Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
5-14-0
Penn State University
10-7-3
Hockey Falls 7-6 at #19 Penn State
January 06, 2024 | Hockey
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA - Army West Point hockey (5-14-0, 3-9-0 Atlantic Hockey) fell by a score of 7-6 at #19 Penn State (10-7-3, 2-5-3 Big Ten) on the road on Saturday night.
The game marked a homecoming for Army plebe defenseman Mac Gadowsky, whose father Guy has been the lone head coach of Penn State's program throughout its 12-year NCAA history.
Army put itself in a hole early, taking an interference penalty within the first minute of the game. Aiden Fink made the Black Knights pay, scoring a bar-down goal at the 2:04 for his team-leading tenth tally of the season.
Army got its chance on the power-play about a minute later after a too many men call on the Nittany Lions, but the Black Knights were unable to capitalize as Noah Grannan stopped the best chance with a glove save on Ricky Lyle.
The Black Knights got another chance on the power-play eight minutes into the frame, taking advantage this time as Jake Hewitt deposited his sixth goal of the campaign. Nik Hong dug the puck out from behind the net, as Gadowsky then fed Hewitt with a centering pass for Army's Atlantic Hockey-leading 17th power-play goal of the season.
Army fired right back to take the lead, as Joey Baez slid an inch-perfect pass over the Brent Keefer at the right circle who slid home his team-leading ninth of the campaign. Barron Woodring recorded his first career helper on the goal.
The Black Knights quickly made it three goals in under two minutes, as Andrew Garby fired in his first of the season off a feed from Itagaki. It marked the first time this season that Army scored three goals in the opening frame.
Penn State answered back with an even strength goal at the 17-minute mark of the period, as the score from Simon Mack made it a 3-2 game after one. Army outshot the Nittany Lions 13-8 in the opening period.
Army came out on fire in the second period, with Barron Woodring scoring his third goal in three games less than a minute in on a breakaway to double Army's lead to 4-2. Just 14 seconds later, Joey Baez went bar-down off a pass from Owen Nolan for his eighth of the season as Army took a quick 5-2 lead 70 seconds into the second frame.
Heading to the penalty kill soon after, Army continued to dominate, as Nik Hong feed Max Itagaki on a break as Itagaki put in his fifth tally of the season to give Army a 6-2 lead at the 5:16 mark of the second frame.
Penn State kept the pressure on for the remainder of the second, firing 22 shots on goal in the period as opposed to Army's eight. Abric was able to make the save on 20, as goals from Reese Laubach at the 13:00 mark and Ryan Kirwan at the 18:07 mark made it a 6-4 game as headed to the final period.
Abric made multiple saves to keep the score level at six, before the teams took offsetting penalties at the 9:29 mark to set up four-on-four play. Penn State was able to take advantage of a breakdown in the defensive end for Army, as Fink scored his second of the game at the 10:01 mark which gave the Nittany Lions their first lea since the first half of the first period.
Army pulled Abric with 1:40 remaining in the game still trailing by one, but were unable to find the equalizing goal despite pressure in the final minute. The Black Knights six goals matched its season-high but Army was unable to pull off its second victory over ranked opponent in a span of nine days.
