UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State men’s hockey team earned six crucial points in the Big Ten standings as they swept Wisconsin Jan. 15 and 16 at Pegula Ice Arena.
The Friday game was closely contested and came down to an overtime winning goal from David Goodwin. It was the first time in nearly a month that Penn State looked like they did earlier in the season. Penn State carried play throughout the evening and ended the game out-shooting Wisconsin 58-25 en route to their 3-2 overtime victory. In total, the Nittany Lions attempted an eye-popping 98 shots on goal.
Saturday’s game was much different. Penn State did carry play for some of the game, but it was much more evenly played. Penn State scored timely goals on the way to their 4-1 win, but they also gave up a number of odd man chances to a young, but dangerous, Wisconsin team. As he has done all season, however, Eamon McAdam was up to the task making big saves at crucial points of the game, particularly on shorthanded opportunities by Wisconsin.
In the first period, with the game still scoreless, Penn State earned its first power play of the evening. The Nittany Lions proceeded to give up a great scoring chance to Wisconsin, but McAdam made a huge right pad save on a Luke Kunin breakaway attempt. Less than a minute later, Eric Scheid set up Curtis Loik for the first goal of the game. Head coach Guy Gadowsky talked about the importance of those two minutes.
“When you give up a chance like that and get a huge save, and (Penn State) comes back to get (a goal),” Gadowsky said, “that is a huge swing (in momentum).”
Another sequence saw Penn State leading 2-0 in the Saturday game and earning a power play about five minutes into the second period. Instead of putting the game away, the Lions gave up a shorthanded goal on a two-on-one from Wisconsin’s Luke Kunin. Wisconsin went on to get two more quality shorthanded chances during Penn State’s power play, but McAdam was able to shut the door and keep the score 2-1 in favor of Penn State.
If there was any doubt coming into the season who Penn State’s number one goaltender would be, McAdam has answered those questions. He has had back-to-back quality starts stopping 40 of 42 shots against Minnesota on Jan. 8, and then 39 of 40 shots against Wisconsin on Jan. 16. When asked if McAdam is just locked in recently, Gadowsky was hesitant to jinx his starting goaltender. “I don’t know what it is,” Gadowsky said, “but I’m not touching it.”
McAdam is tied for 13th nationally with a .932 save percentage, and he is 21st in goals against average with 2.18. Those numbers are good enough to be the best in the Big Ten, and Michigan’s Steve Racine is the only goaltender with a higher win percentage than McAdam’s .818 on the season.
There is no doubt many factors have led to Penn State’s success this season and their 15-4-3 record. They have the second- and third-leading freshmen scorers in the Big Ten with Andrew Sturtz (11) and Chase Berger (10). Their special teams have been outstanding with the sixth-ranked power play and 12th-ranked penalty kill in the nation. They lead the nation with nine shorthanded goals.
All of that being said, McAdam will be the most important piece in Penn State’s journey moving forward toward a Big Ten title. He has helped to steal big conference wins in back-to-back weeks for Penn State over Minnesota and Wisconsin. He will need to continue his outstanding play in the upcoming weeks as Penn State hits the road against Ohio State, then plays conference leader Michigan for a home game Thursday, Jan. 28, and a neutral site contest at Madison Square Garden in New York City Saturday, Jan. 30.
