Men's hockey head coach Guy Gadowsky said he wanted the team to work on mental toughness heading into the weekend’s road trip.
Heading into the third period, the Nittany Lions took a 4-0 lead against Army. The Lions scored only one more goal in the third but Gadowsky said he thought this was the best period the team played all game.
The play of the Lions also helped sophomore goaltender P.J. Musico earn his first career shut out.
“When you are leading 4-0 it’s easy to take your foot off the gas,” Gadowsky said. “I thought the guys played hard for [Musico] at the end. It was a pretty good night.”
The 5-0 win set up the possibility of another first in program history — two wins in one weekend.
The Lions found themselves down 1-0 to the Sacred Heart Pioneers just five minutes into the first period, but senior forward Michael Longo scored his first goal of the season to tie the game just 32 seconds later.
The Lions took a 3-2 lead into the first intermission and a 4-3 lead into the second intermission.
Penn State was able to pull away with two more goals for a 6-3 victory to improve the Lions record to 4-2-0.
The defensemen also played really well, Gadowsky said.
“[Freshman] Mark Yanis had a heck of a goal, [freshman] Luke Juha was great all night, [freshman] and a goal from [junior] Nate Jensen who was excellent all over the ice,” Gadowsky said.
The Nittany Lions came out outscored their opponents 11-3 for the weekend.
Freshman forward Jonathan Milley was the only Lion to score multiple goals with a goal in both games as 10 different players earned a tally during the weekend.
Gadowsky said he was pleased with the way the whole team played together.
“[Depth] is something we strive for,” Gadowsky said. “It’s important to how we play. We try to be a high-tempo, up-pace team and I think you can’t just rely on one or two lines, so it’s good to see us getting contributions from all lines and the defensemen as well. It’s fun to play to up-tempo.”
Milley raised his total to three goals on the season, which put him in a three-way tie for the team lead with fellow freshmen forwards David Glen and Kenny Brooks.
The Nittany Lions will have a quick turnaround for another road game Tuesday night against Fredonia State Blue Devils (Division III) before returning home to the Greenberg Ice Pavilion on Saturday. Last year the Penn State Icers ACHA club team, defeated Fredonia State, 5-4 at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion.
To email reporter: rig5079@psu.edu
