Penn State splits with Ohio State; Play Michigan tomorrow in the Big Ten Tournament

PSU celebrates Taylor Holstrom's goal in the third period of the Saturday's game vs. OSU (Photo c/o Abby Drey of the CDT)

After dropping Game 1 to Ohio State last Friday by a 4-2 score, the Penn State Nittany Lions closed out their inaugural season at Pegula Ice Arena with a 4-2 win over the Buckeyes last Saturday afternoon. Defenseman Nate Jensen scored a goal and had two assists and sophomore goalie Matt Skoff stopped 27 shots for his seventh win of the season.

The Lions finished the regular season 7-25-2 overall and 3-16-1-0 in Big Ten play. They played in front of another sellout crowd, which marked the 16th sellout of the season. Penn State was one of five Division I programs to play at more than 100 percent capacity at home all season long.

Jensen, who returned to the lineup last Friday for first time since sustaining a concussion on Feb. 8, opened the scoring just 2:51 into the game. OSU’s Darik Angeli was called for hooking which sent the Lions onto the powerplay. Jensen took a pass from Dylan Richard in the slot and wristed a shot past OSU goalie Matt Tomkins for an early 1-0 lead.

Curtis Loik scored just a little over four minutes after Jensen’s goal to make it 2-0, giving the North Vancouver, BC native six goals on the season.

Curtis Gedig scored OSU’s first goal on a 4-on-3 advantage with a little over ten minutes remaining in the first period. The Buckeyes worked the puck patiently in the zone before Gedig beat Skoff.  

Tommy Olczyk gave Penn State a 3-1 first period advantage after his shot rang off the post from a tough angle and bounced behind Tomkins with 1:17 left in the first period. Big-bodied Jonathan Milley was parked in front of Tomkin, which didn’t give him a chance to see the puck.

After OSU’s Anthony Greco made it a one goal game in the second period, Taylor Holstrom scored a powerplay goal with 13:05 left in the third period to seal the 4-2 victory. Dylan Richard recorded his fourth multi-point game of the season with two assists.

Penn State went 2-for-5 with the man advantage and have scored at least one powerplay goal for the fourth straight game and for the seventh time in their last 10 games.

The Lions return to action tomorrow (March 20^th) as they compete in the inaugural Big Ten tournament at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. The sixth-seeded Lions will play third-seeded Michigan in the opening round at 3 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network with the winner playing Wisconsin on Friday (March 21^st).

Penn State couldn’t have drawn a better opponent than Michigan. The Lions are 2-2 versus the 12^th ranked Wolverines this season and have given Michigan fits.  Since it’s a one and done situation anything can happen. Minnesota and Wisconsin will probably play for the Big Ten championship, but the first round should be exciting. Ohio State will play Michigan State in the other opening round game with the winner playing the Golden Gophers.

Penn State will be no pushover and very well could upset the Wolverines. They seem to get amped up to play Michigan and they could possibly be in their heads. The Lions have nothing to lose as nobody thinks they will make an impact in the tournament.

With that being said, Michigan is getting hot at the right time, which I think spells trouble for Guy Gadowsky’s squad. I was impressed with Michigan’s weekend against No. 1 Minnesota. They lost a tough 3-2 game in OT last Friday in Game 1 and routed the Golden Gophers 6-2 the following day. It’s worth noting that Minnesota did sit Sam Warning and goalie Adam Wilcox in Game 2.  

After snapping a four-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over Penn State last month, the Wolverines are 4-2-1 with wins over Ohio State and Michigan State. My heart is telling me to pick Penn State, however, I can’t dismiss the talent Michigan has.

Too much is at stake for the Wolverines who will most likely seal their bid into the NCAA tournament with a win. It’s been a season full of growing pains for the Lions and I think their season will come to an end tomorrow.