Penn State Looking for a Repeat Performance Against Michigan
From two record-breaking friendly crowds to a hostile environment a few states over, the Big Ten gauntlet continues for No. 6 Penn State.
After splitting a series with Notre Dame, the Nittany Lions travel to Yost Ice Arena this weekend to take on the No. 7-ranked Michigan Wolverines, who are coming off of a series split of their own with No. 2 Minnesota.
Though it resulted in just one win, the blue and white played the Penn State brand of hockey against the Fighting Irish. The Nittany Lions fired 98 shots towards Ryan Bischel of Notre Dame, but more telling of the Penn State story this season was the depth scoring on display.
Head coach Guy Gadowsky, who saw four different scorers all from different lines or defensive pairings in Danny Dzhaniyev, Simon Mack, Connor MacEachern and Christian Sarlo, spoke about what the depth has meant for the blue and white.
“That's really a big part of the success that we’ve had is that we don't just have one line that's been scoring,” Gadowsky said. “We have scoring depth at all positions and all lines and all the D-pairings and I think that’s been a big part of our success. I think because of that we’re difficult to match.”
21 different Penn State players have registered goals this season, the most in the nation. Only one of those 21 has scored double-digits goals, Kevin Wall. The senior forward has lit the lamp on 12 occasions and is atop the team with 21 points.
While 18 different skaters have scored for the Wolverines, their offense is highlighted by three underclassmen with 10 or more goals. Adam Fantilli, Mackie Samoskevich and Dylan Duke have combined for 39 goals.
The freshman Fantilli leads the team with 14 goals and 33 points, increasing his draft stock and helping the Wolverines rebound following a slow start. The Ontario native sunk the Nittany Lions with an overtime goal in the second game of the first series between the two sides.
That first series between these two sides had a little bit of everything. After Penn State took the first game in part due to a Liam Souliere shutout, 3-0, Michigan came out of the gate in game two taking a 3-0 lead.
After the halfway point of the third period though, the Nittany Lions stormed back scoring three goals in the final 9:08 to send the game to overtime, that is when Fantilli ended the game just 24 seconds in.
“I think probably the first game here was maybe the best game we've had all year or actually go beyond just this year. It was excellent,” Gadowsky said. “But you know, every game is a new one and it creates its own feel, its own identity.”
One part of the new feel that will be on display in this weekend’s series is Erik Portillo. Portillo has made all but three starts in net for the Wolverines, but it was Noah West facing all but one of the Nittany Lions’ 84 shots in the last meetings.
Barring anything unpredictable, Portillo will have the reins of the crease this weekend. The junior netminder has a 13-8-0 record with a 3.05 goals against average and .907 save percentage following a weekend in which he yielded eight goals on 78 shots.
If Penn State can take anything away from Portillo’s numbers against the Golden Gophers, it's to shoot the puck. Shooting the puck plays into the strengths of Penn State and defenseman Christian Berger explains that after facing a tough shot-blocking team in Notre Dame, the defensive pairings will look to be active in the attacking zone once again.
“Right now our focus is getting more shots to the net, getting our forwards the puck because at the end of the day, we want the puck up top, but our forwards got to know that we’re going to get it down to him and get it to the net for more scoring opportunities,” Berger said.
On the defensive efforts Berger and his fellow defenseman will look to ease up the efforts of Liam Souliere.
Souliere has been solid in net making 55 saves in 58 opportunities against Notre Dame. Those efforts against the Fighting Irish improved the Hobey Baker nominee’s record to 16-6-1 with a 2.21 goals against average and .917 save percentage.
“I think the way he handles himself has been very important to team defense. Not just the pucks he's saving, it's the manner in which he does it and how it helps the defense,” Gadowsky said. “Like, he's just so calm and so cool, that it's been really, really, really effective.”
Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday in Ann Arbor, and Penn State is ready for the challenge that awaits.
“We just got to stick to the script and obviously Michigan is a tough place to play at, but we also love playing there,” Wall said. “You can always get hyped for a Michigan game and I think we’re gonna have a ton of energy and we're ready to go.”
Justin Ciavolella is a second-year student majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jtc5751@psu.edu.
