Penn State’s unsuccessful weekend in Storrs, Conn. was summed up by a simple cliché, head coach Guy Gadowsky said after losing for the second consecutive night, this time 4-1.
“We have to put 60 minutes together,” Gadowsky said. “We have to be a little more hungry to finish them off, but we have to put all aspects of our game together at once, which we are struggling with right now.”
Gadowsky was still looking at the bright side after Saturday night’s game.
“It was a weekend where [we got] 80-something shots, so there [are] positives,” Gadowsky said.
The Nittany Lions went into Saturday’s game looking to redeem themselves after dropping a back and forth battle with the Huskies the night before, 4-3.
Right after the opening faceoff, it looked like Penn State would be controlling the game. Just 13 seconds into the rubber match, freshman forward Casey Bailey scored his ninth goal of season.
However, the lead did not last long as the Huskies found the net to tie the game just 1:09 later. UConn then took the lead for good with 3:22 left in the first period. The Huskies added another goal in the second period and an empty-netter in the final minute sealed the victory.
Gadowsky said the team has improved in getting pucks to the net, but they have to be “hungry” defensively as well. The play in the neutral zone also needs to be tightened up, Gadowsky said.
With the losses, Penn State drops to 8-11-0 on the season, with six wins coming against Division I opponents.
The Lions outshot the Huskies 85-47 and also went 1-for-7 on the power play on the weekend despite the losses.
Freshman forward David Glen and Bailey both found the net and remain tied with the team lead with nine goals each. Sophomore forward Max Gardiner also tallied two assists to extend his team lead to 12 in the category.
The Lions will return home to the Greenberg Ice Pavilion for a two-game exhibition series against the United States Under-18 National Development team. Both Friday and Saturday’s games are slated for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.
