12/11/2022 other sports Edit

Three takeaways from Penn State's series against Notre Dame

Jacob Cheris • Happy Valley Insider

Hockey Writer

Jacob is currently a senior at Penn State majoring in broadcast journalism. He is from Gaithersburg, Maryland and has played hockey for almost 13 years. His favorite team is the Washington Capitals.

Penn State officially wrapped up its first half of the 2022-23 season. The Nittany Lions came away with another split against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, dropping their fifth series finale. Penn State (15-5-0, 7-4-1) sits at second place in the Big Ten with 22 points, trailing only Minnesota. Here are three takeaways from the most recent series.

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1. Lots of Speed

This was probably the most back-and-forth series the Nittany Lions have played in since Game 2 against Minnesota. Both the Fighting Irish and the Nittany Lions were terrific on transition and that is how each team got their high-quality chances. Due to the back-and-forth play, both teams relied heavily on its goaltenders.

Ryan Bischel was not very good in Game 1 for the Fighting Irish. The first two goals he allowed were very soft. However, he bounced back with a career-best 47-save performance. Liam Souliere was terrific in both games despite only earning one win.

2. Not Enough Pucks in Deep

Every hockey fan has heard the phrase "get pucks in deep". That is something that Penn State did not do enough, especially in Game 2. As I said in my three keys piece, the Fighting Irish run a 1-3-1 neutral zone trap that forces puck carriers to the outside. When teams dump the puck in, it has to win the races and loose puck battles in order to get set up in the offensive zone.

In Game 1, the Nittany Lions did a terrific job of getting the pucks below the goal-line and coming up with it in the corners. That is what led to Connor McMenamin's goal and Connor MacEachern's game-winning tally.

In Game 2, Penn State succumbed to that trap especially in the third period when Notre Dame had a 2-1 lead. The Fighting Irish forced numerous turnovers in the neutral zone and it allowed them to go on transition quicker. Notre Dame also blocked 23 shots on Saturday which did not help Penn State's cause of getting pucks deep.

3. Senior Season

Guy Gadowsky completely changed up his forward lines going into the Ohio State series. One line that was clicking this past weekend was the all-senior line of McMenamin, MacEachern and Kevin Wall.

The trio combined for eight points (four goals, four assists) over the weekend. MacEachern had the game-winning goal in Game 1. The line also combined for 21 shot attempts (11 in Game 1, 10 in Game 2).

This line has to keep up its production down the stretch.

These two teams will meet again after the Christmas break at Pegula Ice Arena for what should be another fast-paced 120 minutes.