1/20/2023 other sports Edit

New alternates to start a new winning streak for Penn State Hockey

Kathryn Brody • Happy Valley Insider

Staff Writer

I am a Journalism major at Pennsylvania State University and cover a few different Penn State teams.

Penn State will host Notre Dame in its first game in Pegula in 2023.

Notre Dame sits at 18th in PairWise, and Penn State sits in third. The Fighting Irish are no walkover for the Nittany Lions as they are 5-7-2 in the conference beating Ohio State and Michigan once and splitting against Penn State in South Bend.

The Nittany Lions' last three games were on the road with hopes that the Roar Zone will bring the energy and get them back in the win column.

“We have the best student section in the country, and it's already as electric as it is, so stepped up in the wear white game, I think it's going to be insane,” Jarod Crespo said.

Notre Dame is coming off a tie and a loss against Minnesota, as the Nittany Lions are coming off of a tie and a loss versus Michigan State.

“We allowed very little plays to change the momentum.” Guy Gadowsky said.

Notre Dame didn't trail during its first game of the weekend but was shutout in its second game 3-0. Penn State didn't trail at any point in the weekend.

“We're really striving hard for consistency right now because we let it slip late in a period or we just are not dialed in for the whole 60 minutes, that's our challenge.” Gadowsky said.

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Wear White

The Nittany Lions will debut a new white alternate for Saturday's annual ‘wear white’ game. The Nittany Lions are 2-5-1 in the ‘wear white” games, but hopefully, the players' excitement will carry extra momentum to improve their record.

“Everyone is definitely excited not only for Saturday but even Friday to get back to our fans and show them where we left off.” Tyler Paquette said.

Special Teams

Facing the Irish, the Lions' power play was 1 for 8, and the Irish were 2 for 3.

This past weekend against Michigan State, they had success on the powerplay, going 3 for 11, and the penalty kill was 7 for 9.

The Fighting Irish penalty kill was 5 for 7, but they were unsuccessful all weekend on their powerplay, going 0 for 3.

Individuals

Senior Kevin Wall ended his career-best six-game point streak on Friday night but then scored Saturday. Wall leads the Nittany Lions in goals with 12 and 21 points. The New York natives' season accomplishments have earned him his second Hobey Baker Nomination.

Goaltender Liam Souliere has posted his career-best 2.21 goals against average, and a .921 save percentage. Souliere's achievements have placed him on the Mike Richter Award watch list as well as a nominee for the Hobey Baker.

Freshman defenseman Jarod Crespo recorded his first career goal Friday night against Michigan State, making him the third freshman to record his first NCAA goal this season.

“It felt awesome, kinda weird because you're on the road, no one was cheering, so I wasn’t even sure it went in. But once I saw it, I was really excited.” Crespo said.

The Fighting Irish’s goal leader Trevor Janicke sits at six goals and nine assists for 15 points.

The Goal

The Nittany Lions aim to get back into the win column and return to the winning streak they held at the beginning of the season.

The remainder of the regular season is all conference games. Hence, every series counts towards the standings; the Nittany Lions are currently in fourth after the tiebreakers, and to host the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, they need to be between second and fourth, and to host the semi-finals, they need to be in the top two.

The Lions look to get their second conference sweep as they return to Pegula at 6:30 ET on Friday.