early.
Penn State got a few clean looks early that were stopped easily, but Lev Katzin got one in the slot about seven minutes in. He could only fire it off the pad, however, due to great stickwork by the RIT defensemen.
Aiden Fink made a nifty move at the blue line at the eight-minute mark, eventually getting into the slot, but RIT’s physical and aggressive defense kept the puck away from the net.
Eventually, the dam would break on the visitors. Reese Laubach carried in after a scrum behind Reidler and played it back to Dane Dowiak at the blue line. The Penn State captain passed it to a trailing Fink, who ripped one past Krbecek for the team’s first goal of the series. It’s Fink’s third goal of the season, first since October 17, and it was 1-0 Penn State at 9:01 of the first period.
Ben Schoen took a roughing penalty during a post-save scrum at 9:44 to give RIT its first power play, but the man-advantage was short-lived. Crossley Stewart committed an interference penalty just 17 seconds later, making it 4-on-4 for the next 1:43.
Both teams got shots off on the 4-on-4, but both penalties expired within 20 seconds of each other to put the teams back to five-aside.
An early negative trend for Penn State in the game was neutral zone turnovers, and they committed one too many late in the period. RIT capitalized on a Jackson Smith turnover to get a clean entry, and despite a blocked shot by Jarod Crespo, the Tigers got set up, and defenseman Ben Roger sniped one from the point past Reidler to tie the game at one at 13:38.
Matt DiMarsico tried to get a quick answer for Penn State, but his backhand shot on net was stopped by Krbecek. Sloppy play in the defensive zone nearly yielded a second RIT goal with just over 90 seconds left, but Ty Whyte missed the net in the slot.
No further action occurred for the remainder of the period until a scrum after the final whistle saw Katzin, Carter Schade, and RIT’s Mason Croucher all receive minor penalties and 10-minute game misconducts, gifting the Tigers a power play to start the second.
While RIT has struggled on the power play all season, they got multiple good looks, necessitating a few good saves from Reidler. Ill-advised passing from the Tigers blew up several chances as well, as Penn State killed it off.
Unlike the night before, Penn State wasn’t getting as many shots on net towards Krbecek, failing to get a shot for 11 minutes until a Mac Gadowsky long shot trickled wide, despite hitting the goaltender. A minute later, Fink got two consecutive shots on net, but Krbecek was able to keep them both out.
DiMarsico made a nifty move in the defensive zone to cause two RIT defenders to collide in a move that got a rise out of the crowd. At 7:18, Roger went to the box for interference, giving Penn State its first full power play of the game.
It didn’t take long after the media timeout for the Nittany Lions to strike, as Charlie Cerrato won the ensuing faceoff and Smith picked it up and fired it into the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season at 7:24 of the second to make it 2-1 Penn State.
The Nittany Lions were energized by the goal, immediately getting back into the offensive zone and getting pucks on net towards Krbecek. At the ten-minute mark, Laubach unleashed a thunderous hit that sent Christian Catalano into the referee and over the boards. It was a legal hit, and his retaliation on Laubach got called for roughing at 10:10, putting Penn State back on the power play.
A minute into the man-advantage, a long shot by Mac Gadowsky got through, but was stopped by Krbecek. The RIT netminder stayed stout in the net, stopping a Schoen rebound and keeping the puck out of the net on a mad scrum in front of the net until a stoppage. That would be the only real chance on the power play, as RIT’s elite penalty kill kept them in the game.
Roger got the first shot in several minutes through to Reidler shortly after the power play expired, but the Swedish netminder kept it out. A turnover on the other end saw Katzin deliver a wicked feed to Alex Servagno for a one-timer from the right faceoff dot at 13:02, but Krbecek made a spectacular save.
Caleb Elfering came the other way for RIT and fired a shot on net that nearly squirted between the legs of Reidler, but he was able to freeze the puck. On the other end, after a media timeout, a shot from Nolan Collins ricocheted behind the net to Schoen, who nearly put one in the net from an impossible angle.
Inside of five minutes, the Behind-the-Back Boys did it again. Cerrato gained the blue line and passed off to DiMarsico, who fed JJ Wiebusch, who passed it back to Cerrato. The Carolina Hurricanes draft pick then dangled around Krbecek and backhanded it into a wide-open net, scoring his sixth goal of the season at 15:38 to make it 3-1 Nittany Lions.
The best chance for the remainder of the period came when Simon Isabelle got into the crease, but shot it wide with about two minutes to play. Penn State carried a two-goal lead into the final frame.
Just over 10 seconds into the third period, Dowiak had a chance in the slot, but the puck fumbled off his stick. 90 seconds later, Wiebusch fed Cerrato in the slot from behind the net, but Krbecek saw it all the way and denied him at point-blank range.
The Nittany Lions got a bit sloppy in their defensive zone when RIT finally got it out of its end, struggling to clear and risking some critical turnovers. RIT’s Boris Skalos went off for indirect head contact at 2:51, giving Penn State a chance to ice it. Unfortunately, just 49 seconds later, DiMarsico went off for slashing at 3:40 to end the man-advantage.
