No. 20 Penn State men’s hockey team fell 4-2 to No. 19 Robert Morris on Monday night in the first game of the Three Rivers’ Classic at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.
After a short break for finals and the holidays, the Nittany Lions took the ice for the first time since earning a Top 20 USCHO ranking for the first time in program history. The loss drops Penn State to 9-5-2 on the year.
Penn State and Robert Morris opened the game with a scoreless first period. Nittany Lion freshman Eamon McAdam stopped all 9 shots while Penn State’s offense got 13 looks on net.
The scoreless affair went well into the second period until a Robert Morris goal with just over six minutes to play in the period broke the stalemate. Robert Morris would add one more goal less than a minute later to give the Colonials a 2-0 lead thanks to a five minute major penalty on Nate Jensen for contact to the head. Jensen was issued a game misconduct for the high hit.
Penn State freshman Scott Conway didn’t let Robert Morris get out of the second period with all of the momentum, adding Penn State’s first goal of the night with just over three minutes to play in the period. Dylan Richard and Curtis Loik were credited with the assists as Penn State pulled close in the closing minutes of the middle frame.
Robert Morris got off a game high 15 shots in the second period while the Nittany Lions cranked 13 attempts on goal in the same high action frame. Robert Morris net minder Terry Shafer made 35 saves in the winning effort.
Penn State found itself down by a two goal margin early in the final period after Daniel Leavens put home a shot at the 4:36 mark to put Robert Morris up 3-1.
The Nittany Lions pushed hard to close the gap but it would take a Casey Bailey goal with just over two minutes to play to make it a one goal margin. An empty net tally gave Robert Morris the victory and the 4-2 final.
Despite the loss, the Nittany Lions will face off against Western Michigan at 4:30 p.m. at CONSOL Energy Center as part of the Three Rivers Classic consolation game. The Broncos fell to No. 17 Colgate late Monday afternoon, and Gadowsky says his team is ready to get back on track.
“This is a big game for us,” said Gadowsky. “Obviously we’d love to be playing for the Three Rivers Classic championship, but that’s not to be the case. This is still a very big game for us. We are going to prepare just the same as we would with any other opponent.”
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