Photo by: Matthew Mitchell Photography
Neil’s Notebook: Back on the Road, Spartans Start B1G Slate at No. 6 Penn State
11/7/2019 9:28:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
By Neil Koepke
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – One of the bright spots from last season was Michigan State's compete level and some success against Penn State.
The Spartans went 2-2 against the Nittany Lions, the highest-scoring team in the nation in 2018-19, winning one game on the road and one game at home.
MSU's 6-4 victory at Pegula Arena on Jan. 12 was one of the high points of the season and it ignited a 4-1-2 run, the Spartans' best of the year.
Five weeks later, Michigan State and Penn State split a series at Munn Arena, the Spartans winning 5-3 in the first game and the Nittany Lions capturing the series finale by the same score.
For MSU, the immediate challenge is having another strong series at Penn State and come away with at least another victory against the No. 6/6 ranked team in the nation.
The Spartans (2-4 overall), starting Big Ten play, and Nittany Lions (6-1, 2-0 Big Ten) meet at 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday at Pegula Arena.
"They shoot pucks from everywhere, they're high energy, high pace and you have to weather a storm at some part of the game,'' MSU senior defenseman Jerad Rosburg said. "In the games we won against them last season, we started pressuring them a bit.
"You have to play an honest game against them and be on the right side of the puck. And I think when we do that, we end up playing less defense and get more chances at the other end.
"And, obviously, when you get the chances, you have to get the puck in the net. Trying to run and gun with them may work a little but it's not going to work all the time.''
Michigan State, which last year lost the first meeting with Penn State, 4-2, on the road, scored 16 goals and allowed 16 in the four games vs. the Nittany Lions.
"I thought we controlled the puck pretty well in the games we won. We weren't just throwing it away,'' senior center Patrick Khodorenko said. "When we were able to get it across the blue line and we found guys crossing on the far side and were able to get shots, and our power play was working well.
"They play a hard game offensively but if we play the game we've always played and get pucks on net like we've done we can generate a lot of chances.
"They have a great offense and a great power play. Hopefully, we can stay out of the penalty box a little better than we did against Cornell.''
In Cornell's 3-2 and 6-2 sweep of the Spartans last weekend, the Big Red were 2-for-8 on the power play in the first game and 3-for-6 in the series finale. Meanwhile, all four of MSU's goals in the two games came on the power play.
In 12 games against Penn State over three seasons, Khodorenko has three goals and nine assists for 12 points. Linemate Mitchell Lewandowski has the second-most points vs. the Nittany Lions with six – three goals and three assists in eight games. Of course, Taro Hirose, now in the NHL with the Red Wings, played on the line with Khodorenko and Lewandowski for the last two seasons.
"There's something about playing at their barn that we like, especially our line,'' Khodorenko said. "Hopefully, we can keep that up.''
Khodorenko, who leads MSU in scoring after six games with a goal and six assists for seven points, is now on a line with freshman Nico Müller and either Lewandowski or senior Sam Saliba.
"They have a great student section. It's a fun place to play with the student section being so rowdy and with all their signs,'' Khodorenko said of atmosphere at Pegula Arena.
Rosburg said he and most of his teammates embrace playing in a loud, intense and colorful atmosphere.
"It's really loud and Penn State feeds off their crowd a lot,'' he said. "The crowd loves it when (the Nittany Lions) are running around and forechecking hard. It's a fun environment and not really intimidating. Most of my teammates feel the same way.
"When you shut down the other team's crowd, it feels good. I'm sure they say the same thing when they come here.''
Michigan State is 3-3-1 in the last six meetings with Penn State - 1-1-1 at Pegula Arena and 2-2 at Munn Arena.
The Nittany Lions, who will be playing their 8th and 9th straight home games and haven't been on the road this season, are coming of a 6-1 and 4-2 sweep of now-ranked No. 12 Wisconsin.
Penn State is averaging 4.57 goals per game, which ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten and No. 4 in the nation. But if you eliminate Harvard (7.0) and Princeton (5.0) who played their first games last weekend, the Nittany Lions would be second nationally, only behind Notre Dame (4.67).
PSU is one again living up to its reputation of firing the puck on goal from all over the ice. It averages 38.14 shots on goal, which is second in the nation.
"Penn State does present some challenges. They transition incredibly fast,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "They'll get their shots but you want to make sure you don't give them too many easy ones.
"Neutral zone decisions are always a huge part of the game offensively and defensively. We have to be better at that and make sure we're making their defense turn.''
Cole said that in games against PSU last season, he liked the way his team skated and competed and the way it handled the mental aspect of the Nittany Lions' high shot totals.
"The compete is a physical part but there's also a mental part with them shooting the puck a lot. In the one game, they had 82 attempts (shot at the net) to our 56. Eighty-two is a lot to put up,'' he said. "They put pressure on you that way and it's a mental thing. You look up at see the shot clock and say, 'wow, they have a lot of shots.'
"But sometimes the shots are from the neutral zone or wide in the offensive zone but they create a lot of shots out of that. If you can get yourself mentally around that and accept that you're all right, saying those aren't all grade A chances.''
Cole said a big factor in MSU's success against Penn State last season – and in all four games – was its play in the defensive zone.
