Ice Hockey: Men's
Men's Hockey Upended By Air Force
The Penn State men's hockey team dropped their second home game of the season after getting manhandled by the Air Force Falcons, 5-1.
The loss dropped the Nittany Lions' record to 5-3-0 on the season.
The Lions faced a one goal deficeit going into the first intermission after they were unable to capitalize on three first period power plays. Penn State also outshot Air Force 12-8 in the first period.
The second period did not look much better for the Lions after they let allowed a tic-tac-toe goal. Ben Carey hustled his way into the Penn State zone, then spun around and backhanded a pass to Kyle De Laurell who only had to tap it past a diving P.J. Musico to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead.
Sloppiness was the result of the third Falcons goal as Chad Demers capitalized on a turnover in front of Musico and buried it.
There appeared to be hope for the Nittany Lions when junior forward Justin Kirchhevel scored his first goal of the season on a breakaway to make it 3-1 with just over 10 minutes left in the third period.
However, the Falcons answered with a goal less then a minute later to make the score 4-1.
Penn State pulled their goalie with more than four minutes left to try to get back into it but Air Force was able to make it 5-1 on an easy tap in goal.
Air Force head coach Frank Serratore felt his team got lucky.
Penn State will get a chance to redeem themselves Saturday night in the weekend's rubber match. The puck drops at 7:30 p.m.