Penn State men’s hockey survives late woes to win season opener against LIU

Thundering applause accompanied the blaring Penn State men’s hockey goal horn for the first time in 19 months Sunday afternoon.

Surrounded by the Roar Zone — the university’s student section for both men’s and women’s hockey — and thousands of others of the Penn State faithful, the blue and white fed off of the energy at Pegula Ice Arena.

The Nittany Lions rode their home-ice advantage to a 3-1 win over the visiting Long Island University Sharks to pick up their first win in the first contest of the 2021 season.

Even before the opening puck drop, Guy Gadowsky noticed a difference between this year’s atmosphere and the fan-less backdrop of the 2020-21 season.

“They were a lot less rusty than us,” Gadowsky said. “I remember Coach Fisher and I talked on the bench like ‘Man, it’s good to be back’ and that just felt a whole lot better.”

There were officially 5,795 people in attendance for the blue and white’s win, and the Pegula rink was flanked by fans for the first time since Feb. 22, 2020.

Junior forward Connor McMenamin, who skated in 32 games in front of fans as a freshman in 2019-20, made a strong case for the Roar Zone as one of the best — if not the best — student sections in the country.

“It’s a pretty incredible feeling,” McMenamin said. “I think the best student section in college hockey is thrown around a lot but, I mean, it’s true. They give you a different type of edge and energy every game.”

The first few minutes of the affair included a back-and-forth between the two programs as both looked to start the season on the right foot — but it was Penn State that stepped up and got the scoring started.

Penn State’s Ryan Kirwan scored just seconds into the blue and white’s first power play of the campaign. The goal, assisted by Daniyal Dzhaniyev and Simon Mack, was the first of the freshman Kirwan’s Nittany Lion career.

In his first game donning the Penn State sweater, Kirwan was happy to get his goal-scoring career milestone out of the way early in the campaign.

“It was a lot of fun,” Kirwan said. “Great pass from Dani [Dzhaniyev], my line mate. It was just a good game we had.”

Kirwan and Dzhaniyev were once again integral pieces of a Penn State goal just three minutes later in the first period, when Chase McLane ripped one past the Sharks’ goalie to give the Nittany Lions a two-score advantage.

The Nittany Lions went on the power play five times, only finding the back of the net on their first opportunity in the first period. They finished with a 20% conversion rate on their man-advantage opportunities.

With some game film now under the team’s belt, Gadowsky already has some points of emphasis for his team heading into the next handful of contests.

“In a nutshell, we’ve got to be a lot more aggressive offensively,” Gadowsky said. “We need to be a lot more aggressive and play our type of game.”

With Game 2 against LIU is on the immediate horizon, Penn State’s head man was impressed with what he saw from his team’s opposition Sunday, even if the final score ended up lopsided.

“They play hard, they support each other and they’re a physical team,” Gadowsky said. “I like that. They do what they have to do to win games.”

The physicality presented itself early and often, with both teams spending time in the penalty box. Penn State committed four penalties — including a Kevin Wall game misconduct for contact to the head in the second period — while LIU committed five penalties of their own.

Nittany Lion netminder Oskar Autio was tasked with stopping 23 shots from the Sharks and helped kill two LIU power plays.

Gadowsky, who said Autio will start in the second and final game of the series, saw his goalie meet expectations in the opening game.

“We were OK — but when we weren’t — he was very good,” Gadowsky said.

Penn State will again face the Sharks on Monday with a chance for a season-opening series sweep at 7 p.m.