NHL hits the Happy Valley ice

As the music rose and filled every corner of Pegula Ice Arena, announcer Rodney Martin implored the crowd with a slightly altered version of a question he asks each home game:

“Are you ready for some NHL hockey?!!”

Hockey night in Happy Valley made its return Monday night. The colors might have been different for the teams on the ice, but there were still sticks and pucks and the home team was unloading 40 shot attempts.

It’s a prelude to the return of Penn State hockey. The women played an exhibition game last weekend, and open their season Friday, and the men hold their first practice Saturday and have their own exhibition game Sunday.

Appetites were sufficiently whetted Monday night.

In the part that mattered for the teams, Minnesota’s Jason Zucker scored the game-winning goal with 4.6 seconds left to give the Wild a 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

There was a wide array of jerseys dotting the crowd, although the NHL sweaters outnumbered the Penn State duds.

It was a home game for the Sabres, the connections between that team and Penn State strong thanks to the couple sitting in their suite in the upper corner of the arena.

Terry and Kim Pegula, who own the Sabres, donated the $102 million for the building that bears their names and made the Nittany Lion varsity programs possible.

A huge sign stretched on the glass behind the net in the “Roar Zone” student section with the Penn State and Sabres logos saying, “Thank you Terry & Kim Pegula.”

During the game, Kim Pegula even tweeted a “You’re welcome” response.

While the “Roar Zone” may not have been filled to the rafters like a typical home game, there was still enough to make it feel like Buffalo was the home team.

When the Sabres scored their lone goal in the first period, the student section began their traditional taunting of Minnesota goalie Alex Stalock. And like other standard nights in the arena, the student section gave its “Hockey Valley!” and “We are …” chants.

“Those types of things don’t happen in the NHL,” said Michael Cross, Penn State’s assistant athletic director for new business development, who played a major role in landing the game. “You don’t get those types of cheers. I’m really happy to see that.”

There were even a few familiar names in the Wild lineup like former Notre Dame forward Mario Lucia and defenseman Mike Reilly, who was with the University of Minnesota last season. Reilly assisted on Zucker’s winner.

Even Rich “The Blue Hair Guy” Seifert was on hand with his mane in midseason form, although he was wearing a Binghamton Whalers jersey instead of his usual Penn State sweater.

There also were a few differences, like the sight of beer in the hands of fans.

The Penn State teams were watching the game, happy to see the pros take over for a day. The Sabres had the run of the Nittany Lion men’s dressing room, while the Wild took over the lockers of the women’s team.

It was the first of what Penn State hopes will be many more NHL games to take over the building.

“We had conversations months and months and months ago about could this potentially happen?” said Cross, a Buffalo-area native. “The challenges are that the NHL has certain protocol that we need to follow. Medically there are protocol that need to happen, there’s a marketing aspect where you can’t just say, ‘Hey, we’re going to do this just like a Penn State game.’ It has to be an NHL-caliber game. Ticketing has to be done like the NHL wants it, you have to think about pricing. Those types of dynamics go into it.”

As for the game, Zemgus Girgensons scored early for Buffalo, firing it in from the slot for the only puck to beat Stalock, who made 39 saves. Kurtis Gabriel tied it midway through the second period for Minnesota in a game that used the depth of both teams in their first exhibition games with few regulars playing.

The game was lacking a little luster, with some of the biggest stars missing because of the World Cup, including Buffalo’s Jack Eichel and Minnesota’s Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.

Still, it was a chance to see some top-flight hockey hit the ice, and give a taste of what’s to come at the corner of Curtin and University over the next six months.

“It was really cool for the community and our team loved watching it,” Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky said after the game. “It was so great to have Terry back in the building and it was nice seeing how many people are appreciative of what they’ve done.”

It also left an impression on the pros.

“This facility is unbelievable,” Girgensons said. “The locker room and everything is nice and the fans were loud. It was definitely fun to play here.”

This story was originally published September 26, 2016 at 11:22 PM with the headline "NHL hits the Happy Valley ice."