I was thinking this would be on BtN, but of course Buckeye basketball vs Little Sisters of the Poor .
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2025-26 PSU Men's Ice Hockey Thread
- Thread starter Tom McAndrew
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Yeah, can’t get enough of those absurd and worthless November rent a victim basketball games.I was thinking this would be on BtN, but of course Buckeye basketball vs Little Sisters of the Poor .
PSU played a really good road game against a very good team. What cost PSU was their power play; they had a lot of them and did basically nothing on them. In fact, as has happened too often, the other team often had better scoring chances when they were short handed than when they were at even strength.
Yes, they did what they needed to do to have a chance to win that game. The good thing is that after tomorrow, they already will have played one third of their Big 10 road games.
Last night’s game gave me some hope that their struggles in the non-conference schedule might be something they’ve put behind them. But, today’s result unfortunately is exactly what I was fearing might happen against better competition. Leaking goals and not enough lines are scoring. They need to figure things out if they want to get back into the tournament by the end of the season.
I think the way I see it is that they still have a long way to go to get back to the tourney.
If you say so. I’ll start to worry if they lose games or series to teams not named MSU and Mich. Losing to them, easily stay in top 10. Others, not so much.
I could be a little down about them (so I apologize for being too negative), but I need to see them be able to get some wins against the likes of the two teams from Michigan to see some progress. In the end, the program put a lot of resources into this season to not merely make the tournament but to win the whole thing. So far they have not shown themselves to be quite ready for that conversation. The B1G has a lot of good teams and the schedule is not easy.
I hope today was just an aberration, but it’s in line with some of the “struggle” wins early in the season. Last year showed they can turn things around dramatically, but you can’t always bank on becoming the hottest team in the nation when the new year arrives.
Both teams feeling each other out early. Couple good chances, one defensive lapse didn’t result in a SoG for UM.
UM Horcoff in the box. PP upcoming. And of course, UM gets a shorty, Reidler got a piece of it but it dribbled through. 1-0 UM. Two good chances, but nothing in twine. 11:20 to go first period.
Cerrato and McKenna had a two on one but McKenna was taken out and Chuck couldn’t bury it. Some good pressure, PsU has played well this far. UM has now had their first sustained zone time, and fantilli was unable to bury a rebound into an open net. Still 1-0 UM 6:28 to go first. Ugh, bouncing puck finds a UM player in the zone and he motors in and beats Reidler. 2-0. Well, we’ve been here before.
And now too many men for us and UM has the man advantage. 2-0, 4:45 to go. PK a success, still 2-0, 2:35 to go
More ugh, redirect gets past Reidler. 3-0
First period mercifully ends. Our opponents have scored nine straight goals. Brutal stretch. Plenty of shots and a couple choice rebounds but just can’t put the biscuit in the basket.
Perfect bounce to a UM stick and it’s 4-0. Absolutely no puck luck thus far, and Ford hit a post and no joy.
Double minors mean 4 on 4. Still 4-0 bad guys, 11:43 left second. Really need a goal. Been a long drought. Annnnnd of course we take a tripping penalty. 4 on 3 for a spell. Tonight is not looking good. PK did well. Then some amazing back and forth hockey with great chances and serious goalie work on both sides. Sadly, still 4-0.
Lions get a PP opportunity with 5:10 left second. And it was a very ineffective PP.
GoOoOoOoAllll!!!! The drought is over, Van Olm in the low slot from Cerrato. Late second. Some good pressure in the last minute right after the goal but the score remains 4-1. Hoping for a good third period with meaningful hockey.
not the start we wanted. Dowiak in the box for interference. And UM plays some tic tac doe for a 5-1 lead. And now after a little back and forth, another defensive lapse, 6-1. Bad play now.
Bleeding stopped, Van Olm in box. Still 6-1, 4:30 left. As penalty expired, UM goal. Been that kind of night. Practically whiffed on the shot but got enough to get through. Offense appears to really miss Fink.
Final, and I don’t want to type it again. Offense has vanished. First period they were throwing pucks on goal but couldn’t get a clean rebound. Then they went back to making the extra pass or two and couldn’t generate shots. Need to come up with something to shake up the offense. Back to back big defeats, but the good news is they were to the two top ranked team in the nation. Just need to get some confidence back and start seeing the puck going into the net early and stop playing from behind so much.
UM Horcoff in the box. PP upcoming. And of course, UM gets a shorty, Reidler got a piece of it but it dribbled through. 1-0 UM. Two good chances, but nothing in twine. 11:20 to go first period.
Cerrato and McKenna had a two on one but McKenna was taken out and Chuck couldn’t bury it. Some good pressure, PsU has played well this far. UM has now had their first sustained zone time, and fantilli was unable to bury a rebound into an open net. Still 1-0 UM 6:28 to go first. Ugh, bouncing puck finds a UM player in the zone and he motors in and beats Reidler. 2-0. Well, we’ve been here before.
And now too many men for us and UM has the man advantage. 2-0, 4:45 to go. PK a success, still 2-0, 2:35 to go
More ugh, redirect gets past Reidler. 3-0
First period mercifully ends. Our opponents have scored nine straight goals. Brutal stretch. Plenty of shots and a couple choice rebounds but just can’t put the biscuit in the basket.
Perfect bounce to a UM stick and it’s 4-0. Absolutely no puck luck thus far, and Ford hit a post and no joy.
Double minors mean 4 on 4. Still 4-0 bad guys, 11:43 left second. Really need a goal. Been a long drought. Annnnnd of course we take a tripping penalty. 4 on 3 for a spell. Tonight is not looking good. PK did well. Then some amazing back and forth hockey with great chances and serious goalie work on both sides. Sadly, still 4-0.
Lions get a PP opportunity with 5:10 left second. And it was a very ineffective PP.
GoOoOoOoAllll!!!! The drought is over, Van Olm in the low slot from Cerrato. Late second. Some good pressure in the last minute right after the goal but the score remains 4-1. Hoping for a good third period with meaningful hockey.
not the start we wanted. Dowiak in the box for interference. And UM plays some tic tac doe for a 5-1 lead. And now after a little back and forth, another defensive lapse, 6-1. Bad play now.
Bleeding stopped, Van Olm in box. Still 6-1, 4:30 left. As penalty expired, UM goal. Been that kind of night. Practically whiffed on the shot but got enough to get through. Offense appears to really miss Fink.
Final, and I don’t want to type it again. Offense has vanished. First period they were throwing pucks on goal but couldn’t get a clean rebound. Then they went back to making the extra pass or two and couldn’t generate shots. Need to come up with something to shake up the offense. Back to back big defeats, but the good news is they were to the two top ranked team in the nation. Just need to get some confidence back and start seeing the puck going into the net early and stop playing from behind so much.
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Just got back from the game. Michigan dominated Penn State. They were still fighting and looking for goal number 8 on the last shift. I hope Penn State plays with fire tomorrow. Tonight, Michigan was by far the better team. Bigger, stronger, faster.
I’d like to chalk this up to the loss of Fink and our overall youth (still working to develop team chemistry). That, or they just aren’t good. Or, it’s Franklin’s fault.
