Penn State Men’s Hockey Secures First Win in Chippy Bout Against Canisius

Penn State men’s hockey picked up its first win of the season in a highly physical matchup against Canisius on Friday night at Pegula Ice Arena.

Two early goals from forward Dane Dowiak and some strong goaltending from Josh Fleming powered the Nittany Lions to a 4-1 victory over the Golden Griffins.

“We needed that,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said after the game. “It was an absolutely great team win. Great crowd, which helped a lot.”

How It Happened

It was a physical game from the jump, with Reese Laubach being slammed into the boards early and linemate Shea Van Olm retaliating with a hit of his own. Despite this, the referees let both teams play.

In a poetic turn of events, Dowiak struck first to give the Nittany Lions an early lead just over two minutes into the game. He had spoken to the media just three days prior following a 5-2 loss to Robert Morris about his confidence in turning the season around.

The physicality continued, with forward Luke Misa going down and heading into the locker room for evaluation after taking the brunt of a hit. Casey Aman filled in for him as the extra skater.

Netminder Josh Fleming came up with a couple critical glove saves to maintain the lead into the first intermission, with the Nittany Lions holding an 11-4 shots advantage.

Misa returned to the rotation to start the second period, but Aman instead filled in for defenseman Mac Gadowsky, who didn’t return for the remainder of the contest.

Just over a minute into the middle frame, Golden Griffin Ben Brunelle found the equalizer from short range, but the tie was short-lived.

Sophomore forward Andrew Kuzma recorded his first collegiate goal, propelling Penn State back ahead 2-1, assisted by Kale Dach and Jackson Smith.

The Nittany Lions went to their first power play of the game after a tripping call against David Elmy, but they couldn’t find the net despite opportunities.

The intensity only ramped up from there, with overaggression leading to an exchange of breakaways for each team, but Fleming and his counterpart Jack Lisson shrugging off shots.

Reese Laubach became the third player to skate off the ice with injury, but he remained on the bench and returned to action during his line’s next shift.

After picking up another power-play opportunity, Dowiak netted his second of the night from a tight angle to the right side after it deflected off a Canisius skate.

“(Dowiak) got rewarded for a lot of team play,” Gadowsky said. “He made several excellent changes for the team, including on power play. He back checked extremely hard. He was covering up for people. He played a really excellent game, and often when guys do that they get rewarded.”

On a breakaway, Justin Poirier wristed the puck over the net and out of play before exchanging shoves with Golden Griffin defenseman Jason Gallucci. After some words, Poirier grabbed Gallucci’s shoulder and turned him to read his name plate, mimicking a viral moment from San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Mike Evans on Seattle Seahawk cornerback Trevon Diggs.

Opening the third frame, Canisius defenseman Matt Campbell tripped while handling the puck and slid into the leg of a teammate, seemingly taking a skate to the shoulder and leading to a stoppage in play. He attempted to get up twice but couldn’t maintain balance, leading to a gurney being brought onto the ice, but he eventually stood up and skated off without returning.

Play resumed and Penn State snatched back momentum, aided by consistent wins in the faceoff circle. After weathering a penalty kill for tripping against Shea Busch, the Nittany Lions remained on the attack.

The Golden Griffins pulled Lisson for the extra skater, but Kuzma potted his second of the night to make it 4-1. Penn State didn’t relent, and with just five seconds to play, defenseman Jackson Smith slotted the puck into the top corner to tack on another point.

Team Leaders

Goals: Dane Dowiak, Andrew Kuzma 2

Assists: Jackson Smith, Kale Dach, Justin Larose, 2

Saves: Josh Fleming, 23/24

Up Next: Penn State closes the two-game series against Canisius with a 5 p.m. puck drop on Saturday, followed by the Big Ten opener at Minnesota next weekend.