Nittany Lions Split Two-Game Series With Fighting Irish
Hockey Valley was excited for the first home series of the season as Penn State hosted Notre Dame for a two-game series. The Fighting Irish are arguably the best non-conference team the Nittany Lion’s have hosted since becoming a Division I program.
The home opener was Friday night in front of a sold out crowd, however, most fans did not see the result they were hoping for. Steven Fogarty’s hat trick propelled Notre Dame forward as they secured a 7-4 victory.
“The students were great, it was just awesome,” Penn States head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “I think we started extremely well, part of it was feeding off the great student section.”
Following a quick start from Penn State, Notre Dame was able to get the all-important first goal midway through the opening period. Thomas DiPauli converted on a tip in goal off of a shot from Jordan Gross. Shortly after that, the Fighting Irish took a hooking penalty giving the Nittany Lions the first power play of the game. Just a minute into the man advantage, Dylan Richard deposited the puck into Cal Petersen’s net to knot the game at one. Notre Dame countered when senior defensemen Andy Ryan snagged his third goal of his career. Fogarty made it 3-1 with four minutes left in the first to start his three-goal night.
Fogarty, who serves as captain for the Fighting Irish, struck again with a goal seven minutes into the second followed by a goal later in the period. Just 12 seconds after Fogarty completed his hat-trick, freshman Alec Marsh scored on a feed from linemate David Goodwin to make it 5-2. Riding a goal that brought life back into the arena, Richard scored making it 5-3 just 46 seconds after Marsh’s tally.
All the built up momentum from the two late goals was lost when Notre Dame came out and scored two goals just four minutes into the final period. Ryan got his second and Mario Lucia scored off a pass from Fogarty to make it 7-3. Two minutes later Marsh tallied his second goal of the night to decrease the lead back to three. Penn State fought hard to make it a game late in the third period, amassing 13 shots in the period, but Notre Dame stood tall as the game ended 7-4.
Eamon McAdam was the starter in net for the Nittany Lions on Saturday afternoon for his second start of the season. Following a rough start, McAdam led his team to their second win of the year.
After a speedy Notre Dame goal scored by Ben Ostlie, Penn State got their feet under them as David Thompson converted on a rebound goal. Kenny Brooks got the primary assist by putting the puck on net with a quick shot from the half boards.
“It is something the coaches harped on,” Brooks said. “They were telling the team we need to shoot tonight more, so we were all prepared to do that.”
The Fighting Irish again jumped to a one goal lead as freshman Dylan Malmquist converted on a nice power play set up from Bobby Nardella. The blue and white were again ready to respond as they got a 5-on-3 power play eight minutes into the second period.
“We rolled off three in a row and got the snowball rolling and the crowd into it,” Gadowsky said. “That makes it fun and certainly adds to the momentum.”
Chase Berger kicked off the scoring in the second by following a feed by Brooks, who found the freshman in the slot and quickly shot it under goalie Cal Peterson. Under a minute later, Marsh gave the Nittany Lions the first lead of the series on another pass from Brooks. Feeding off of the noise coming from the student section, Ricky DeRosa made it 4-2 as he ripped a shot past Peterson. Shortly after that, Lucia made it a one-goal game again as he capitalized on a rebound goal.
The Fighting Irish dominated the third period as they tried to even up the game. It was to no avail as Curtis Loik sealed the deal with an empty netter as the contest was coming to an end.
Talking about Notre Dame’s goalie and Saturday’s game, Gadowsky said, “We know he is excellent, it wasn’t a matter of doing anything different. I just think we were a little bit hungrier and we played better all over the ice to get better opportunities 5-on-5.”
Penn State is back at it with a weekend series against American International College Friday, Oct. 23 and Saturday, Oct. 24 at the Pegula Ice Arena.
Trey Cochran is a senior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email mjc5789@psu.edu.
