Why Penn State hockey’s game at Beaver Stadium meant so much — loss or not
Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky paused after he sat down to speak to the media following the Nittany Lions’ game Saturday, taking time to think about what just happened.
“It’s hard to feel negative because of the loss because it was such an amazing experience,” he said.
Gadowsky and the No. 5 Nittany Lions fell to No. 2 Michigan State 5-4 in overtime, but Saturday afternoon’s game wasn’t just about the result. It was about playing outdoors in Beaver Stadium, in front of roughly 75,000 fans, and having the experience of a lifetime — for the players and their coach who has stewarded the program since the beginning.
And Gadowsky didn’t want to lose sight of how special it was.
“I went to, I think, every coach on our staff and said, ‘Look behind you’ because when you look behind, it was just absolutely jammed,” he said. “And people were into it — I couldn’t believe it was a hockey game. I really couldn’t. It just blew me away, constantly. Numerous times every period would I just look around at the atmosphere and take it in. Really. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s very, very humbling that I get to be a part of something like this.”
Gadowsky has seen plenty of ups and downs as he’s built the program to this moment. And he took the chance to soak in an unforgettable experience because of how far Penn State has come since Terry Pegula donated more than $100 million to kickstart the program with an arena, among other things.
In 2011, Gadowsky was introduced as the head coach of the program and helped it transition from a club team to a Division I program and into the Big Ten by 2013. The program hasn’t even existed for two decades, but it can draw one of the biggest crowds in college hockey history (second all-time based on the announced attendance of 74,575) and it can create an environment similar to the ones the football program sees every fall Saturday.
And there was plenty of time and effort put in to get there.
“So grateful to everybody that started this program,” Gadowsky said. “... I couldn’t help but think of Terry Pegula, what he told me 15 years ago, which is some day we’re gonna have top-5 teams playing. I’m not sure he thought it would be in front of 75,000 people, but I know he’s very proud. Looking around, it’s impossible not to reflect on so many people that have worked so hard and supported this program so much.”
Penn State was able to have this moment because Gadowsky has attracted some of the top talent in college hockey after a Frozen Four run last season.
Players like Dane Dowiak and Aiden Fink, who should make it to the NHL, returned this season. And Gavin McKenna — a hockey phenom who will likely go No. 1 overall in the 2026 NHL Draft — chose the Nittany Lions when he could’ve gone anywhere. Despite the high-level hockey those players have played, they were able to experience something they have never seen before. And likely will never experience again.
“There’s nothing like Beaver Stadium. I know that now,” Dowiak said after the game. “That was the coolest environment I will ever play in my life, no matter if I make the NHL or not, that was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen — ever witnessed. And I just couldn’t be prouder to be a Penn Stater and get that opportunity.”
It’s rare that a coach and his players can lose a hard-fought matchup with the No. 2 team in the country and be as happy as they were. So far this season, the Nittany Lions have dropped all four of their matchups with the Spartans, who are expected to contend with them for the national title this year. But you wouldn’t know it based on how they spoke.
It was clear that the result, despite not being what they wanted, wasn’t going to spoil the rest of what took place in Beaver Stadium. Dowiak and Fink pinpointed hearing their names announced to the crowd as when the gravity of the moment set in. For McKenna, it came a little bit sooner.
“The walkout, walking through those gates was pretty special,” McKenna said. “Having football, all those teams, walking through them, fist-bumping them all, having the crowd — it was amazing.”
Those players should soak in those moments. Because there hasn’t been any indication that this will happen again with Penn State hockey. The circumstances were perfect for the Nittany Lions to pull Saturday’s game off because of the level of talent — and having a player as talented and popular as McKenna is a big part of that.
There will, in all likelihood, be other hockey in the stadium down the line if Penn State can make it happen. But it’s far more likely that it’s an NHL Winter Classic than it is a college game. So once-in-a-lifetime may not do justice to what took place.
There’s a chance this is the only Penn State men’s hockey team to ever play a game in Beaver Stadium.
And even in a loss, it’s one the coach and team will never forget.
