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UNIVERSITY PARK -- It was a night of celebration during the Nittany Lions' 2017-18 men's ice hockey home opener, in which the Lions defeated American International 7-5.
Before the game, the team looked up as its 2017 Big Ten Tournament championship banner was unveiled, the first championship banner raised in Pegula Ice Arena.
Once the puck dropped, it was back to business for Penn State.
The Nittany Lions got off to a slow start with AIC finding the net first, just five minutes into the game courtesy of Brennan Kapcheck sliding the puck past Peyton Jones.
But Penn State countered quickly with multiple attacks. Andrew Sturtz came close to tying the game twice on the game's first power play. The Lions did not waste their next power play opportunity, as senior Trevor Hamilton scored the equalizer during a scramble right in front of the net.
With under a minute remaining in the first period, Erik Autio was called for tripping penalty, leaving the Lions short-handed. That didn't matter -- Chase Berger stole the puck seconds later and was on the breakaway. Berger found Sturtz right in front of the net and Sturtz put the puck in the back of net for his second assist of the night and a 2-1 Lions a lead heading into the second period.
Berger finished the night with a game-high three assists.
"I didn't think (AIC) had a play toward the middle so I tried to take away the wall," Berger said of his dish to Sturtz. "Once I had the puck I saw Sturtzy in the middle and he's pretty much automatic on breakaways."
The second period was more exciting than the first with a total of five goals in the frame. After an embellishment penalty on AIC, Liam Folkes scored immediately from the faceoff to double Penn State's lead. AIC responded with a goal just over two minutes later.
Penn State once again answered back with two quick goals from Cole Hults and Brandon Biro across a two-minute span to give the Lions a three-goal lead. Hults, a Stoughton, Wisconsin, native, was impressed with "The Roar Zone" as he played in his first game at Pegula.
"It's definitely what they say it was," Hults said. "I think Penn State's got the best fans in college hockey -- they're on their feet the whole time. It was pretty cool."
After Biro's goal, AIC once again responded and got the final goal of the second period to make it 5-3 heading into the final stanza.
In the third, the Lions were relentless as they tacked on two more goals by sophomores Denis Smirnov and Kris Myllari in the first six minutes of the period. AIC got two more as well, but it wasn't enough.
With seven different goalscorers on the night, Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky as said that was part of the game plan is to get as many guys as possible involved.
"We've never been a program that's effective when we put all our egg in one basket," he said. "The tempo of our game is that we need depth and we scoring from everybody, so when this happens it's an indication we're going in the right direction."
Penn State will look to go 2-0 at home as it once again faces AIC tonight.