Tommy Olczyk’s hat trick helps PSU hold off Princeton
Tommy Olczyk had never posted more than one point in a game in his entire Penn State hockey career.
He hadn’t had a two-goal game since he was in junior hockey in 2007-08.
He netted a hat trick Friday night.
Behind the senior forward’s three-goal effort, the Nittany Lions held off Princeton 6-3 in front of 6,141 at Pegula Ice Arena.
“That was a pretty special moment,” Olczyk said. “More importantly, especially after the letdown in the third period we found a way to win there. If I would have got the hat trick but we would have lost or something, it wouldn’t have felt as good going into break.”
Chase Berger, David Glen and Curtis Loik also scored, and Matthew Skoff made 21 saves in the victory.
Eric Robinson scored twice and Ryan Siiro netted the other Tiger goal while Colton Phinney made 39 saves in the loss.
It marked Guy Gadowsky’s 50th win as Penn State’s head coach, and extended the team’s unbeaten streak to nine games heading into a 16-day hiatus for final exams and the holidays.
“We had a good start to the year and we’re happy about it,” Glen said. “But we’re not going to be complacent either. We know it’s just a start.”
Olczyk, who had just 16 career goals entering the season and three going into the night, didn’t take long to remember his last multi-goal effort, let alone a hat trick. That was in his first year with the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL eight seasons ago.
“A long time ago that I even scored two goals in a game,” he said. “It’s special. It’s definitely something that I’ll never forget.”
It was a happy moment for his teammates, too.
“Cool or shocking, one of the two,” Glen joked. “We’re all really happy for him, obviously. He’s a heart-and-soul guy of this team. It’s pretty evident in his play.”
The Nittany Lions got on the scoreboard 4:19 in when Erik Autio wound up for a blast from the point that Olczyk, standing to Phinney’s right, redirected into the net.
Then Olczyk did it again just over two minutes later on a power play, when Vince Pedrie skated leisurely through the slot unchecked and fired a wrist shot toward the far post that Olczyk again tipped in.
Berger scored his power-play tally midway through the second when he swiped the puck from a pair of Tigers in front of the net and slipped it past Phinney for his 10th goal of the season. Penn State finished 2 for 3 on the power play against the nation’s No. 4 penalty-killing unit.
Then, while killing a five-minute major on Kenny Brooks, Glen tipped the puck away from a Tiger along the boards and broke the other way for the shorthanded score.
“(Kevin Kerr) rimmed it up the wall, kind of bottled it up the D-man, I was lucky enough to get it through him there,” Glen said. “Made a pretty good shot. Nice for one of those to go in.”
Things started to fall apart in the third when the Tigers scored three goals in the span of 3:17, with two from Robinson sandwiched around Sirro knocking in a shot from the point by Quin Pompi, with the puck barely trickling over the line behind Skoff.
“Eric (Robinson) started moving his feet,” Tigers coach Ron Fogarty said. “I can tell you it was one of Eric’s not-best performances in the first and second period.”
The run of goals prompted Gadowsky to call a timeout to stem the tide.
“Just relax,” Gadowsky told the team. “We didn’t have to do anything different, we didn’t have to change anything, we just had to get back and do what we do well. That’s it.”
The run was over, and two more empty-net goals came in the final minute, one on a break from Olczyk to complete the hat trick, and the other by Loik from long range.
Notes: Penn State has more than two weeks off before hitting the ice again Dec, 28 against Robert Morris in the Three Rivers Classic at Consol Energy Center. … The Nittany Lions played without Eric Scheid, who was serving a one-game suspension. … Brooks also received a game misconduct in the second period for a hit from behind.
This story was originally published December 11, 2015 at 9:36 PM with the headline "Tommy Olczyk’s hat trick helps PSU hold off Princeton."