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Penn State falls short in shootout to Notre Dame

UNIVERSITY PARK — There’s a saying, “A two-goal lead is the worst lead in hockey.” That saying was echoed by both Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson and Penn State’s Liam Folkes after the second-ranked Fighting Irish visited Hockey Valley for a weekend series.

Despite losing 5-3 the night before after leading 2-0 early on, Penn State trailed 2-0 in the first period Saturday and bounced back to tie Notre Dame 2-2 — but lost 1-0 in the overtime shootout.

Chase Berger said that the team needed to play aggressively “all 60 minutes.” The team was sloppy early on, allowing two scrappy goals, but the Nittany Lions quickly got back to playing their game the rest of the way.

Vice versa from the night before, when the Fighting Irish got the first two goals of the game, both of them being goals that the Lions like to score: a rebound and crashing the net. Cal Burke opened the scoring for the Irish as he rebounded Andrew Oglevie’s shot just under seven minutes in.

Things seemed to be going even worse for Penn State when Notre Dame’s lead was doubled just 104 seconds later. Dylan Malmquist crashed the net and got the best of Peyton Jones, as Oglevie and Burke were credited with the assists.

At a crucial point in the game, the Lions dug deep and were able to get one back through Andrew Sturtz’s rebound goal with just over two minutes remaining in the first. The Lions continued to pressure one the nations’ best goaltenders, Cale Morris, as Trevor Hamilton hit the post a minute later.

Morris, dubbed “Notre Dame’s rock” by his coach, was clearly the best player in both games this weekend, especially on Saturday night when he had a whopping 55 saves.

Penn State used that momentum from the first into the second, starting the period off on the power play, but despite the many chances, they couldn’t convert.

Shortly after, Liam Folkes was able to tie game as he put the puck between Morris’ blocker and the post and into the back of the net to tie the game at 2-2.

“We haven’t beat (Morris) that much this season. It felt nice to get one,” Folkes said. “Obviously Cale had an unbelievable weekend, he stole two games from us. I feel like we’re on the right track.”

Late in the third, Kris Myllari had a potential game-winning goal opportunity as his slap shot challenged Morris and the Notre Dame goaltender fell backwards, but the puck failed to cross the line in his glove.

The game ended 2-2 after regulation and Penn State dominated the five-minute overtime period, outshooting Notre Dame 5-0.

The best chance for the Lions was when Andrew Sturtz was awarded a penalty shot with less than two minutes left in the game. However, Morris once again reminded Pegula Ice Arena why he’s one of the best goaltenders in the country.

Jeff Jackson described Sturtz as a warrior and a player any coach would love to have, but was confident in his goaltender.

“The first thing I thought was ‘It has to be him,'” Jackson joked. “I thought he was a factor all weekend, but (Morris) stood the test.”

As the game went to a shootout, Morris held Penn State in check and Jordan Gross scored the only point for the Irish, earning them an extra point in the Big Ten standings.

Despite the loss — and going winless in the last seven games — Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky remained confident following his team’s performance.

“It’s not a win, but I thought that it could be a big step to prove to ourselves what we can do,” Gadowsky said.

Penn State hasa weekend off before a weekend series at Michigan State and a season finale series at home against Minnesota.

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