The Penn State Nittany Lions (16-10-4, 8-5-1-0 Big Ten pulled off a thrilling overtime upset against the fifteenth-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers (17-10-3, 8-3-3-0 Big Ten) by a final score of 4-3, splitting a pivotal series at Pegula Ice Area in University Park.
Penn State scored twice in the opening period to take a decisive lead against Minnesota. Junior Curtis Loik started the Nittany Lions off 7:21 into the first with a shot over the arm of Minnesota goaltender Adam Wilcox. Freshman Scott Conway, who had the assist on Loik’s goal, gave Penn State some breathing room 5:02 later to send the game into the second period.
Minnesota quickly put themselves on the board in the second. Travis Boyd caught a helpful pass from Mike Reilly to pick up the first goal for the Gophers.
Penn State would answer at the 15:44 mark. Conway scored his second goal of the game with an assist from Eric Scheid.
Minnesota retaliated :37 later and cut into Penn State’s two-goal lead with Boyd’s second score of the night. Reilly picked up his second assist on the goal to end the period.
The score remained 3-2 in favor of the Nittany Lions for nearly all of the 20 remaining minutes of regulation play. With 1:10 remaining in the third period, Minnesota head coach Don Lucia pulled Wilcox to give the Gophers an extra man. It worked and senior Sam Warning scored the equalizer to push the game into overtime.
It was defenseman Luke Juha who would accept the assist from the top-line dynamic duo of Casey Bailey and Taylor Holstrom, both Hobey Baker Memorial Award nominees, and score the game-winning powerplay goal 2:13 into the overtime period. Minnesota defenseman Michael Brodzinski took an elbowing penalty at the 1:54 mark to set up the win for Penn State.
Penn State will travel to Columbus to face off against Big Ten rival Ohio State in a two-game series next weekend. Friday night’s game will start at 6:30 p.m. and will be televised live on the Big Ten Network. The puck will drop on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and will be available on American Sports Network, 103.1 WRSC, and BTN2Go.
Photo Credit: GoPSUSports.com
