Penn State men’s hockey looking to find consistency in series with Michigan State
When Guy Gadowsky steps behind the bench for a Penn State hockey game inside a typically empty arena, he feels a little more comfortable than almost anywhere else during this unusual season.
As a coach, that bit of normalcy helps. Still, like everything else, it’s just not quite the same — and that’s especially true when the team plays at Pegula Ice Arena.
“On the road, after the puck drops, I didn’t think it mattered that much,” Gadowksy said. “Here at Pegula it’s different. There’s just so much that the atmosphere of this building and the Roar Zone, the student section, just were such a part of our momentum and tempo that it is different here.”
On the ice, game-to-game consistency has been elusive, making a complete recovery from the team’s 0-5 start difficult.
There has been steady leadership and production from senior forward Alex Limoges, the team captain has a team-high seven goals and practices a vital roll-with-the-punches approach during this ever-changing season. There has been gritty, predictable productivity from sophomore forward Connor McMenamin, whose plus-7 and 14 blocks both lead the team.
And there has been a deep pool of offensive productivity — eight players have scored at least two goals, including sophomore forward Kevin Wall, who produced four points in team’s recent series against Ohio State and was named the Big Ten Conference’s third star of the week.
Still, effort from game to game and period to period has been uneven. That’s often the case in the competitive conference and Gadowsky said it was exacerbated by a disjoined start to practices and limited time together on the ice at the beginning of the season.
He has found reason for optimism recently, including improved efforts on the power play.
“The key to that success has been time,” he said. “What you’re seeing is just a factor of continuity. It’s time in practice and time playing together.
“The best teams are the ones that can fire on the most cylinders most of the time. To be consistent in a very free flowing game is hard. I think we’re better.”
They’ll get some feedback about that improvement against Michigan State. The teams split a series that ended in East Lansing just 11 days ago. Penn State recorded the only 1-0 victory in program history to start series and dropped a 5-1 decision the next day.
As before, it’s a matchup of differing styles, with MSU practicing a defense-first approach and Penn State preferring more fast-paced, wide-open hockey.
“They put pressure on you. You just have to be vigilant with how you play,” MSU coach Danton Cole said on his radio show this week. “It’s hard to get guys to shoot the puck. Guy’s got some magic formula where he gets guys to do it, and they’re good at it.”
Penn State (5-7-0, 3-7-0 Big Ten) vs. Michigan State (5-5-2, 4-5-1)
Series: 6 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday
Radio/TV: 103.1 FM and GoPSUsports.com
Notable: Penn State leads the all-time series, 16-12-4. … The teams have split their last six series. … Penn State sits at the bottom of the conference standings with nine points. Just ahead of the Nittany Lions are Michigan and Michigan State, who are tied with 11. … Michigan State is last in the conference in scoring offense (2.00 goals per game) and Penn State is last in scoring defense (3.92).