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Penn State hockey drops second at Minnesota, 3-0

by:William James•02/11/24
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File photo: Pegula Ice Arena. (Credit: Daniel Althouse/BWI)

For the second straight game, the Penn State men’s hockey program was shut out by the No.8- ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers, losing the series finale 3-0.

Penn State moves to 12-13-3 on the season, and 4-10-3 in Big Ten play.

How it happened

For the second straight night, Minnesota netminder Justen Close was the star of the show, shutting out the Nittany Lions, and keeping them scoreless for all six periods on the weekend.

Close turned in a 30-save performance that stunned many great Nittany Lion chances.

Another similarity to Friday night’s bout, the Gophers found scoring from the same player twice within the first five minutes of a period, this time it was Aaron Huglen in the second.

Huglen scored his first just over a minute into the second period and found the back of the net for his second goal of the game just over three minutes later.

The Nittany Lions were hanging around all game and kept it competitive. Penn State was never really out of the contest until Mason Nevers found the loose puck just outside the offensive zone, and took it to the net where he scored the dagger.

Takeaways

This is not the same Nittany Lion team as they were last season, and the postseason is something they are fighting for rather than trying to hold on to their position like they were this time last year.

Still, the Nittany Lions hung around the No. 8 team in the country, and despite the score, played a very good game.

Penn State won the faceoff battle 24-23, and Liam Souliere turned in a 30-save performance Saturday night. The Nittany Lion penalty kill unit held Minnesota scoreless not just in Saturday night’s game, but on the weekend as well.

The Nittany Lion power play is hot and cold, and unfortunately for Penn State, they were cold this weekend, going 0-7 in total (0-2 Saturday night).

The Nittany Lions are currently 24th in the Pairwise poll and have games against Michigan (13), Wisconsin (5) and Ohio State (34) left on the schedule. If the team wants to keep their hopes of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament alive, every game is a must-win from here on out.

What’s next for Penn State

The Nittany Lions will host the Michigan Wolverines on Friday, Feb. 16th at Pegula Ice Arena, with puck drop slated for 7:00 p.m.

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