Series Grades: Penn State Men’s Hockey vs. Mercyhurst
After a home-and-home with the Mercyhurst Lakers, the Penn State Nittany Lions find themselves with another series sweep and a 4-0 record.
Let’s take a look at how each position group performed throughout the series with the Lakers.
Forwards: A
The most impressive part of the Nittany Lions continuing to roll against Mercyhurst was their offense. Despite the Lakers hanging around in the early parts of game one, the blue and white always felt in control of the game.
Penn State kept adding on to its total goals in game one to keep the Lakers at arms length while in game two they got ahead early and made sure to tack on goals late.
Game one featured the fastest goal score in Nittany Lion history thanks to transfer Ture Linden potting one just seven seconds into the contest.
Penn State scored 10 goals throughout the series, keeping their season average above five, good for second overall in the nation. The offense is the strength of this team and it continues to roll through two series.
Defense: B
Penn State only conceded four goals on the weekend, but Mercyhurst has not had a strong offense in the early parts of this season.
In game one the Nittany Lions allowed Mercyhurst to tie their season high in goals with three. However, Penn State never trailed in game two and held the Lakers to just one goal.
The Nittany Lion defense did a good job shutting things down and keeping control of the two games and even got involved in the scoring. Dylan Gratton and captain Paul Denaples got on the board throughout the series.
Goaltending: B-
Liam Souliere was dealing with a minor injury and missed the second game in the series against Canisius.
He was able to start in both games against Mercyhurst and was mildly successful. Souliere only gave up four goals throughout the series, but his play was a bit rocky in game one.
He had a bad giveaway that led to a goal early on in the contest, but ultimately still came out with a win. In game two Souliere played well, but was not tested much, only facing 20 shots.
Coaching: B+
Guy Gadosky and the coaching staff did a nice job this series keeping the team a bit more disciplined, only taking five penalties for the series and allowing just one power play goal.
The staff tightened up the young defense and only gave up four goals against Mercyhurst compared to seven goals last weekend against Canisius.
Special teams can still be improved as the power play struggled and the Nittany Lions gave up a shorthanded goal, but overall it was a fine series from the coaching staff.
Penn State plays a series against St. Thomas starting Thursday, Oct. 20. It’s the last series before the Nittany Lions begin Big Ten conference play.
Maclain Young is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email macyoung21@gmail.com.
