University of St. Thomas Athletics
Team Stats
UST
PSU
Shots
29
33
PPG
1
0
SHG
0
0
Penalties
1
3
Penalty Mins
2
6
Faceoffs Won
35
46
Game Leaders
Skaters
Players Mentioned
Photo by: Nick Wosika
Men's Hockey stung by late OT goal in loss at Penn State
10/21/2022 10:34:00 PM | Men's Hockey
University Park, Pa. -- Tommie Men's Hockey is still feeling the sting late Friday night.
Coach Rico Blasi's team went toe to toe with unbeaten and No. 18-ranked Penn State here on the Nittany Lions' home ice, but got no suitable reward.
The Purple just missed a win, and then just missed a tie, and instead left the ice with a 3-2 defeat. Penn State's Connor McMenamin scored with 20 seconds left in the frenetic 3-on-3 overtime overtime session to move his team to 6-0 and sting St. Thomas.
The Tommies (1-5) never held a lead in the game or in the two-game series, but their team play and poise here on Friday produced one of their best performances so far in their 42-game D-I era. PSU had a 33-29 edge in shots on goal after Thursday's 51-31 edge for the home team.
St. Thomas freshman goalie Aaron Trotter played lights out and once again gave his team a chance to win. He added a 30-save performance to his 45-save game in Thursday's 6-2 loss.
Penn State scored two goals 19 seconds apart late in period one for a 2-0 lead. The Toms shut them down for the next 48:26 on the clock before PSU scored the game winner 4:40 into the 5:00 overtime.
The Toms scored a late first-period goal and tied the game early in period two. Ryan O'Neill scored a power-play goal to make it 2-1, and Ethan Gauer scored a goal for the second night in a row to forge a 2-2 tie.
Quoting Coach Rico Blasi
"It's obviously disappointing. We played hard, we played well, we did everything right. It comes down to a bounce in overtime. We hit the post in overtime just before they scored. (Grant) Docter had a great chance in front. What are you going to do?
"I'm super proud of (the guys). They played the way we wanted them to play, everyone was on the same page. Especially in the second period, we dominated them in the second period. So I'm super proud of them. But sometimes there are lessons to be learned, and we are not there yet. So (now) we have to take another step. That's somebody telling us... that we have to grind it out a little bit more and show this consistently before we can start winning some of these close games, against a top-20 (ranked) opponent.
"But we went toe to toe with one of the best teams in the country, and now we have to get better and put this one behind us... We had our chances... we went one shift after another, and we did a lot of good things.... it's a hard pill to swallow tonight, I thought we deserved better... but we have to move on and get better."
Next Up
St. Thomas opens CCHA play next Friday Oct. 28 and Saturday Oct. 29 with games at Ferris State in Big Rapids, Mich.
Did You Know?
Gauer is the fifth Tommie in the D-I era -- and first of 2022-23 -- to score goals in both games of a two-game series. Trevor Zins and Cameron Recchi did it against Ferris State, and Luke Manning and Grant Loven did it against Bemidji State.
Coach Rico Blasi's team went toe to toe with unbeaten and No. 18-ranked Penn State here on the Nittany Lions' home ice, but got no suitable reward.
The Purple just missed a win, and then just missed a tie, and instead left the ice with a 3-2 defeat. Penn State's Connor McMenamin scored with 20 seconds left in the frenetic 3-on-3 overtime overtime session to move his team to 6-0 and sting St. Thomas.
The Tommies (1-5) never held a lead in the game or in the two-game series, but their team play and poise here on Friday produced one of their best performances so far in their 42-game D-I era. PSU had a 33-29 edge in shots on goal after Thursday's 51-31 edge for the home team.
St. Thomas freshman goalie Aaron Trotter played lights out and once again gave his team a chance to win. He added a 30-save performance to his 45-save game in Thursday's 6-2 loss.
Penn State scored two goals 19 seconds apart late in period one for a 2-0 lead. The Toms shut them down for the next 48:26 on the clock before PSU scored the game winner 4:40 into the 5:00 overtime.
The Toms scored a late first-period goal and tied the game early in period two. Ryan O'Neill scored a power-play goal to make it 2-1, and Ethan Gauer scored a goal for the second night in a row to forge a 2-2 tie.
Quoting Coach Rico Blasi
"It's obviously disappointing. We played hard, we played well, we did everything right. It comes down to a bounce in overtime. We hit the post in overtime just before they scored. (Grant) Docter had a great chance in front. What are you going to do?
"I'm super proud of (the guys). They played the way we wanted them to play, everyone was on the same page. Especially in the second period, we dominated them in the second period. So I'm super proud of them. But sometimes there are lessons to be learned, and we are not there yet. So (now) we have to take another step. That's somebody telling us... that we have to grind it out a little bit more and show this consistently before we can start winning some of these close games, against a top-20 (ranked) opponent.
"But we went toe to toe with one of the best teams in the country, and now we have to get better and put this one behind us... We had our chances... we went one shift after another, and we did a lot of good things.... it's a hard pill to swallow tonight, I thought we deserved better... but we have to move on and get better."
Next Up
St. Thomas opens CCHA play next Friday Oct. 28 and Saturday Oct. 29 with games at Ferris State in Big Rapids, Mich.
Did You Know?
Gauer is the fifth Tommie in the D-I era -- and first of 2022-23 -- to score goals in both games of a two-game series. Trevor Zins and Cameron Recchi did it against Ferris State, and Luke Manning and Grant Loven did it against Bemidji State.
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