Dylan Richard rocketed a shot from between the circles with 1:19 to go in overtime that hit the crossbar and rang louder than the bell in Old Main down the street.
The result would go into the books as a tie, Penn State taking it to No. 16 ranked St Lawrence for over three periods of play.
But for the Nittany Lions, the result will perhaps be remembered more as a game full of missed opportunities. A shorthanded chance that could have given Penn State a 2-1 lead hit the post. Power play chances that went uncapitlized on and odd man rushes that ended with saves.
“We escaped tonight for sure,” SLU coach Greg Carvel said after the game. “I thought the first 30 minutes were pretty lopsided. We got outclassed for 30 minutes. Luckily we were outstanding on the penalty kill with the seven penalties we had to kill off.”
The first period was a barrage of rubber as the Nittany Lions outshot SLU 20-7 in the opening 20 minutes of play. Alec Marsh picked up his fourth goal of the year 4:41 into the game to put the Nittany Lions up 1-0. Brian Ward answered the opening tally just under two minutes later to knot the score at 1-1.
From there it was a defensive affair. Hits, battles on the board and big saves that turned a usually offensive happy Pegula Ice Arena into the stage for a true hockey game. Few defensive breakdowns and few mistakes. When mistakes were made someone was there to fix the issue. That being said, it was a true hockey game played by two evenly matched teams. Defensive battle far from code for ugly and sloppy. Deadlocked in the best way possible.
That was until 15:47 into the second period when a Curtis Loik penalty set up for a SLU man advantage and an eventual Mike Marnell goal to put the visitors up 2-1. In a game with such tight defense, Penn State’s attack suddenly had quite a hill to climb to try and break a St Lawrence defense and outstanding net minding by Arthur Brey who made 50 saves in the tie. Matthew Skoff picked up 24 stops in his effort for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State found the offense it needed though 6:26 into the final frame as David Goodwin streaked down the left side of the rink and fed the puck to a trailing Vince Pedrie across the ice. Pedrie took the puck and in his words “closed his eyes” and let it rip.
Tied and with the crowd on its side the Nittany Lions pushed forward but neither team could find the game winner, a near goal at the buzzer threatened to ignite the Pegula Ice Arena crowd but such an evenly matched game was headed to extra time.
Penn State would spend nearly all of the final five minutes of play on the man advantage but could muster only one shot on goal.
And that shot rang loud and clear.
The Nittany Lions will get an opportunity to make up for those missed chances on Friday night as the series draws to a close. For a team that got 52 shots on goal all night there is little Penn State will look to change.
“It’s like putting, sometimes you line up the putt like you always do and hit it and it just doesn’t go in.” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said after the game.
So the Nittany Lions will hope for a friendlier roll on Friday but won’t soon forget the battle fought on Thursday.
“It’s one of those games you take off your skates and smile because it was just a fun hockey game,” Pedrie said.
