No. 6 Penn State extended its winning streak to three games with a 3-0 shutout win over LIU to complete the sweep. The Nittany Lions overcame yet another slew of penalties and poor puck handling to move to 5-1 on the season. Charlie Cerrato, Matt DiMarsico, and Reese Laubach all found the back of the net, and Josh Fleming recorded his first career shutout in his second career start.
First Period
Penn State was slow to get going again. LIU had a couple of early chances to score the opening goal, including a breakaway
in the first 20 seconds, but Josh Fleming held down the fort to keep the game level.
Five minutes into the second period, the second line sustained pressure in the offensive zone. Charlie Cerrato and Matt DiMarsico each had good looks in front that got stopped by Daniel Duris, but JJ Wiebusch gathered the puck and flipped it home to give Penn State a 1-0 lead:
Nic Chin-DeGraves took a roughing penalty when he tried to get a shot attempt off in transition. LIU threatened, and Gavin McKenna had a chance shorthanded, but the power play expired with Penn State still ahead 1-0.
LIU was called for too many men on the ice, but Penn State’s power play took too long to get going. A turnover led to a breakaway for JR Perdion, who missed it wide. The Nittany Lions took a 1-0 lead to the intermission.
Second Period
Charlie Cerrato went to work on the first shift of the second period and scored his fourth goal of the year. Matt DiMarsico made a great backhanded pass to Cerrato, who scored from the right faceoff circle:
The Nittany Lions continued to pressure, and Gavin McKenna rang a backhand shot off the post. Noah Serdachny leveled Mac Gadowsky into the boards a few shifts later for a five-minute boarding penalty, but a retaliation by Jackson Smith made it 4-on-4 for two minutes of the five-minute penalty. LIU successfully killed off the three-minute power play, but Penn State did create a few good chances on the man advantage.
The remainder of the second period was an unmitigated penalty slop fest, with the teams combining for 29 penalty minutes in the second period alone. Josh Fleming needed to make several key saves to preserve the two-goal lead. Charlie Cerrato had two glorious chances in the dying seconds of the period, but Daniel Duris made two incredible saves to keep it 2-0. Penn State outshot LIU 18-10 in the frame.
Third Period
Reese Laubach extended Penn State’s lead to 3-0 on the power play after Aiden Fink fed a nice pass to him in the slot. Fink tripped over a loose stick but still managed to get the assist:
With a comfortable lead, Penn State was content to shorten the game, especially with LIU continuing to shoot itself in the foot with penalties. The game ended with another scrum in the dying seconds that saw two players on each team receive game misconducts for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Scoring Summary
First Period
- PSU- JJ Wiebusch (7)- Matt DiMarsico (3), Charlie Cerrato (11)- 5v5- 5:14
Second Period
- PSU- Charlie Cerrato (4)- Matt DiMarsico (4), JJ Wiebusch (5)- 5v5- 0:22
Third Period
- PSU- Reese Laubach (1)- Aiden Fink (7), Matt DiMarsico (5)- PP- 7:41
Shots By Period
- LIU- 10-10-8-28
- PSU- 11-18-9-38
Takeaways
- Win Ugly- Both teams were undisciplined- LIU more so- but the Nittany Lions managed to win a game that was sloppy throughout and had no rhythm.
- Discipline- Simply put, the amount of penalties this team has taken through six games is not acceptable.
- Puck Handling- I lost count of how many turnovers and puck handling errors Penn State had in this game. Passing needs to improve to beat the better teams on the schedule.
- Power Play- Penn State has scored a power play goal in all six games this season.
- Fleming- Josh Fleming had an excellent game in his second appearance of the season. His growth will be instrumental for this team moving forward.
What’s Next
Penn State will welcome Stonehill to Pegula Ice Arena next Friday and Saturday for the penultimate non-conference series of the season. Puck drop is scheduled for 7pm on Friday and 6pm on Saturday.
