Fresh off a series sweep over Big Ten foe Minnesota, Penn State men’s hockey head coach Guy Gadowsky met with the media inside Pegula Ice Arena on Monday to provide updates on the program.
Gadowsky gave status updates on several players dealing with injuries, highlighted a freshman forward making strides and shared a key to this weekend’s series against Notre Dame at Pegula Ice Arena.
Here’s what he had to say.
Injury updates
Penn State finds itself banged up as it embarks into the thick of conference play, with forward Braedon Ford becoming the latest to go down in Saturday’s win over the Golden Gophers.
Ford was violently checked into the boards and immediately fell to the ice, requiring help to depart the rink into the locker room.
Gadowsky said he’ll be out “for a significant amount of time,” without providing specific details, meaning he’ll likely miss the upcoming series against Notre Dame and more games after.
In addition, forward Shea Van Olm and defensemen Charlie Cerrato and Casey Aman, all of whom didn’t play in Saturday’s game, are “day-to-day,” per Gadowsky.
Cerrato leads the team with 24 points and 18 assists, while the three defensemen have combined for 52 games played this season. In their absence, forward Aiden Fink said he noticed several players stepping up, including Alex Servagno, who joined the fourth line Saturday.
Process paying off
Forward Luke Misa has come on strong down the stretch, with four of his seven points this season coming in the last three games. According to Gadowsky, he’s showcased a strong upward trajectory.
“He’s a perplexing one, because he’s actually been analytically playing extremely well lately,” Gadowsky said.
He added that Misa’s numbers are likely still “deflated” due the amount of times he’s hit the goalpost. Gadowsky said Misa is due for more shots to start finding the net instead of ringing the iron, emphasizing there’s likely more points to come for the freshman from Ontario.
“He’s a smart individual,” Gadowsky said. “I think he’s taken his time to really try to learn the league and now that he has, he’s trying to play every period to his advantage, and he’s been one guy, where you can see the transition, and if he can continue to do that, that makes us a much better team.”
The hungry Irish
Gadowsky expressed optimism with how the series went against the Golden Gophers, describing Friday night’s 3-0 win as one of his team’s most complete performances of the season.
However, he pinpointed puck control as a weak point in Saturday’s game, a much closer contest than the 5-2 final score indicated. Against a Notre Dame squad entering this weekend’s series at 4-15-1, riding a seven-game losing streak and still searching for its first Big Ten win, Gadowsky said that’s an area requiring improvement.
“If you don’t manage the puck well, it’s very difficult to manage your shifts,” Gadowsky said. “And when we come against a hungry team, like Notre Dame is sure to be, if they’re playing high tempo, hungry and fast, then we have to manage the puck a hell a lot better.”