Zach Wigle had a big chance in front of the net at 4:25 that could’ve cut the deficit to one, but he missed the net. RIT also got 71 seconds of power play time after the Skalos penalty expired, but the best chance they got was a Xavier Lapointe one-timer at 5:35.
After the Nittany Lions killed it off, DiMarsico and Wiebusch once again generated a scoring chance with a nifty connection. After an RIT clear, DiMarsico re-entered the zone and dropped the puck back to Cerrato, who did the same to Crespo, who delivered a sharp snapshot past Krbecek at 6:15 to make it a 4-1 game. It was the senior alternate captain’s second goal of the season.
The Tigers got a quick response this time, as a turnover at center ice allowed them to enter the offensive zone cleanly. Sigle fired a shot on net that bounced off the pad of Reidler and was put into the net by William Moore for his fourth goal of the season at 7:18 to make it 4-2.
It didn’t stop there. A minute later, RIT sprung a 3-on-1 into the offensive zone, but one too many passes mucked up the play, and a pass from Catalano couldn’t quite get to the open man in the crease. Just 30 seconds later, however, Collins went to the box for interference at 8:59 to give RIT another power play on a controversial call.
Evan Konyen shot one off the pipe early in the man-advantage for RIT, as Penn State struggled to clear the zone. The Nittany Lions surrendered a few more chances before killing off the power play, but missed deflections and strong goaltending kept RIT off the board.
RIT continued to threaten over the next few minutes, taking advantage of sloppy puck-handling by the Nittany Lions. Schoen got the first Penn State shot since the Crespo goal with seven minutes to go, but it was right into the chest of Krbecek.
The two teams took dueling minor penalties at 13:32, as Schoen went off for high-sticking and Tristan Allen went off for cross-checking. Neither team got a shot on net while skating four-aside, but Penn State was nursing a two-goal lead and was more than content to watch the clock tick.
The closest either team came was when Mac Gadowsky led Cade Christenson on an odd-man rush, leading to Christenson being hooked in front of the net by Catalano at 15:28 before getting an additional game misconduct for getting in the referee’s face. Penn State would get one more power play.
With 3:32 to go, Guy Gadowsky made a goaltending change, pulling Reidler for ex-club goaltender Chris McFayden to make his Division I goaltending debut. He quickly made his first career save shorthanded before Penn State got back in the offensive zone.
An all-senior power play unit then formed for the last minute of the man-advantage, and in the dying seconds, they capitalized. Nic Chin-DeGraves and Schoen set up Crespo for his second goal of the game at 17:24 to make it 5-2. It’s the first multi-goal game of the senior defenseman’s career.
After another scrum involving Katzin led to him and Konyen getting two-minute minor penalties. McFayden made a nice save as RIT looked to get a goal back shortly after entering the offensive zone. The Tigers pulled their goalie in desperation mode inside of three minutes.
Off a faceoff with 1:51 to go, Christenson fired a puck nearly 200 feet into the empty net for his first goal of the season in just his second game of the year to make it 6-2.
BINGOOOOOOOOOO
— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) January 5, 2026#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/t7UD6PcQ5C
RIT got one more goal for the road with 1:32 to go, as a bad carum off the glass got McFayden out of position, allowing Philippe Jacques to score his third goal of the season to cut it to 6-3. RIT head coach Matt Thomas pulled the goalie again despite trailing by three goals with under two minutes left.
After a close call in which Laubach had an empty net goal called off due to an offside, the Nittany Lions made it a team effort to get the puck to Crespo, who fired the puck into the empty net with 30 seconds remaining for his first career hat trick, finishing the game off at 7-3 on Senior Night.
Takeaways
- Penn State played its first home game in 50 days on Sunday. With road trips to Minnesota and Rochester, along with five players and head coach Guy Gadowsky heading to Switzerland in late December, it’s good to be home.
- Gavin McKenna did not play in this series, but is expected to be back for Friday’s game against Minnesota. Team Canada plays their semifinal game against Finland on Sunday night.
- Mac Gadowsky is still without a goal on the season after leading all NCAA defensemen in goals last season, but this was his most noticeable offensive series of the season. He attempted eight shots in the series, mostly from the blue line.
- Boy, is it nice to have Aiden Fink and Cade Christenson back. On a team with so much offensive firepower, Christenson’s physicality is a tremendous asset for the Nittany Lions. Fink also seemed energized after a long layoff, carrying over his scoring from the Spengler Cup.
- An ode to the seniors. Jarod Crespo has been a stay-at-home defenseman his entire career and has done the little things on the back end, but got an opportunity to be the goalscorer tonight. The team relished getting him that hat trick.
- What a moment for Chris McFayden, who, after several years on the club team, got to play Division I hockey. He saved four of the five shots that came his way.
- Penn State’s seven goals are a season-high and the team’s most since November 2024 against Colgate.
Up Next
The men’s hockey team will welcome back freshman phenom Gavin McKenna from the World Juniors and resume conference play at Pegula Ice Arena, taking on Minnesota at 6 p.m. on Friday, January 9. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
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