Penn State men’s hockey falls to Michigan State in annual Teddy Bear Toss game

On a night in which teddy bears were thrown onto the ice at Pegula Ice Arena, Penn State men’s hockey couldn’t parlay a plush opposing defense into a win.

The Nittany Lions dropped their tilt against the Spartans, 4-3, on Saturday in the blue and white’s annual Teddy Bear Toss game, despite almost doubling their opponents’ total in the shot column, to even the series, 1-1.

Penn State took 53 shots in the affair, while Michigan State registered just 29 in that department.

The scoring got started less than four minutes into the matchup, as Spartan forward Jeremy Davidson found twine off of assists by teammates Mitchell Lewandowski and Jesse Tucker. The goal was Davidson’s eighth of the season.

But the blue and white wouldn’t stay down for long, and sophomore forward Chase McLane struck just three and a half minutes later to make it a 1-1 contest with 13:00 to go in the first period.

McLane, who scored his third goal of the season with the early equalizer, impressed coach Guy Gadowsky with his grit Saturday — just like he has all season long.

“He’s a guy that plays hard in the right areas,” Gadowsky said. “And when you do that, you’re going to get some penalties no matter how disciplined you are.”

Along with his goal, McLane also went to the penalty box twice against the Spartans on Saturday. But his coach isn’t worried about the second-year forward’s trips to the sin bin.

“I think the world of the young man,” Gadowsky said. “He plays for the right reasons, he plays well. I’d take 25 of him.”

Michigan State found the back of the net again in the waning minutes of the first period, while Penn State wouldn’t find its next goal until the second frame with an even-strength attack from junior forward Connor MacEachern.

The score stayed at 2-2 until the third period, when Michigan State started to pull away.

The Spartans scored twice in two minutes early in the third, opening up a 4-2 lead in the process. Lewandowski and Kristoff Papp, respectively, were credited with the two goals.

Penn State freshman forward Carson Dyck scored the first goal of his collegiate career to cut Michigan State’s lead to one with 11:14 to play in the affair, but that would be the last point for either team as the Spartans escaped with a series split.

Senior defenseman and team captain Paul DeNaples was happy to see Dyck hit his career milestone in a critical juncture of the game.

“It was good to see, [he is] a guy that works really hard,” DeNaples said.

The Nittany Lions played in the offensive zone for much of the closing minutes, drawing crowd reaction on a handful of scoring opportunities right in front of the Roar Zone.

Gadowsky, despite his team’s loss, was ultimately proud of his team for playing fast and causing a few “wild sequences.”

“Big picture, we actually thought we did a lot of good things,” Gadowsky said. “It was the first time all year that we’ve had 50-plus shots… it’s really nice to see that we can do it.”

Michigan State coach Danton Cole also saw Penn State play quick, and he was glad his defensive unit matched the Nittany Lions’ intensity throughout.

“We talked a lot about conditioning, and thank God we had some,” Cole said. “We had to defend and backtrack an awful lot.”

Past the game itself, Penn State hosted its annual Teddy Bear Toss during the first intermission and urged fans to donate stuffed animals to benefit THON.

Cole — whose Spartans played in their second Teddy Bear Toss game this season Saturday — said he enjoys seeing moments that go beyond the box score.

“These are stories that don’t get told,” Cole said. “We spend all of our time on the sports page — things that go wrong or 18-year-old kids making mistakes. We don’t spend enough time on these types of things.

“That’s, at the end of the day, the thing that will make a bigger difference in their lives.”

Gadowsky said he first experienced the Teddy Bear Toss in Hershey and that hockey can have a bigger impact than the game’s outcome.

“It’s awesome, and I love that hockey does that,” Gadowsky said. “It’s a great cause and something I associate with hockey.”

And while the players weren’t out on the ice to witness the toss during the game break, DeNaples and his teammates support the cause and the fight against childhood cancer as a whole.

“Especially when it comes down to the kids, they love sports,” DeNaples said. “They see that we’re out there and doing it for them… I think it’s a really good platform.”