Penn State men’s hockey fell 6-4 on Saturday night to No. 5 Minnesota after leading 3-0 in the first period.
The defeat the Nittany Lions’ first losing full regular season since 2013-14, the opening year at Pegula Ice Arena during which Penn State finished 8-26-2. (Penn State finished a COVID-impacted 2020-21 season at 10-12 but had several games canceled.)
That in and of itself offers a glass half-full or half-empty premise. On the one hand, Penn State has avoided objectively bad seasons over the past decade, which is by all measures an admirable accomplishment. In turn, the inevitable moment when the Nittany Lions have a year to forget is a right of passage for the still young program.
In the grand scheme of sports, sometimes you just aren’t very good. All of Penn State’s struggles are happening two years removed from a regular season Big Ten title with a team that had a very reasonable shot at the Frozen Four had COVID-19 not canceled the upcoming tournament. The following two seasons have featured significant roster turnover by virtue of graduation or professional departures. Struggles do not happen in a vacuum.
On the other hand, Penn State lost on Saturday night because it failed to get consequential goaltending, was outgunned on the offensive end of the ice and was not – by its own admission – mentally tough enough to overcome in-game adversity. All of these things predictable in the context of the past two seasons.
Nevertheless, there were flashes of good in spite of the final score. Penn State hit the back of the net just over two minutes into regulation. That early tally was eventually added to as Penn State scored two more goals – just 14 seconds apart – pushing the Nittany Lions ahead by three after the first period. (Penn State’s two goals in 14 seconds wasn’t a program record, the Nittany Lions scored back-to-back goals in nine seconds against Michigan State in 2017.)
Minnesota pushed back to make it a 3-2 game early in the second period but it was a response by the Nittany Lions for once that put Penn State ahead 4-2 as the second period entered its final 10 minutes.
That was it though for a Penn State team that lost its offensive punch after the opening 20 minutes of play. Minnesota would make it 4-3 and then 4-4 and then 5-4 and then 6-4 as an empty net goal was slotted home in the game’s final seconds.
“By no means are we there yet,” Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky said after the game of his team’s mental fortitude. “Where we’re the team that you saw a few years ago where, you know, we have the faith in our game to play our game regardless of the score or or surrounding events. So I don’t think we’re there yet.”
Penn State heads to Michigan State next weekend to close out the regular season before opening the Big Ten Tournament in the first round against a to be determined opponent. The first round is a best-of-three series.
