UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Senior Kevin Wall (Penfield, N.Y.) tallied a career-best four points including the eventual game-winning goal to help lift Penn State to a 7-5 victory and series sweep against Canisius in non-conference action on Saturday night inside Pegula Ice Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Penn State (2-0-0) wasted little time capitalizing on an early tripping call against Canisius (0-2-0) to grab the 1-0 lead just 1:36 into the contest as junior Christian Berger (St. Louis, Mo.) laced a shot from the high slot through traffic and into the back of the net off a drop pass from senior Ture Linden (Great Falls, Va.).
- The Griffs capitalized on an odd-man rush to secure the equalizer as Nick Bowman finished off a feed from Alton McDermott for the 1-1 score at 8:19 of the opening period.
- The Nittany Lions regained the lead midway through the frame as Linden secured a bouncing puck and fired it over the glove of Canisius goaltender John Hawthorne and inside the far post from the near faceoff dot after sophomore Ryan Kirwan's (DeWitt, N.Y.) initial attempt was blocked for the 2-1 edge at the 9:23 mark.
- Penn State increased its lead at 14:49 of the first period as Kirwan ripped home a rebound just outside of the crease for the 3-1 margin.
- Canisius took advantage of a 5-on-3 opportunity after two quick penalties against the hosts and cut the deficit to single goal as Daniel DiGrande picked a corner from the slot at 7:36 of the second period for the 3-2 score.
- The Nittany Lions regained the two-goal lead just seconds after killing off the remaining four-plus minutes of a five-minute major as sophomore Ben Schoen (Maumee, Ohio) found senior Tyler Gratton (Pottstown, Pa.) on the doorstep for the easy finish and 4-2 lead at the 12:13 mark.
- The third period was a crazy one as the teams traded goals each lighting the lamp on a trio of occasions to account for the 7-5 final.
- Kirwan added his second of the night and third of the weekend as he finished off a feed from Wall at the far post for the 5-2 advantage just 3:54 into the final stanza.
- Less than two minutes later Wall caused a neutral zone turnover before skating into the attacking zone, dangling a defender and beating Hawthorne past the glove for the 6-2 margin at the 5:38 mark.
- Goals continued to come quick as just 30 seconds later the Griffs answered as McDermott let one fly for the 6-3 deficit.
- Senior Ashton Calder (Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.) was then the beneficiary of some good puck movement between his linemates as he was left all alone in the slot and buried the biscuit past Hawthorne for the 7-3 score at the 12:22 mark of the final period.
- Canisius wouldn't go away quietly as the Griffs tallied two goals in two minutes with under three to play, however, it was not enough as Penn State held on to secure the weekend sweep.
GOALTENDING
Freshman Noah Grannan (Germantown, Wis.) earned his first collegiate victory in his first start between the pipes improving to 1-0-0 on the year after turning aside 28 shots. Hawthorne falls to 0-1-0 on the year after also making 28 saves in the defeat.
NOTES
- Saturday's attendance of 6,343 marks the fourth largest crowd in Pegula Ice Arena history.
- The Nittany Lions held the slim 35-33 edge in shots on goal while going 2-for-3 on the man-advantage. Canisius went 2-for-5 on the powerplay.
- Penn State is now 6-1-0 all-time in six games against the Golden Griffins.
- The Nittany Lions lit the lamp seven times on Saturday night marking the 26th game all-time where they have scored seven or more goals and the first since a 7-2 victory over Wisconsin on January 22.
- Penn State is now 43-15-2 all-time against Atlantic Hockey teams while improving to 41-14-4 in the month of October and 94-1-2 all-time when scoring five or more goals.
- A trio of Nittany Lions had multi-point efforts on Saturday night as each member of the Kirwan, Linden, Wall line secured three or more points and were each plus-three on the night.
- Linden tied his career-high with three points as he factored in each of the first three goals of the game with one goal and a pair of assists securing his second-straight multi-point effort to open the season and the 16th of his career.
- Kirwan registered a career-best three points with his second-straight multi-point effort and the eighth of his career with one goal and one assist. Kirwan also secured his first multi-goal game of the year and the third of his career.
- Wall secured his career-high four points on one goal and three assists to collect his first multi-point effort this season and 15th of his career.
- With one assist, junior Jimmy Dowd Jr. moves past teammate and captain Paul DeNaples (Moscow, Pa.) for eighth on the Penn State all-time assist list for defensemen with 28 for his career while his 34 points tie DeNaples for the eighth among defensemen all-time.
- Schoen's lone assist extended his career-long point-streak, that carries over from the end of last season to five games.
POSTGAME QUOTABLES
Opening Statement: I think an interesting situation developed with Liam [Souliere], he was a game time decision and we didn't know if he would be able to go. And so, the Thor hammer last night went to Kevin Wall. I thought he was really appropriate in giving to [Noah] Grannan tonight because he had no idea he was playing. For a guy who hasn't played a college game before, he stepped in when he didn't know when a decision was coming, I thought he handled himself extremely well. Kevin did a good job. I thought it was very appropriate to give it to him, so I thought that was a pretty unique part of this game.
Question: During the 5-on-3 sequence in the second period, what were your thoughts that emerged as that developed? Obviously, you guys were very gritty on defense, and then you responded very well by scoring a goal right afterwards. What are your thoughts on that situation?
Answer: So, when it came up I actually was a little bit excited about it because our penalty kill was pretty poor the night before and it gave us an opportunity to see if we learned anything. I mean I was looking forward to it, I thought I was excited to show them the improvements that I think we could make. And it was okay, we obviously let one in, but I thought overall it was an excellent kill. And the biggest turning point in the game was that goal by Gratton right after. So, all in all, a pretty good sequence.
Question: Another night, another game of high-powered offense. Ryan Kirwan adds two more goals to his tally, three on the year. What has his addition as stepping up again, another season of being that guy on offense, what does that mean for you?
Answer: Well, he didn't pretty well last year too, but he had a very freshman type year in the sense that he really was a sponge and learned as much as he can about all the other aspects of the game without the puck. And he did a great job and he's putting himself in a situation to play a lot. He's very talented as you can see. If that line of himself, Kevin Wall and Ture Linden can all continue even remotely to what they're doing now, it's going to be fun to watch all season.
Question: Coach you mentioned Ture [Linden] before who had a great series but also played a ton on the penalty kill, especially in the second period. Can you speak to his complete game that he's already brought in just two games at Penn State?
Answer: One of the things that when we we're doing research on possible transfers, we really needed a right hand shot centerman who is good at doing faceoffs…that was really, really important. Chase McLane has been very good, but we knew he'd be injured for the early part of the year, so that was very high on the shopping list. And Ture Linden, I mean, when you look at his points, he's a great, great offensive player. But, for the people that know him best, they talked more about his 200-foot game than they do about his offense, and faceoffs are a big part of that. You can just see how comfortable he is and the pride he has in that. I mean, I think we were as impressed as we were with his offense and I think we are more impressed with his overall game.
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