UNIVERSITY PARK – Junior Aiden Fink (Calgary, Alberta) collected three assists to help lead No. 9 Penn State to a series sweep of Minnesota following a, 5-2, victory in Big Ten Conference action at Pegula Ice Arena on Saturday evening.

With his three assists, Fink became the ninth Nittany Lion all-time to reach 100 career points while doing it in the shortest amount of time, coming in just his 87th career game. The junior currently has 101 points, just two shy of Liam Folkes ’20 for eighth on the all-time scoring list.

The Nittany Lions secure their first series sweep over the Gophers since November 15-16, 2019, moving to 22-33-1 in the all-time series and are now 13-12-1 against Minnesota in Hockey Valley.

Penn State moves to 14-6-0 with the victory and 6-4-0 in Big Ten play while the Gophers fall to 8-12-1 overall and 4-6-0 in conference action with the loss.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Minnesota opened the scoring as Brodie Ziemer raced end-to-end before ripping a wrsiter inside the far post past the blocker of Nittany Lion sophomore goaltender Kevin Reidler (Gavle, Sweden) for the 1-0 edge at 3:27 of the first period.

Penn State answered using quick transition after a blocked shot as freshman Gavin McKenna (Whitehorse, Yukon) sent a quick no-look, behind-the-back pass through the center of the ice springing sophomore Braedon Ford (Pittsburgh, Pa.) on a breakaway and he beat Gopher net-minder Nathan Airey through the five-hole for the 1-1 score at the 5:33 mark.

The Nittany Lions then grabbed the lead heading into the intermission scoring twice just under three minutes apart as junior Matt DiMarsico (Wexford, Pa.) finished out front off a beautiful feed from Fink at the 17:15 mark before freshman Lev Katzin (Thornhill, Ontario) slipped a rebound into a yawning net after senior Ben Schoen’s (Maumee, Ohio) initial bid was turned aside for the 3-1 edge with just 16.5 ticks remaining in the first period.

The Gophers cut the deficit in half early in the second period taking advantage of a neutral zone turnover by Penn State and going in on a 3-on-1 rush with Javon Moore one-timing a pass by Teddy Townsend into the back of the net for the 3-2 score at the 2:28 mark.

Penn State added some late insurance as Fink flicked the puck to center ice where freshman defenseman Jackson Smith (Calgary, Alberta) skated it down, dragged to the slot and wired a wrist shot under the blocker of Minnesota goaltender Nathan Airey for the 4-2 margin at 17:35 of the third period.

Junior captain Dane Dowiak (Pittsburgh, Pa.) then salted the game away with a shorthanded empty netter for the 5-2 final with just seconds remaining.

GOALTENDING

Reidler improves to 8-3-0 on the year after stopping 32 shots in the victory while Di Pasquo picks up the loss dropping to3-7-1 after allowing three goals on 14 shots over the opening 20 minutes before being relieved by Airey who collected 27 saves over the final two periods.