Even in loss, trip to New York filled with highlights

Given a few days to reflect, the Penn State men’s hockey team was appreciating the experience they got Saturday.

In addition to playing in front of a huge crowd at Madison Square Garden, as part of a unique day-night basketball-hockey doubleheader, the Nittany Lion hockey men got a few small highlights.

Among them, they used the New York Rangers’ dressing room. Freshman forward Chase Berger shared the stall of Chris Kreider, senior Tommy Olczyk used Rick Nash’s stall, and freshman Kevin Kerr had fellow defenseman and assistant captain Dan Girardi’s locker.

“It was special just being able to be in the locker room,” Kerr said. “With the team’s legacy, had someone like Wayne Gretzky, you see pictures of him on there, it was just awesome.”

Kerr, a native of Bensalem near Philadelphia, had been to plenty of Rangers and Knicks games over the years at The Garden. He had seen the view from the seats, but being on the ice while bathed in red, white and blue lights during the National Anthem was better than any of his other trips there.

“Stepping out there for the National Anthem, things like that, you kind of try to soak it all in,” Kerr said. “I just remember looking around a little bit, telling myself, ‘Soak it all in now, and as soon as that puck drops, try to forget about it and just play the game.’ It’s a little bit harder.”

That was a key for players from both teams – to remember it was a key battle in the Big Ten standings. Michigan won 6-3, sweeping the weekend series with a 7-4 Wolverine triumph Thursday at Pegula Ice Arena.

They would have preferred a different result, but they still knew they were part of something special.

“Once the game gets going, of course, it’s just another game,” Berger said. “You kind of got to focus on what you do well and try to do that. Before the game, the locker room, the warmup, I know I personally was just trying to soak it all in.”

With 13,479 on hand to watch the game, with the appearance of a strong majority rooting for Penn State, they also felt a little more at home while using the home team’s locker room.

“It was such a great experience for everybody in our program,” coach Guy Gadowsky said. “It’s a great venue, obviously a tremendous atmosphere, but probably the most impressive thing was the student body there.”

Sturtz suspended

Andrew Sturtz will have to sit out Friday’s game at Minnesota after drawing a one-game suspension from the Big Ten on Monday. The freshman forward drew the penalty for a hit in Saturday’s game against Michigan with just over two minutes left.

As Tyler Motte worked the puck free from a scrum of players along the boards and spun to send it out of the zone, Sturtz raced in from behind at near full speed, hitting Motte’s head with the elbow.

“You see what the result was, and you can’t argue the suspension,” Gadowsky said. “I hope everybody knows that Andrew was trying to get out of the way. He wasn’t trying to go and hit him.”

Praise from Red

After both games, Michigan coach Red Berenson, who had a long NHL career and earned his 826th coaching win Saturday, had strong praise for the Nittany Lion program.

“After we won the game on Thursday, we knew that we’d be in for a battle tonight,” Berenson said Saturday night. “That team’s not going away. They’re a good hockey team. They might have got swept this weekend, but they’re a good hockey team. They’ll be just as tough when they come (to) Yost (Ice Arena in March) as they were this weekend, or tougher. They’re not going away.”

Gadowsky was happy to hear the kind words from the legendary leader.

“Off the ice he is an extremely fine gentleman,” Gadowsky said. “But on the ice he wants to – he’s as tough and, you know, ‘Give-no-quarter’ kind of guy as you’re going to find. For him to say positive things about the program does mean a lot because of who he is.”

Ice shavings

James Robinson, who has been out since the season opener, practiced with the team for the first time on a limited basis Monday, but Gadowsky said the sophomore forward was still not ready to be cleared physically. … Gadowsky said the team will continue to alternate goalies this season and there are still no plans to pick Eamon McAdam or Matthew Skoff as the No. 1 goalie. … At the same time as the game in New York, the NHL was holding its skills competition during its All-Star Weekend. Dylan Larkin, who would have been a sophomore at Michigan this season, was instead lighting things up in Nashville. He broke a 20-year-old record for the fastest skater, circling the ice in 13.172 seconds, then assisted on three goals Sunday. … JT Compher scored on a shorthanded breakaway seconds into the second period Saturday. While it took a fluke play to knock the puck out of the air and start the break, it also was the seventh shorthanded goal allowed this season and the fifth in the last seven games. “It hasn’t been one identifiable way,” Gadowsky said of the scores. “It’s happening in a number of situations. We’re actually looking at that and we’re going to try … to figure out what we have to implement to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

This story was originally published February 1, 2016 at 9:39 PM with the headline "Even in loss, trip to New York filled with highlights."