Penn State Men’s Hockey: Nittany Lions Fall 2-1 in Overtime to Michigan in Second Round of NCAA Tournament

The cruelty of hockey is that goals are instantaneous. There is no opportunity to digest what is happening, most everything in sports develops and unfolds. You can watch a running back sprint down the field and score a touchdown. Even shots in basketball take a second or two. But a goal, an overtime goal? You snap your fingers and everything is different.

So as Penn State fell to Michigan 2-1 in the first minute of overtime on Sunday night there were few that have sucked the life out of the Nittany Lions as quickly as that one did, Mackie Samoskevich racing into the offensive zone, ripping a shot to the right of Penn State goalie Liam Souliere and into the back of the net. Penn State’s dreams of a first-ever Frozen Four trip there one moment and gone the next.

Eventually the Nittany Lions will find some solace in how they played on Sunday in front of a sold-out PPL Center in Allentown. They will appreciate the goaltending of Souilere who made 41 saves, the defensive unity, and a power play – Penn State’s only of the postseason – finding a pulse when it needed to the most. The Nittany Lions will find pride in the fact they faced a Michigan team loaded with NHL draftees and hold their heads high for finding a way to keep the nation’s best offense in check for basically the entire game.

But they will also lament what could have been. Because it seemed inevitable Michigan was going to score, a 0-0 first period only delaying that truth. And then as Connor MacEachern slammed home a shot with just over a minute to go in the second period to put Penn State head 1-0 on the power play , suddenly it seemed entirely possible that Michigan wasn’t going to score, no matter the chances, no matter the opportunities.

Of course as Michigan tied the game with 12:09 to go in regulation the inevitability of the Wolverines’ offense took shape and Penn State’s budding upset hopes and aspirations of a trip to Tampa Bay for the Frozen Four seemed ever so slightly further away. Then again, as the clock wound down to zeroes and the teams headed to overtime, anything was possible.

But the most probable outcome eventually occurred. Michigan – laden with talent from a pipeline Penn State may never crack – leaned on its talent and found a goal when it mattered most.

For Penn State the conclusion of a 22-16-1 season comes with both the regret of what might have been and as well as the positives associated with a very necessary return to success after back-to-back wayward years. The Nittany Lions did a lot of things well in 2022-23 and will have plenty to build on in the year ahead. When it really needed to, Penn State regained its footing for the first time since the COVID-19 impacted season and Guy Gadowsky will find plenty of positives within that fact.

All the same, overtime hockey is a cruel way to go out, and the Nittany Lions won’t soon forget the feeling of a season ending in an instant.