No. 18 Penn State men’s hockey (6-0) needed all but 20 seconds of overtime to defeat Division-I newcomer St. Thomas (1-5) on Friday after having no issue putting St. Thomas away on Thursday 6-2 with a four goal second period.
On Friday, Penn State jumped out of the gate with a lot of offense putting up 13 shots on goal in the first period, however they didn’t find their first goal until there was 4:05 left in the first when Conor McMenamin found the back of the net off the assists from Conor MacEchern and Dylan Lugris.
Just 19 seconds later though Penn State found the goal for the second time with a goal by Ben Copeland and assisted by Jimmy Dowd Jr. and Simon Mack.
Two goals in 19 seconds for your viewing pleasure!!#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/vDQiVVRjfb
— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) October 21, 2022
Just as Penn State appeared to start pulling away from St. Thomas though, St. Thomas would get a power play goal to pull back within one right before the end of the first period.
Despite giving up the goal near the end of the period, Penn State still appeared to have momentum entering the locker rooms. They only surrendered six shots on goal to St. Thomas to Penn State’s 13 in addition to having the lead.
It was also one night ago against the same opponent that Penn State took control of the second period and produced incredible results. Despite things seeming to be heading that way again, it was St. Thomas who controlled the game in the second.
In the second, an almost complete switch from Thursday happened. St. Thomas killed a penalty, led in face-offs victories 15-9 and shots on goal 12-7, the only time St. Thomas did so in regulation for any of those three. Most importantly though, they scored the game’s fourth goal which tied things up 2-2 heading into the third.
The third period was all defense with neither team finding the net on 15 combined shots. Penn State found themselves in trouble a couple times though and had to kill two St. Thomas power plays. Despite giving up the first period goal on the power play, Penn State’s penalty kill unit shut down their opponent in the third and sent the game into overtime.
Penn State needed almost all of overtime to put away St. Thomas. It was the game’s first goal scorer, McMenamin, who scored the golden goal off an assist from Noah Grannan, the goalie, with just 20 seconds left in overtime. McMenamin grabbed the puck off of a save from Grannan and then took it the length of the ice himself for the goal. Penn State won 3-2.
End to end OT winner for @PennStateMHKY ❕❕❕ pic.twitter.com/8Tyct0k9YM
— Penn State On BTN (@PennStateOnBTN) October 22, 2022
Three Penn State players took home the stars of the game with McMenamin and Grannan. Dowd, who assisted on the game’s second goal and tied for the team lead in shots with four, took home the third star. Grannan earned the victory in net with 27 saves.
It was the first time Penn State had been tested in overtime. In fact, in their previous five victories, Penn State always won by multiple goals. The test for Penn State came right before Big Ten conference play as winless Wisconsin (0-4, 0-2 Big 10) will host Penn State next weekend.
