The Penn State Icers (25-3-1) defeated the Mercyhurst Lakers 9-1 on Saturday afternoon at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion, extending their home winning streak to seventeen games. The game was the final contest before bids and seedings will be announced for the ACHA Tournament in March.
After an early slashing penalty against Mercyhurst to begin the first period, Penn State got the scoring started on the power play when Mike McDonagh fed a pass across to Tommy Olczyk, who beat Mercyhurst goalie Ian Ansel to make it 1-0 Icers at 6:11. Penn State would make it 2-0 at the 12:53 mark when a shot from Rich O’Brien at the point hit Ansel’s left pad and bounced right out to Bryce Johnson, who netted his first goal since returning to the lineup after suffering a fractured right thumb in December.
During the first intermission, the Icers inducted seven individuals into their Hall of Fame. The members of the Class of 2012 were Linda Jordan, Steve Penstone, Scott Balboni, Dick Merkel, Scott Curry, Curtiss Patrick and Bill Downey.
In the second, Penn State added to their lead before some fans even returned to their seats. Off the draw, Peter Sweetland fired a shot into the attacking zone. Ansel tried to play the puck, but it took a bad hop on him and bounced right out to a wide open Olczyk in the slot, who added his second of the game to make it 3-0 Icers just seven seconds in. After Penn State was assessed a crosschecking penalty, the Lakers got on the board when Alex Gallbraith beat Penn State goalie Matt Madrazo on the power play at 5:00 to cut the Icers lead to 3-1. Just ten seconds later, Taylor Holstrom would put the Icers back up three at 4-1, and Ansel was pulled in favor of Bryan Danczak. Johnson would pick up his second of the game after playing give-and-go with Holstrom to make it 5-1 at 14:02, and twelve seconds later Michael Longo would join the scoring to give Penn State a 6-1 lead.
On the 2-man advantage to start the third period, Sweetland made it 7-1 Icers when his wrister from the slot beat Danczak just 44 seconds in. Moments later, Jake Friedman would add another power play goal at 2:16 to make it 8-1 Penn State. After a stretch of physical play that resulted in multiple penalties, Dan Meiselman, who returned to action for the first time after suffering a concussion a few weeks ago, capped the scoring at 16:48, giving the Icers their 9-1 victory.
Penn State outshot the Lakers 51-17. The Icers were 3-10 on the power play and were able to kill four of the five power plays that Mercyhurst had.
The Icers will be back in action on Friday (Feb. 17) when they take on Duquesne at 7 p.m. Fans can purchase tickets at the Hockey Office in the East Area Locker Room until 5 p.m. Friday. Tickets will also be sold at the door or can be ordered through the Penn State Hockey Ticket Office at 814-867-5522.
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