UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State women’s ice hockey team won its third straight AHA Championship with a 4-1 victory over Mercyhurst on Saturday, March 8, at the Pegula Ice Arena.
The victory also qualified the Nittany Lions for their third straight appearance in the NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Tournament that is scheduled to begin on Thursday, March 13.
The Lions will face No. 7 Saint Lawrence at 7 p.m.
Against Mercyhurst in the AHA championship game, the Lions started quickly with a goal by Maddy Christian just 37 seconds into the first period with assists by Grace Outwater and Kendall Butze.
Penn State extended its lead to 2-0 later in the first period with a goal by Brianna Brooks with assists by Christian and Grace Tullock.
Mercyhurst, 20-16-2, coming into the championship, climbed back into contention with a second-period goal by Regina Metzler at the 3:36 mark.
Penn State goalkeeper Katie DeSa, though, made five saves until the Lions struck again at the 17:53 mark on a goal by Katelyn Roberts. Roberts’s score gave Penn State a 3-1 lead that they took into the final period.
DeSa then made four more saves in the first 10 minutes of the third period, and Penn State also stopped a Mercyhurst power play that ended with just under five minutes to play.
Two minutes later, the Lions put things out of reach with Brooks’s second goal of the night with assists by Leah Stecker and Tiffany Hill.
From there Penn State played out the rest of the period and took the 4-1 win and the Lions’ third straight AHA Conference Championship.
DeSa saved 13 of the 14 shots she faced in the and she improved her record to 27-5-0 while Brooks recorded her third two-goal game of the season.
Teswa Janecke and Stecker were named to the AHA All-Tournament Team, and Christian was named MVP of the tournament after scoring a goal in each game.
Penn State will now take on the Saint Lawrence Saints in the NCAA First Round on Thursday, March 13, at the Ohio State Ice Rink in Columbus.
PSU MEN’S ICE HOCKEY SWEEPS MICHIGAN.
The Penn State men’s ice hockey team completed a sweep of Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals on Saturday, March 8, with an impressive 5-2 win over the Wolverines at the Yost Center in Ann Arbor.
As the No. 5 seed in the tournament, the Nittany Lions faced the daunting task of traveling to Michigan and having to take two out of three games to advance in the tournament.
But a hat trick by JJ Wiebusch on Friday, March 7, sparked an exhilarating 6-5 overtime win in Game 1, and then a gritty performance all over the ice on Saturday finished the sweep and sent the Lions into the BIG Semifinals.
On Friday, March 7, the teams traded goals until Wiebusch’s second goal of the game gave Penn State a two-goal, 5-3 lead at the 8:57 mark in the third period.
Michigan responded, to the wild excitement of its home crowd, with two goals down the stretch and tied the game, 5-5, in regulation.
Then, in what might have been the turning point in the series, Wiebusch scored his third straight goal of the night five minutes into the overtime period and gave the Nittany Lions a stirring victory and a 1-0 lead in the series.
With its back against the wall, Michigan came out swinging on Saturday, March 8, a goal by Nick Moldenhauer just 1:23 into the first period.
That quick start by the Wolverines was mitigated almost immediately when Penn State’s Nicholas DeGraves tied the game just 13 seconds later.
And before the period was over, the Lions shot into the lead on a goal by Ben Schoen, assisted by Reese Laubach and Simon Mack, at the 18:07 mark.
Penn State made it 3-1 on a goal by Carson Dyck halfway through the second period, but that was answered by Michigan a minute later on a power play and the teams went into the final period with the Lions holding a tenuous 3-2 lead.
With three minutes remaining in the final period, Wiebusch got into the action with a goal that put the Lions ahead 4-2, and they began to think about a sweep.
Those thoughts were realized when Charlie Cerrato completed the scoring with a penalty shot that set the final score at 5-2.
Penn State goaltender Arsenii Sergeev finished the game with 31 saves and improved his season record to 17-7-4.
The win for Penn State was its 20th of the season, against 12 losses and four ties and it moves the team into the BIG Semifinals.
The Lions’ opponent has not yet been determined, and it is a possibility that the series will take place at the Pegula Ice Arena.
