Penn State hockey’s 3-2 win over Minnesota may turn out to be one of the program’s most significant victories. It may end up having clinched a Big Ten regular season title, it almost certainly put the bow on an NCAA Tournament bid and a trip to Allentown to play meaningful postseason hockey in front of a home crowd.
But nobody knows for sure, at least not yet.
The only thing for certain, that hardware wasn’t going to call State College home without Penn State picking up three crucial points against the Gophers on Saturday night. A win and things got interesting, a loss and Penn State would be left to say ‘what if’ as the bulk of a talented roster graduated, relegated for late nights alone look at the celling, wishing for another crack at the games that had slipped away.
For nearly 30 minutes it felt that way inside a somber Pegula Ice Arena with Minnesota ahead 2-0, an early goal 2:57 into regulation an easy slam home by Sammy Walker to put the Gophers on the board first. Another goal in the final two minutes of the first period made it 2-0. Penn State’s offensive onslaught of Friday night was truly a thing of the past despite a 15-9 shots advantage on Saturday.
In those moments it felt like so many of Penn State’s other games this season. The Nittany Lions had chances, but couldn’t finish, they had speed but couldn’t capitalize. Add in a suddenly rebound-prone Peyton Jones in goal and it looked as though there was no firm ground for Penn State to lean on.
But moments like that are why the Nittany Lions recruited the likes of PA-native Evan Barratt, who made something out of nothing, jumping on a rebound and pounding home a goal that gave Penn State life. Suddenly the Nittany Lions were down 2-1, one shot away from tying the game, two shots from taking the lead.
And Penn State nearly did on more than one occasion in the final minutes of that second period, a stout defense giving up just four shots the entire 20 minute frame. Everything was clicking, everything except the button that sounds the goal horn. So close and yet so far, a subtitle Penn State was hoping to avoid on the season’s postscript.
Which made Nikita Pavlychev’s goal midway through the third period one of the most important he had ever scored. A 2-on-1 wrister that flipped up and over goalie Jack LaFontaine. It was tied, after all that ‘almost’ there was a crowd roaring loud enough to lift the rafters as they celebrated ‘finally.’
31 seconds later freshman Kevin Wall slotted home the eventual winner, the roar so loud that the air buzzed. The Nittany Lions responded on the ice with fast legs, tenacious defense and the kind of confidence that had lacked in so many games before. The swagger was back and the hope was there with it.
‘We couldn’t hear each other talk,’ Pavlychev said of the crowd through his thick Russian accent with a grin.
For the next nine minutes and 31 seconds the crowd lived and died on every shot, on every block and on every shift change. For a team that had played through so many ups and downs, good play and bad, the goal was still right there. They could almost reach out and touch it.
What the crowd knew that the Nittany Lions were doing their best to ignore: A win would mean that only Ohio State and Minnesota could take the Big Ten title from Penn State next weekend. A win meant that if both Minnesota and Ohio State lose a game next weekend, the trophy was coming to Hockey Valley. If nothing else, a win meant a trip to Allentown for postseason play, a win meant home ice for some if not all of the Big Ten Tournament.
A win meant a lot.
‘That would be pretty cool,’ Wall said after the game, contemplating that his goal might have been historic. That goal might have given Penn State its first regular season title. That goal might have put him in the history books for as long as Penn State still fields a hockey team.
Of course the Penn State will need help, but losses by Minnesota and Ohio State are not out of the realm of possibility in an ultra-competitive Big Ten.
Time will tell.
In the meanwhile the Nittany Lions will hold on to the memories in case Saturday night was truly a bit more historic than just another win.
‘I’ll remember singing the alma mater,’ Guy Gadowsky said with a smile. ‘I’ll remember that the most.’
