Penn State earns their first conference sweep since Wisconsin in the 2021-2022 season.
The annual “Wear White” game broke a new attendance record with 6,578 fans in Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions are 3-0-0 in the last three “Wear White” games and 4-5-1 all-time.
Friday night's game went back and forth, starting with a Buckeye goal by Dalton Messina just 5:45 into the first period. At 14:40 of the first period, senior Xander Lamppa tied up the scoring with a deflection off of junior Ryan Kirwan's shot. The Nittany Lions took a lead thanks to a power play goal by Fink off of a rebound from Jaques Bouquots' shot midway through the game. Fink notched another power-play goal off of a rebound from Jarod Crespo with less than 10 seconds to go in the period to send the Nittany Lions up by two.
Early into the third period, Michael Gildon scored on an odd-man rush to cut the deficit back to one with over 15 minutes left to play. The Nittany Lions earned back their two-goal lead when Crespo fed Danny Dzhaniyev, who knocked one over the blocker of Christopher Eberly. The Buckeyes' Thomas Weis scored just over a minute later off of a rebound from a shot by Max Montes. The remaining 8:57 of the game were scoreless as the Nittany Lions put a halt to their four-game losing streak.
Saturday night had a slower start, as the game was scoreless until there were 48.3 seconds left in the first weird when Bouquot scored on a 4-on-4 power play to give Penn State a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission. Ohio State was man-down once again in the second period on a major penalty, and Fink took advantage pf it to give Penn State a 2-0 lead midway through the game.
A few minutes later, Crespo extended the lead to 3-0 off of a rebound from Fink's shot. William Smith and Patrick Guzzo scored within a minute of each other to cut the Buckeyes deficit to one heading into the second intermission. Stephen Halliday scored at 6:51 of the third for the Buckeyes' third straight goal of the night. Guzzo recorded an elbowing minor late into the third, and with one second left on the man advantage, Kirwan scored to secure the Nittany Lions' 4-3 win.
Penn State out-shout the Buckeyes 88-54 on the weekend. The Nittany Lions went 5-for-10 on the power play through the series, while the Buckeyes went 1-for-4 on the power play.
Fink led the team with three power-play goals and one assist for his eighth and ninth multi-point games of the season this weekend to bring his season total to 32 points, just four shy of Nate Succee for second in freshman scoring in the program; his 15 goals are fifth. His eight power-play goals this season place him first in program history in a single season.
Matt DiMarsico secured three assists Saturday night for his sixth multi-point game of the season. DiMarsico’s 24 points put him in eighth for a freshman in program history, while his 18 assists put him in third.
Senior Jimmy Dowd Jr. recorded two assists Saturday night for his first multi-point game of the season and 14th as a Nittany Lion. His 59 points bring him past Kevin Kerr and Erik Autio on the Penn State all-time list for a defenceman, with his 49 assists tying Kerr for third by a defenceman.
Penn State has a bye week this week, but the team will participate in its second annual sled hockey game with the State College Coyotes on Saturday, February 3rd, at 9:45 a,m. The event is organized by junior Dylan Lugris and entirely run by the team.
