To put it frankly, the last few seasons for Penn State men’s hockey have not been fun for a program built on the idea of fun.
COVID-19 canceled the NCAA Tournament at the conclusion of the 2020 season as the Nittany Lions fielded their deepest team in program history, Penn State with Frozen Four potential and in turn national title dreams.
In 2021 COVID once again reached the ice, canceling games and forcing Penn State to play games in front of empty arenas. The roaring crowds of Pegula Ice Arena were stuck at home, and with it one of the great home ice advantages in college hockey.
Coach Guy Gadowsky’s family lived in two different locations during the pandemic, separated due to health concerns. It was a challenge for him both on and off the ice, coaching and living in a world so wildly different.
Now in 2021, rolling into 2022, the Nittany Lions have been on the wrong end of games, calls and bounces. Things have not been easy as a young roster has looked to learn how to win and how to play at a high level in a difficult Big Ten conference. Even the good things have happened in weird situations, Penn State’s biggest win of the year happened in Nashville in front of a crowd of North Dakota fans rooting for the opposite result.
There has been fun, but it has been hard to come by and it has been a slog to discover.
But on Friday and Saturday night Penn State hockey was fun again. Friday night is was an easy win. Then on Saturday the Nittany Lions worked out to a 3-0 lead before Wisconsin cut it to 3-2 early in the third period.
In that moment Penn State had a chance to grow, to be the team it wants to be, punching back in those junctures when the game is decided. Or it could continue to be the team it had been earlier in the year, easily hit, easily knocked down and easily punched in the mouth. A team Gadowsky lamented earlier in the year needed to grow and toughen mentally.
The answer? Penn State scoring four-straight, winning 7-2.
And in those moments, three things happened. A young Penn State team grew, and the program had fun again, and the crowd roared.
“I think the experiences that we’ve gone through lately. Whether it be against Notre Dame, against Michigan, even against at Wisconsin, all of them build up to being able to do that,” Gadowsky said after the game of responding to Wisconsin’s two third period goals. “It’s easy to talk about. You can talk about it a lot but you have to go through really difficult lesson for it to stick. So I don’t think we could [have responded like that earlier in the year.]”
And as far as the fun?
“You’re starting to see that work [of building a locker room culture] pay off on the ice because it does transfer over. And when you have that fun, and you have a great culture – yes, this is fun, and it’s nice to feel.”
Of course every win comes with a caveat, Wisconsin is not good, but not without talent – but winning is winning, and Penn State won its sixth series sweep since 2017 on Saturday night.
And perhaps more importantly than winning – if such a thing exists – Penn State found some mojo again, and had fun in the process.
