Icers Complete Sweep of West Virginia
The Penn State Icers (19-3-1) defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers (15-14) for the second time in as many games Saturday afternoon, finishing the sweep with a 6-1 victory at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion.
The Mountaineers took the early lead after forward Tom Camara scored on a breakaway in the second minute of the game. That combined with a strong defensive effort gave West Virginia hope in the early going, as Penn State did not get a shot on goal until the fifth minute.
The Icers were able to turn things around when a shot off the post by newly named captain Dan Loucks rebounded to forward Mike McDonagh. McDonagh found the back of the net on goalie Rob Borcky to tie the game. Icers forward Kurt Collins was able to follow McDonagh's goal with one of his own on a power play wrister assisted by defenseman Nate Jensen, giving Penn State a 2-1 lead.
The game turned physical at the start of the second period. It took more than ten minutes Penn State to find a good chance, and when they did, forward Forrest Dell converted and gave his team a 3-1 lead.
Towards the end of the second, Penn State benefited from another power play opportunity, as Jacob Friedman was tripped up on a breakaway attempt. Forward Josh Daley flew down the ice to put one past Borcky, making the score 4-1 in favor of the Icers, with assists coming from Jensen and Madrazo.
Daley noted the importance of his team's strong efforts on the power play.
"When you get a chance to be a man up, it's obviously very important to try to take advantage of it," Daley said. "If we hadn't scored those goals, it would have been a closer game."
Penn State continued to keep West Virginia from putting up any goals on the board, as forward Tim Acker made an impressive block on a hard slap shot sent from the point. The Icers' offensive production also didn’t dwindle down as forward Eric Steinour found good positioning in front of the net, after Collins’s shot deflected off Borcky, to shoot one into the back of net.
Defenseman Dan Petrick also got his share in adding to the Icers lead, as he scored from the point in what would be the games last goal. The final score was 6-1 win for the Icers, as they dominated by once again leading the in shots on goal (36-20) and this time scoring on all three power plays.
There was some bad news for the Icers, as Loucks needed assistance getting off the ice in the second period after suffering a leg injury.
"It's a hip pointer, so you don't know yet," Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky said after the game. "He's too important for us to lose. We're going to make sure he's 100 percent."
The Icers will hit the road next weekend as they take on the Ohio University Bobcats in a two game series this upcoming Friday and Saturday night.
June Dello Russo is a freshman majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact her, email jld5691@psu.edu.
