Penn State drops series opener to No. 7 Minnesota, 4-1
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- The No. 18-ranked Penn State men’s hockey program dropped Game 1 against the No. 7-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers, 4-1, on Friday night. A 33-save performance from Golden Gopher netminder Justen Close had everything to do with it.
The Nittany Lions fell to 8-5-3 in the season and 1-3-3 in Big Ten play with the result.
Fast start for Penn State
The Nittany Lions jumped out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to a redirection goal from Dane Dowiak.
The Penn State defense held the Gophers to no shots for just more than the first 15 minutes of the contest.
From the opening faceoff, the Nittany Lions were playing fast, physical, and shutting down almost every Gopher chance.
Those first fifteen minutes were all there was for the Nittany Lions Friday night, as the Gophers turned things around.
Golden Gophers flip the script
Being shotless headed across the fifteen-minute mark, Minnesota looked like they’d be heading into the first intermission down a score, but that was until Sam Rinzel got the Gophers on the board with their first shot of the game, but also the first score.
Not much later, Bryce Brodzinski completely flips the script on the game, scoring Minnesota’s second goal on the team’s second shot, giving the Gophers a 2-1 headed into the first intermission.
Both of Minnesota’s first-period goals were lightly contested, as they were able to score off Nittany Lion’s mistakes.
Taking advantage of the opportunities
Taking advantage of mistakes became the theme of the Nittany Lions’ loss on Friday night, as three of the goals scored by Minnesota came from Nittany Lion mistakes.
Against a team like Minnesota, mistakes can be costly, and that showed Friday night.
What’s next for Penn State
The Nittany Lions will look to avoid the sweep from Minnesota on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. at Pegula Ice Arena in University Park, Pa.
