Men’s Hockey Tops Bentley 3-2 to Complete Sweep
Penn State remained unbeaten on home ice and completed the series sweep of the Bentley Falcons with a thrilling 3-2 comeback victory on Friday at Pegula Ice Arena.
Taylor Holstrom and Eric Scheid scored 16 seconds apart late in the third period to give the Nittany Lions the decisive edge. Bentley came close to scoring the tying goal multiple times in the waning seconds but a sprawling block by Connor Varley, along with a few big saves from Matt Skoff preserved the win for Penn State. The win moved Penn State to 5-1-2 on the season and was their second come from behind victory in as many days. Penn State, who is known as primarily a second period team, used a critical third period to secure the victory.
“In the third we looked more like the Penn State hockey team we expect. That was a very good win,” said head coach Guy Gadowsky.
The game was fairly even at full strength as Bentley’s two goals came on the power play.
“We certainly didn’t play our best at the start, taking some penalties. We knew Bentley was sixth in the nation and our game play was to not give them any opportunities. We gave them two and its two nothing,” said Gadowsky.
Penn State also had ample power play opportunities, tallying two goals on six power play chances. The Nittany Lions rode the special teams momentum in the second period, first killing off a Bentley power play and then capitalizing on one of their own with a goal from Scott Conway.
After coming from behind the previous night to beat Bentley for the first come from behind win in program history, Penn State needed some late magic to produce a similar outcome in this game.
“It feels really good to be on the other side of one of these games,” said forward Eric Scheid who scored the game winning goal. “It’s been haunting us lately so being able to come from behind both nights and get a win is pretty exciting.”
In what was a quiet Pegula Ice Arena for the majority of the night, Penn State’s late push sent the crowd into a frenzy. Holstrom scored on a one-timer from the high slot and a slick feed by Dylan Richard with 2:59 left to play. Then, just seconds later on a seemingly innocent rush, Scheid fired a high-rising shot that glanced off Bentley goaltender Blake Dougherty’s shoulder and into the back of the net.
“I just started driving wide and once I got into the zone I pulled up and started looking for the trailer but there was no one there and I figured might as well throw it on the net and see what happens,” said Scheid.
After their four game home stretch, Penn State doesn’t return to Pegula until January 9th against Ohio State. Despite the fact that the team seems to thrive on home ice, and that all five of their wins this season have come in Happy Valley, they don’t seem to think that the long road stand will affect their play too much.
“I haven’t played on the road very much, so I’m excited,” said Scott Conway. “ I think if we continue to play the way we are we will be just fine.”
Penn State has a two week break before traveling to Tsongas Arena to face No. 9 UMass Lowell.
Jack Milewski is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him please email him at jbm250@psu.edu.
