It wasn’t the result Penn State men’s hockey had hoped for, but coach Guy Gadowsky wasn’t about to let a loss spoil one of the biggest days in the history of the program.
Penn State hockey has only been an NCAA program for 15 years, which is a short time to Go from playing under yellow lights to playing in front of more than 75,000.
Here are three takeaways from No. 5 Penn State men’s hockey’s first game in Beaver Stadium, a 5-4 overtime loss to No. 2 Michigan State.
2 SECONDS
Maybe the biggest play of the game happened with two seconds left in the second period.
Penn State was up 3-2 and was about to go into the third period with all the momentum in the world.
Then, with two seconds left, Michigan State’s Charlie Stramel, who ended up with a hat-trick and the overtime winner, tied the game.
If Stramel hadn’t scored and everything else played out the same way, Penn State would have won.
If Michigan State hadn’t been on a power play, maybe the goal wouldn’t have happened.
Gadowksy hopes this is something that can make the team better in the long run.
“I hope that’s a big learning moment for us,” he said. “It was probably, systemically speaking, probably our biggest miss that we’ve had in a while. It’s a big goal to give up at a very big time, like you mentioned, and I hope it has the equal big learning effect. That’s something we have to learn from because of the moment it was, and I’m sure we will.”
GAV THE GREAT
Photo courtesy of Penn State hockey: Gavin McKenna
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Penn State hockey might have played in Beaver Stadium without Gavin McKenna.
But it’s hard to argue that getting the projected No. 1 pick in this year’s NHL Draft didn’t help the process.
The afternoon wouldn’t have felt right without a goal from McKenna, and that goal happened in the second period, inspiring what might already be one of the best photos in Penn State hockey history, captured by Mark Selders of Penn State athletics.
For Gadowsky, McKenna is just as good of a person as he is a player, pardon the cliche.
“There’s so much that very justifiably is recognized and written about his talent, and it should be, because it’s incredible,” he said. “However, the more I get to be around Gav, like the thing that I and the thing that I love the most is he is so for this team and so for this, I can tell you he loves being on Penn State’s campus. He loves to be a part of this, and he wants very badly to be a part of it and you see him, you talk about him coming up in big moments, and yes he does, but I just love the things that he… he does everything that the team wants, and that the coaches want to be an example for team play. He really does. He’s a big moment player. He’s an incredible talent, but I tell you what, his desire to help the team is I think what I love most about him.”
THE LOSS HURTS, BUT…
Penn State would have loved to punctuate the historic day with a win, and finishing the regular season 0-4 against Sparty isn’t going to sit well.
With that said, what the day meant made it difficult for Gadowsky to feel too down.
“It’s hard to feel too negative because of the loss because this was such an amazing experience, and I can tell you speaking for everybody in our program, we are so grateful that we’re in an institution that can pull something like this off. Very grateful to Pat and Vinnie and the entire (athletic department) for making this happen.
Penn State reruns to indoor arenas Friday, Feb. 13, against No. 1 Michigan in Ann Arbor, starting a two game series. The first game starts at 6:30 on Big Ten+.
