Penn State Hockey: Nittany Lions Take Care Of Business With 5-2 Victory In Alaska

Battling a roaming sickness through the roster and the demands of a long travel schedule Penn State came out on top of Alaska Anchorage 5-2 to improve to 7-2-2 Friday night.

The Nittany Lions leaned on their patented explosive offense scoring three unanswered goals in the second and third periods at the Sullivan Arena in front of 1,784 fans. 

Penn State opened the scoring with two goals from freshman Andrew Sturtz in an 89-second span before giving up two goals in just 29 seconds to hit the reset button on the game with 7:23 remaining in the opening frame.

“I thought the response was great (when we gave up two goals),” head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “I’m a little disappointed that we let (UAA) get back in the game. We had a couple great performances: Kenny Brooks, Andrew Sturtz was phenomenal and another great goaltending performance. I don’t like the fact that we let them back in, but once righted the ship I thought we played very well.”

Ricky DeRosa notched his third game-winning goal of the season early in the second period and Curtis Loik and Brooks added insurance tallies. Eamon McAdam had 19 saves to improve to 5-1-0 on the season.

In the second, DeRosa took a Tommy Olczyk feed on the left wing and beat the goalie stick side for a 3-2 lead with 16:18 remaining in the second. Vince Pedrie earned his fourth helper on the play.

“Heckuva play, really started by Vince Pedrie moving the puck really quickly,” Gadowsky added. “And a cute, cute, great vision play by Tommy Olczyk to send Ricky in and he made no mistake. That was a big one, we were on the back of our heels a little bit and then when Ricky got one we were able to right the ship.”

Penn State out-shot UAA 31-21 as the Lions took the fewest shots on the season, while holding an opponent to its fewest. Both teams were scoreless on the power play with the Lions missing out on four opportunities and the Seawolves having all three of their chances killed. Penn State won the faceoff battle, 30-23.

The Nittany Lions’ 7-2-2 record matches the program’s best all-time start to a season. Penn State will be back in action again tonight looking to complete the sweep and head back to State College with eight wins out of the its last 12 games.