Penn State preparing to play shorthanded against Michigan State

For the second straight weekend, the Penn State men’s hockey team is expecting to possibly be shorthanded on the ice.

Playing two games last weekend at Minnesota, the No. 16 Nittany Lions were one forward short of a full complement at the start of both nights. More injuries depleted the troops even more.

With another week to plan, and having to play at another difficult arena against an opponent that has underperformed against expectations as a team but has given Penn State trouble, the Nittany Lions are hoping to survive with similar or better results.

Penn State (17-8-3, 7-5 Big Ten) visits Michigan State (7-19-2, 3-9) for games at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Last weekend produced a weekend split against Minnesota (14-13, 9-3), which shares the Big Ten lead despite being barely over .500 overall. It was a place Penn State had never before won.

Munn Ice Arena has seen a Nittany Lion win, but it came during the program’s first varsity season, before the start of Big Ten play.

They will have to win there likely once again with the centers forced to pull double shifts, joining other lines. They have a loose plan, but also know they will have to adapt on the fly, not always keeping a schedule of who joins which line when.

“I can’t tell you exactly, this is what’s going to happen,” coach Guy Gadowsky said. “The game dictates that, the number of whistles and where you are in terms of relation to timeouts.”

It will test their conditioning, but is still manageable.

“Keep your shifts short,” freshman forward Andrew Sturtz said. “That’s the main thing in a situation like this. I think we’re ready for it. I know our centers definitely are.”

When Gadowsky met with the media Monday, the only players he knew for certain would be missing the games were James Robinson, who has been out since the season opener, and Dylan Richard, though the reasons for his absence were not disclosed.

Curtis Loik, Alec Marsh and defenseman Erik Autio were all “day-to-day,” according to Gadowsky.

Michigan State also got a key, confidence-building split last weekend with high-flying Michigan, a good sign for a team that has struggled much of the season.

The Nittany Lions swept the Spartans in their earlier meetings at Pegula Ice Arena 4-2 and 6-1. In both games, they also got the best of senior goaltender Jake Hidebrand. The native of Butler, who used to play in the same youth league as Penn State senior goalie Matthew Skoff, has been guarding the back of the Michigan State defense for the last four seasons and was last season’s Big Ten Goaltender of the Year.

Knowing the Nittany Lions can beat Hildebrand will make it a little easier when they’re skating through double shifts this weekend.

“He’s a good goalie,” Sturtz said. “There’s no hiding it. He’s a very good goalie and we’re sure he’s going to bounce back.”

This story was originally published February 11, 2016 at 6:58 PM with the headline "Penn State preparing to play shorthanded against Michigan State."