Penn State’s miraculous climb from the bottom of the conference standings to the national semifinals came to a conclusion with a 3-1 loss to Boston in the team’s first-ever Frozen Four appearance on Thursday night. The Terriers will stay put in St. Louis, moving on to take on Western Michigan in the national championship at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Guy Gadowsky’s program had initially gotten behind in its previous two NCAA Tournament games, but found a way out of the hole in both. On Thursday, Nicholas DeGraves took a rebound off Boston goalie Mikhail Yegorov’s leg pad and scored, cutting Boston’s lead to 2-1 in the third period. It appeared as if the Nittany Lions were in position to follow the trend.
The Terriers, a physically gifted team comprised of 13 NHL Draft picks, had other plans. Yegorov made 18 saves over Penn State’s lone period with an advantage in the shot column. Boston ultimately followed through on the dominant showcase that was highlighted by goals from Jack Hughes and Cole Eiserman in the second period.
Hughes shot a puck, lost between the legs of Penn State goalie Arsenii Sergeev, into the net to put the Terriers on the board. That ended a scoreless start from both teams through the first 20 minutes of action. Eiserman later scored a fast-break goal off a pretty assist by Cole Hutson that gave Boston a commanding 2-0 lead entering the final period of play.
Sergeev went to the bench with two minutes remaining, leaving Penn State’s net empty. Matt DiMarsico had a good look on the other side just after, but his shot from the left side was saved by Yegorov. Boston’s Jack Harvey soon scored on the Nittany Lions’ empty net with 59.6 seconds remaining, putting the team’s Cinderella story to bed.
The NCAA Tournament hardly appeared to be an option after Penn State began the season losing each of its first nine Big Ten games. But Gadowsky’s leadership group wasn’t ready to roll over. Carson Dyck and other senior leaders held individual meetings with each player on roster, paving the way for a remarkable resurgence over the second half of the season.
The Nittany Lions ultimately won 12 of their final 14 regular season games, swept Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
DiMarsico and Dane Dowiak each scored two goals to help Penn State to a 5-1 win over Allentown regional top-seed Maine in the first round of the tournament on March 28. DiMarsico struck again two days later, scoring a game-winning goal in overtime that pushed the Nittany Lions to a 3-2 win over UConn, the first regional final victory in program history.
“Everybody talks a good game, but for them to actually do it and then come out right now, going to the Frozen Four is just remarkable. That’s, I think, the biggest lesson that I’ve learned in a long, long time,” Gadowsky said on Monday. “… When everything around you is going well, it’s fairly easy to be positive. It’s a rarity, when things look rock bottom, for guys to really step up and be positive. And that’s what this team did.”
