Penn State falls short of Alaska-Anchorage series sweep
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- Sloppy play in the neutral zone and the defensive zone by the Nittany Lions helped push the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves to a 6-5 win over the No. 15-ranked Penn State men’s hockey program Friday night.
The Nittany Lions will drop to 5-2 in the season, as Big Ten play right around the corner.
The Nittany Lions found scoring from Jacques Bouquot, Danny Dzhaniyev, Christian Berger, Reese Laubach, and Dylan Lugris.
20-4
The Nittany Lions outshot the Seawolves 20-4 in the third period in Friday night’s contest while entering the period being down one score.
The Seawolves ended up scoring once in the period, stretching their lead to two, and the lone Nittany Lion goal in the period came from Lugris with just 12 seconds remaining in the game.
Head coach Guy Gadowsky pulled Souliere in favor of the extra-attacker with three minutes remaining in the game.
While on the six-on-four advantage, the Nittany Lions only managed to score once, which was too little too late for the Nittany Lions’ comeback effort.
Cheating the Game
Gadowsky clung to the phrase “cheating the game” in his post-game press conference, later elaborating on the phrase, saying that the team did not play the game entirely right away.
He also mentioned that they did not play their brand of hockey, and they gotta get back to their style of play when Big Ten play starts back up next week.
Six Goals Allowed
In his first start after being pulled halfway through the second period last Saturday against AIC, senior goaltender Liam Souliere let six shots find the back of the net.
“We really cut Souly out to dry,” said Gadowsky on Souliere’s night in goal.
The Nittany Lions were sloppy in the neutral and defensive zones, giving up turnovers in each, and some of which turned into easy shots for the Seawolves to convert.
“We didn’t do a good job of getting the puck out (of the defensive zone) and they scored a couple goals directly off of that,” Christian Sarlo said.
Rather than staying back and making sure the puck got out of the zone, the Nittany Lions tended to all try and break out rather than get the puck safely out of the defensive zone.
What’s next for Penn State
The Nittany Lions will open up Big Ten play next Saturday when they host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at 7:30 p.m. at Pegula Ice Arena.
