Penn State beats Spartans for Big Ten series sweep
After he gave up four second-period goals on Friday, Michigan State didn’t start Jake Hildebrand for the first time in 50 games.
Instead, the Spartans stuck sophomore Ed Minney in the net, and Penn State’s Eric Scheid struck.
The redshirt senior forward scored two goals in less than a minute, all within the opening five minutes of Penn State’s 6-1 win over Michigan State on Saturday.
The victory earned the Nittany Lions (10-2-3) the sweep, and a 2-0-0-0 start to conference play.
Chippiness and jawing between both sides started before the game did, as a referee had to break up a would-be fight before the first puck even dropped. The style continued, and as the Michigan State deficit increased, so did the visible, physical frustration.
Anytime you’re playing in a conference game, it’s going to get a little chippy, a little dirty. It makes the game fun, I’d say, it gets back to the older-time hockey and (there is) just a lot of passion in the game from both teams. It’s fun to play.
Penn State forward Eric Scheid
Shoving broke out midway through the first, followed by a nasty pileup in front of the Penn State goal that kept out a would-be Spartans score. Referees had to break players up twice more in the second period alone, and there were 11 penalties throughout.
For their part, the Nittany Lions relished it.
“Anytime you’re playing in a conference game, it’s going to get a little chippy, a little dirty,” said Scheid. “It makes the game fun, I’d say, it gets back to the older-time hockey and (there is) just a lot of passion in the game from both teams. It’s fun to play.”
Added goaltender Eamon McAdam, who had 28 saves on the night, “I think we handled it really well. We were retaliating, our guys were giving it back to them, but in the right way.”
A gorgeous pass across the tape from Tommy Olczyk set up Ricky DeRosa for the finish and Penn State’s third goal of the opening period with 2:25 left.
But the setup prior, according to head coach Guy Gadowsky, was the prettiest play of them all.
“I didn’t see (Tommy’s pass), and the reason I didn’t is because if you saw the play Kevin Kerr made right before that, that was the play of the night,” said Gadowsky. “It was unbelievable. He was on his own end, and he had two forecheckers (on him), and he deked one and put the puck through the middle...I tell you what, that play was unbelievable. Unbelievable.”
Hildebrand’s brief respite ended as he was put in goal to replace Minney in the second frame, and senior forward David Glen tested the veteran immediately as he wrapped a backhander around the net for Penn State’s fourth goal, with 12:13 left in the second period.
Michigan State’s Zach Osburn beat Penn State goalie Eamon McAdam for the first and only Spartans goal of the afternoon, in the second period off a power play chance.
Kenny Brooks crammed the puck into a full net after a pileup with 5:13 left in the second period, for a 5-1 Penn State lead.
Back-to-back Spartans penalties in the third period earned Penn State a second of 5-on-3 advantage, but the team could not capitalize on either resulting power play sequences.
The Nittany Lions got another two-man advantage late in the final frame, this time lasting 1:45, and Vince Pedrie slapped in an absolute scorcher for the team’s sixth goal.
“Puck’s goin’ in for ‘em,” said Spartan’s head coach Tom Anastos, when asked after the game to describe this year’s Penn State team. “That gives you a ton of confidence.”
As the final seconds dwindled off the clock, the Penn State student section began to chant “Iowa! Iowa!” at the Michigan State players, in reference to Saturday night’s Big Ten Championship game featuring the two top-ranked football programs.
Penn State hosts Princeton on Friday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m.
Jourdan Rodrigue: 814-231-4629, @JourdanRodrigue
This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Penn State beats Spartans for Big Ten series sweep."