ALLENTOWN, Pa. — No matter who won Sunday’s regional final at the PPL Center, a brand-new school would be heading to the Frozen Four.
That school will be fourth-seeded regional host Penn State, which edged second seed Connecticut 3-2 in overtime in a tight back-and-forth contest before 6,933 on-lookers, the majority of them again adorned in Penn State colors.
“This win is historical for our program,” said Penn State coach Guy Gadowsky. ”It couldn’t have been a better atmosphere, it couldn’t have been a better game.”
“There’s so much excitement,” said Penn State captain Simon Mack. “I’m so proud of the guys in our locker room.”
Matt DiMarsico scored from the high slot with 2:04 left in the extra session off a pass from Charlie Cerrato to send the Big Ten’s Nittany Lions to St. Louis in two weeks’ time against Boston University.
“We’re all high IQ hockey players, but we’re also unselfish,” DiMarsico said of himself and linemates Cerrato and JJ Wiebusch. “Charlie could have shot, but he made a great pass, and I was lucky enough to bury that one.”
UConn, the nation’s seventh-ranked squad, took the lead just over three minutes into the game when Jake Richard passed from along the right wing boards to Joey Muldowney standing alone in the high slot. Muldowney then whipped the puck low to the stick side of Penn State’s Arsenii Sergeev for his 29th goal of the season and second of the regional. Penn State, the 12th-ranked team in the nation, came close to knotting matters with 11 minutes left in the first period, but Reese Laubach‘s shot from the right side clipped the crossbar.
Huskies goaltender Callum Tung made 12 saves to start the afternoon in a game that featured dozens of blocked shots on both sides, before Penn State’s Dane Dowiak broke through on a shot from the slot at 13:27 off a feed from behind the goal line by Tyler Paquette. It was the third goal in two regional games for Dowiak, who also earned regional MVP accolades. Wiebusch then had a chance in close in the waning seconds of the period, but his attempt off a rebound went wide.
Penn State raced up ice on a rare 4-on-2 early in the second stanza, only to see Hobey Baker Award top 10 finalist Aiden Fink hit the near post from along the goal line to Tung’s right after Jarod Crespo had originally misfired in front. UConn counterattacked but Penn State defenders blocked two tries by Muldowney at the left post. Fink later led another charge for the Nittany Lions that saw Tung make several saves in close while losing his stick, before his teammates finally cleared the puck.
”Callum‘s a stud,” said UConn assistant captain John Spetz. “He’s a great goaltender, and he’s got a great future ahead of him.”
Penn State had outshot UConn by a 2-to-1 margin midway through regulation, but it was the Huskies who broke back on top as alternate captain Tabor Heaslip flipped a puck from the left side past a screened Sergeev and in at 11:27.
“I thought we did a great job of making adjustments the first period and slowing them down,” said UConn captain Hudson Schandor. “We tried to suck the speed and the life out of them, and I think we did that.”
UConn’s second lead lasted exactly 30 seconds. Wiebusch accepted a short pass from Cerrato in the right circle of the UConn zone and then wristed the puck over Tung’s right shoulder.
The game tightened up some over the final 20 minutes. UConn managed just one shot on goal through the middle of the third period compared to three for Penn State in the same span.
Just under six minutes into the third period, DiMarsico shook loose from three defenders to get off a backhand that went over the net. A UConn shot from the left point with just under seven minutes left snuck through Sergeev, who had previously suited up for UConn before transferring to Penn State, but he managed to lie back atop the loose puck and force a faceoff. Three minutes later, he stopped Tristan Fraser on a try from the left circle.
“I try to do my best to help the guys,” Sergeev said. “Both teams deserved to go to the Frozen Four.”
The Huskies stepped it up in the second half of the third stanza, generating a dozen additional shots on net, but neither team could score a go-ahead goal, sending the Allentown Regional final to overtime for the second time in three years.
Less than five minutes into the extra session, Muldowney fired a shot from the right circle that clanked off the far post, but Sergeev saved a subsequent shot by Kai Janviriya and also the rebound. Six minutes later, Muldowney slipped through for a partial breakaway but Sergeev rejected his backhand attempt.
Shortly after, Fraser appeared ready to try a high wraparound behind the Penn State net to Sergeev’s left but he was knocked down by defender Nick Fascia before he could lift the puck. Three minutes later, Sergeev got his right pad on Hugh Larkin’s shot from the slot and a minute afterwards stopped Muldowney’s shot directly in front.
Two years ago, it was Michigan scoring early in OT in Allentown to break Penn State’s hearts. This time it was the Nittany Lions making a rush late in sudden death, which was rewarded when Cerrato found DiMarsico, who subsequently ripped a high shot past Tung. It was Cerrato’s fifth assist of the regional and the third goal of the weekend for DiMarsico, who tossed his stick into the stands as the long-awaited blue-and-white celebration began.
“I figured it would look pretty cool,” he quipped.
Sergeev finished with 42 saves, while Tung made 38 stops for the Huskies. UConn outshot the Nittany Lions overall 44-41, including 28-13 after the second period and 14-7 in OT.
“Arsenii played great,” said UConn head coach Mike Cavanaugh, Sergeev’s former college coach, “and our guy was equally as good.”
He also thanked graduate players Schandor and Spetz for their leadership.
“They single-handedly changed and set expectations for this program,” said Cavanaugh. “They mentored a big freshman class and everyone else new in our program, and they showed what it means to be a UConn hockey player.”
Neither team scored on its only power play of the game, both occurring in regulation, or on a 4-on-4 that took place shortly after Penn State’s first goal. UConn challenged a play midway through overtime for a possible major penalty, but to no avail.
Just over nine minutes later, DiMarsico ended it in front of a de facto Penn State crowd, which waited decades for NCAA hockey after years as a national club-level powerhouse.
“They deserve it,” Gadowsky said of the Nittany Lions fans. “They give us strength, that’s for sure.
“We did this here before, and it didn’t turn out as well as this,” he added of Penn State’s previous Allentown forays. “To come out on top in this atmosphere is just awesome.”
