No. 17 Penn State men’s hockey (0-2) fell to Sacred Heart (1-1) 6-3 at Martire Family Arena on Saturday night.

The Nittany Lions tied it up after a 3-0 deficit, but Sacred Heart’s late charge proved too much for Penn State to overcome.

How It Happened

Kale Dach won the opening faceoff for Penn State. Sacred Heart’s Taos Jordan fired off the first shot of the game, but Ryder Fetterolf secured his first save of the contest.

Justin Poirier got a look at net and fired the shot wide. The Pioneers let off a flurry of four shots over the next 30 seconds, but didn’t find the back of the net.

They consistently attacked over the course of the next three minutes.

Penn State took a turn to rattle off five consecutive shots, with Poirier accounting for two. Dane Dowiak, Reese Laubach, and Jackson Smith also made their presence known.

Sacred Heart continued through the rest of the first period mostly on the front foot, generating far more shots than Penn State. The Pioneers didn’t pierce the veil to get on the board, though.

Laubach won the second period’s opening faceoff, but Sacred Heart’s Ayden VanRooyan tested Fetterolf quickly. The Nittany Lions failed to capitalize on the power play in the first 10 minutes of the period.

Sacred Heart’s Landen Gunderson scored on even strength 12:27 into the second period to give the Pioneers their first lead of the game. Jordan kept it rolling with his first goal of the game just over four minutes later, putting Sacred Heart up 2-0.

Emmanuel Vermette knocked in Sacred Heart’s third goal in six minutes of play to send the Pioneers up 3-0 into the second intermission.

Laubach once again won the opening faceoff. Smith registered Penn State’s first shot of the final frame, but he pushed the puck wide of the net.

Kale Dach finally got Penn State on the board 3:17 into the third period. Penn State still trailed 3-1.

Justin Larose immediately followed suit with a goal of his own, knocking in the Nittany Lions’ second goal of the night just 21 seconds later. Dowiak kept the snowballs coming and tied it up at 3-3 just 1:06 minutes after Larose’s score.

Gunderson responded with his second goal of the game to propel Sacred Heart back up 4-3. The Pioneers scored twice more in the final three minutes to pull out a 6-3 win.

Takeaways

• Penn State tied it up after being down 3-0, but failed to capitalize on its momentum.
• Kale Dach had another solid game and notched his second goal of the season.

What’s Next?

Penn State will play its home opener against Quinnipiac at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 16, in Pegula Ice Arena.