Penn State drops opener at Michigan

Story posted January 28, 2023 in CommRadio, Sports by Mac Young

The No. 6 Penn State Nittany Lions failed to keep up Friday night as they fell to the Michigan Wolverines by a final score of 7-3.

Penn State has struggled to win at Yost Ice Arena, failing to win a game there since 2019, so they would need a strong start to have any chance in this one.

Unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, the Wolverines came out flying, scoring a pair of goals on their first two shots of the evening.

Michigan finished the first period with just eight shots as opposed to Penn State who fired an overwhelming 18 pucks on net, but the Wolverines went back to the locker room with a 2-0 advantage.

Less than two minutes into the second, Michigan defenseman Jay Keranen took dangerously boarded Penn State’s Ben Schoen resulting in a five-minute major penalty and 10-minute game misconduct for the young Wolverine blue-liner.

Schoen would not return to the game.

However, things were looking up for the Nittany Lions as Xander Lamppa scored just six seconds into the man advantage.

Trailing 2-1, the Blue and White had 4:54 of power play time to tie it up or even potentially take the lead.

The young Wolverines squad was having none of that.

The Maize and Blue buckled down and killed off the remaining time on the major penalty.

One of the significant differences between the two squads Friday night was finishing chances.

Both teams had major opportunities to score, but Michigan was able to finish off its chances.

Not long after Penn State’s five-minute power play, the Wolverines scored two goals less than a minute apart from each other. Both goals were scored in high-danger areas.

At that point, Nittany Lion starting goaltender Liam Souliere was pulled, and replaced by Noah Grannan.

Penn State was able to generate a little bit of hope at the end of period two with Lamppa collecting his second tally of the night making it a 4-2 game heading into the third period.

The Nittany Lions dominated the majority of the third period. It felt like the team deserved a goal, but the Blue and White simply could not finish their chances.
Guy Gadowsky put the extra attacker out with just under three minutes remaining to the tune of two Michigan empty-net-goals.

After a collection of penalties and chippy play, the teams each exchanged another goal resulting in a 7-3 Michigan victory.

Penn State has a lot to work on as they once again try to solve the intimidating arena that is Yost on Saturday night.

Maclain Young is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email macyoung21@gmail.com.