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Penn State Hockey Roars Back to Beat Notre Dame 6-3 in Big Ten Tournament

Penn State hockeys’s strange season will continue for at least one more day as the Nittany Lions roared back to beat Notre Dame 6-3 in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament on Sunday and will advance to the tournament semifinals for the sixth-straight season.

The Nittany Lions – facing Notre Dame for the fifth straight game – fell behind early giving up two goals in the opening 2:41 as the Irish looked to make it four wins against Penn State this season.

Despite the early deficit, the Nittany Lions managed to claw back in the opening period, getting a goal from Christian Sarlo with just about a minute to go in the first. Sarlo’s goal came not long after an earlier Nittany Lion goal had been overturned due to an offsides.

All the same, Penn State found itself trailing 2-1 after 20 minutes.

“You have to admire their composure because […] it couldn’t have been a worse start,” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said after the game. “Get a too many men penalty. They score on the powerplay then score right after. And then we score a goal that gets taken back. So really, that’s probably the worst start you could ever get. But the way the guys battled back and really were composed, you really have to give them a lot of credit.”

Oskar Autio would make a key save early in the second period and two goals by Connor McMenamin seven minutes apart tied the game and gave the Nittany Lions the lead in the middle period. Both goals came by virtue of assists by Kevin Wall.

Grad transfer Tim Doherty pushed Penn State even further ahead on the man advantage late in the second period to give the Nittany Lions a 4-2 advantage at the second intermission.

Chase McLane added a fifth to the Penn State total 8:20 into the final frame and while Notre Dame would get a goal from Ryder Rolston four minutes later, it wasn’t enough to spark a comeback with roughly seven minutes to go with the Irish down two goals.

McLane would add his second of the afternoon with an empty-net goal with just over 30 seconds remaining in regulation.

Autio was solid in net all afternoon as Penn State picked up its first postseason victory over Notre Dame in program history. Autio made 33 saves, matching Dylan Cyr with his own 33 saves across the ice. The Nittany Lions were largely dominated at them face-off circle though, with Notre Dame taking a 43-20 advantage there.

Penn State will now turn its gaze towards No. 1 seeded Wisconsin and presumed national player of the year Cole Caulfield for a 4:30 afternoon puck drop on Monday in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. The Badgers will look to reverse some history with Penn State having beat Wisconsin in the tournament in 2019 in the third game of a best-of-three series, and in the Big Ten Tournament final in 2017 thanks to an overtime winning goal by Liam Folkes to give the Nittany Lions their first postseason trophy and first NCAA Tournament appearance. That game took place March 18th, while Monday’s meeting will take place March 15, almost four years to the day.

The Big Ten Tournament is single-elimiation this season taking place over three days. All games are played in South Bend, Indiana, home of Notre Dame.