If Penn State men’s hockey doesn’t have an identity yet, it certainly has a pattern. Notre Dame found it on back-to-back nights at Pegula Ice Arena.

The Fighting Irish arrived at Pegula with a 2-6-0 record and no Big Ten wins. They left with a sweep against the Nittany Lions.

Penn State (2-7-1, 0-3-1 Big Ten) led 4-2 in the second period Friday and lost 5-4 in overtime. It led 1-0 on Saturday and gave up four straight goals in a 4-2 loss on Teddy Bear Toss night. Over the two games, the Irish outscored the Nittany Lions 8-3 after the first intermission.

A pattern isn’t an identity, though. An identity is typically what a team falls back on when it gets off course. Ten games in, with No. 2 Michigan ahead, Penn State still can’t say what that is.

“I think we’re still trying to find it,” team captain Dane Dowiak said after Saturday’s loss.

Head coach Guy Gadowsky didn’t have an answer either. He said his team has “some prerequisites before we can really nail that down.”

While every team finds its identity on its own schedule, the Nittany Lions have no regulation Big Ten wins, and more than a quarter of the regular season has passed.

Yes, the 2024-25 team did the unthinkable, bouncing back from a winless Big Ten stretch to reach the Frozen Four. However, that shouldn’t be a crutch for a struggling hockey team.

Gadowsky said that if someone had asked him two years ago if he was concerned about the team, he would’ve said yes. He said he’s not concerned about the team right now.

He thinks Saturday was the biggest step yet. He liked the puck management and the faceoffs. He said the staff was happier compared to after Friday’s game. Gadowsky said the team is a bit behind schedule in finding its groove.

“I wish we were a little further down the line,” he said.

One of the Nittany Lions’ captains was less patient.

“Took a step tonight, but it can’t just be a step,” Dowiak said. “It’s got to be a leap.”

When Dowiak talked about what this team is supposed to be, he didn’t mention hockey fundamentals. He said that it starts with heart.

He called this one of the two most talented teams he played on while at Penn State. Talent doesn’t mean passion.

“It’s all about heart. It’s all about wanting to win for Penn State,” he said.

That is the start of an identity, but it isn’t finished, and the third period showed why.

Dowiak admitted his team took a shift off early in the third on Saturday. He compared every game in the Big Ten to playoff hockey and said that taking any shift off leads to goals against.

Identities can be handed down, and Dowiak knows that part is on him. He pointed to leadership groups that came before him and said he and Reese Laubach haven’t done enough to carry it forward.

“It starts with me. I got to be better,” Dowiak said. “I don’t want to say those guys would be disappointed in us right now.”

Gadowsky said he’d be worried about the team if players started doing their own thing or breaking off into their own groups, but he hasn’t seen that at all.

Dowiak also touched on how tight the group is despite the start of the season.

Getting along isn’t an identity, but it is a good foundation for one. Right now, however, the Nittany Lions are stuck in a pattern. Penn State has to change it on the road at Yost Ice Arena against No. 2 Michigan.

“People keep showing up for us, and it means the world to me,” he said. “I just feel bad. I want to win for them.”

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