Seeing the pros hit Pegula Ice Arena a thrill for area fans

As Leland Hess and Karen Bettleyon walked through the main lobby of Pegula Ice Arena, one in a Buffalo Sabres sweater, the other wearing Pittsburgh Penguins gear, they soaked in the experience Tuesday evening.

There were no long drives for the State College friends. Their NHL teams came to them.

“This is fantastic,” said Bettleyon, the Penguins fan. “We were here last year to see the Sabres, but I’m especially excited tonight.”

“This is pretty cool to see here,” added Hess, the Sabres fan, before they found their seats for the exhibition game.

Hess left the arena celebrating after Jack Eichel scored on a breakaway 25 seconds into overtime for a 4-3 win.

“We persevered, we bended, we didn’t break,” said Eichel, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2015 NHL draft who also assisted on two goals for Jason Pominville.

It was the second NHL exhibition game played in Penn State’s arena, following Buffalo’s meeting with the Minnesota Wild last fall. It also was a “home” game for the Sabres, owned by Terry and Kim Pegula. The Pegulas’ $102 million donations to Terry’s alma mater made the arena and Nittany Lion varsity hockey programs possible.

The connection made for some mixed rooting interests in the arena, though the crowd was still very decisively roaring for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs.

For the Penguins, it was their first steps on the ice since hoisting the Stanley Cup for a second straight season last June. Most of the Penguins skating Tuesday, with Olli Maatta one of the few exceptions and scoring a goal, will not be with the team when the season starts to roll Oct. 4. Instead they will be back in the minors. Missing from the game were stars fans were hoping to see like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Phil Kessel, Jake Guentzel and goalie Matt Murray.

“That’s a bummer, but I don’t mind,” Bettleyon said.

Another excited onlooker was Joe Battista, watching from the Pegulas’ arena suite. Battista played for and coached the Penn State Icers’ club program, is a former associate athletic director and convinced the Pegulas to make the largest gift in school history to make the arena and Division I hockey on campus possible.

“I’m smiling like the butcher’s dog,” Battista said, stealing a frequent line from long-time Penguins announcer Mike Lang. The 1983 graduate also was tailgating before the game.

“I know tonight’s an exhibition game,” he added, “but to see the two teams I worked for in the NHL playing in an arena at my alma mater is pretty darned cool.”

As for the game, Matt Tennyson forced the overtime with his score with 2:45 left in regulation. Then with the team skating in the NHL’s standard 3-on-3 for overtime, the Penguins got caught deep in the Buffalo end and Eichel pounced on a loose puck for the breakaway.

Pominville started the scoring with a pretty feed from Eichel in the first. Zach Aston-Reese tied it when he pounced on a loose puck in the slot in the opening seconds of the second period. Pominville had the Sabres in front again knocking in a rebound, but Jay McClement tied the game again early in the third and Matta put the Pens in front for the first time, chipping in Teddy Blueger’s cross-crease feed.

“This was really the first opportunity to, I think, to have a fair evaluation for all those guys,” said Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan, who enjoyed the chance to coach in a college arena.

“This is a really neat environment here,” Sullivan said. “The fans are on top of you. I think it’s a unique environment from that standpoint. It has that college feel, which I think was great for our players. There was a lot of energy in the building.”

The coach also needled forward Bryan Rust, a Notre Dame product, if his school could compare to Penn State’s facility, and offered a little advice on defending a championship to the Nittany Lions after winning the Big Ten title last season.

“I would suggest that they play to their strengths,” he said. “Like anything in sports, nothing is inevitable, just because you had prior success doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to have future success. You have to go out and earn it all over again. That was the message we gave our players.”

With their favorite teams on the ice in front of them, and fresh off posing for a photo with Sabres mascot “Sabretooth,” it was a memorable night for the sold-out arena crowd including State College fans Hess and Bettleyon — no matter who won.

Said Bettleyon: “I’ve been freaking out since I found out we were coming.”

This story was originally published September 19, 2017 at 11:16 PM with the headline "Seeing the pros hit Pegula Ice Arena a thrill for area fans."