"We got out of our zone really well and made good reads coming through, whether it was zone to zone or getting it behind their defense wherever we were at,'' he said. "They're going to get chances but we have to make them work for them. I thought we did that well over all four games.''
THE MSU-PSU RIVALRY: The Nittany Lions hold a 13-9-4 edge in the series which started with a 5-3 Spartans victory on Jan. 25, 2013, at Munn Arena.
MSU went 6-2-2 in the first 10 meetings before Penn State took control in the next phase, going 8-0-1 against the Spartans. It's all even in the last seven meetings at 3-3-1.
Michigan State is 7-6-1 vs. PSU at Munn Arena and 2-7-3 at Pegula Arena.
SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS: Penn State's only loss this season was at home against Alaska, 4-0, on Oct. 18, one day after the Nittany Lions routed the Nanooks, 7-0.
PSU has sweeps over Sacred Heart and Wisconsin and a single game win against Robert Morris. Next weekend, the Nittany Lions play on the road for the first time this season, at Minnesota. The week after, they host Ohio State.
The reason Penn State was picked to finish first in the Big Ten and has been ranked high in the national polls is a highly skilled group of forwards and lots of seniors and juniors playing key roles.
The Nittany Lions have nine seniors and eight juniors on the roster and usually seven seniors and six juniors are in the lineup.
Top guns on offense include seniors Nate Sucese (4-9-13), Brandon Biro (5-7-12), Denis Smirnov (2-4-6), Nikita Pavlychev (1-4-5) and Liam Folkes (1-2-3), juniors Alex Limoges (2-3-5), Sam Sternschein (3-2-5) and Evan Barrett (1-4-5) and sophomore Aarne Talvitie (3-4-7).
Sucese is tied for first in Big Ten overall scoring while Biro is tied for third.
Limoges and MSU's Taro Hirose led the nation in scoring last season with 50 points. Limoges had 23 goals and 27 assists in 39 games while Hirose had 15 goals and 35 assists in 36 games.
Penn State's defense is led by junior Cole Hults (4-4-8), the team's third-leading scorer, sophomore Paul DeNaples (1-1-2), senior Kris Myllari and juniors Alex Stevens and Clayton Phillips, a transfer from Minnesota.
Five freshmen have received steady playing time – forwards Connor MacEachern, Connor McMenamin, Tyler Gratton and Kevin Wall and defenseman Mason Snell.
In goalie, senior Peyton Jones is starting for his fourth season. He has a 6-0 record, 1.67 goals-against average and a .947 saves percentage.
Guy Gadowsky is in his eighth season as Penn State coach and has a 131-111-19 record in Happy Valley. In 20 seasons as a head coach, he's 304-309-56. Gadowsky, 52, a 1989 Colorado College graduate, was head coach at Alaska and Princeton before becoming Penn State's first coach in 2012.
The Nittany Lions won the Big Ten playoff championship in 2017, earning their first NCAA Tournament berth in the fifth year of the varsity program. They earned an at-large spot in the NCAAs in 2018. Last season, PSU lost to Notre Dame in the Big Ten title game but did not make the NCAA Tournament.
BIG TEN FUN: After six non-conference games, including four on the road at Northern Michigan and Colorado College, Michigan State is ready to begin Big Ten play – the last team to do so.
The other six teams had conference openers last weekend and now it's the Spartans' turn to begin their 24-game Big Ten schedule.
"Conference games are the best. It's a lot of big schools, high-energy games and full buildings,'' MSU senior defenseman Jerad Rosburg said. "It's the reasons why you play in the Big Ten and it's one of the best conferences because of the skill and the atmospheres.''
Rosburg is confident the Spartans can improve on their 8-12-4 record in the Big Ten record last season.
"We were doing pretty well in the Big Ten last year until the end of the season when we faded a bit but we have a lot of the same players back,'' he said.
Patrick Khodorenko, MSU's top scorer, agrees with Rosburg.
"I just think we're more experienced defensively. We have an older team, especially on the back end,'' Khodorenko said. "Hopefully, we can use that to our advantage.
"The games in the Big Ten mean a lot more. It's not to say the nonconference games don't mean a lot, but they get us prepared for the Big Ten and games that count in the standings.''
The Spartans play 10 conference games before running into another non-conference opponent in Arizona State on Dec. 14-15 at Munn Arena. The first stretch of conference games includes series at Penn State, home-and-home with Michigan, home vs. Notre Dame, at Ohio State and home with Wisconsin.
SPARTAN POTPOURRI: Michigan State is averaging 2.5 goals per game but the power play ranks 10th in the nation, clicking at 29.2 percent (7-for-24). Six players have scored power-play goals – defenseman Dennis Cesana leads with two, while Patrick Khodorenko, Mitchell Lewandowski, Nico Muller, John Nodler and defenseman Cole Krygier have one goal apiece . . .
Nine different players have scored MSU's last 10 goals with Muller chipping in two . . . The Spartans rank third in the nation in faceoff success at .565. Center Tommy Apap leads MSU with a .605 winning percentage, followed by Khodorenko at .579.
IN THE BIG TEN: No. 9 (USCHO)/No. 8 (USA Hockey) Ohio State (6-1-1 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) is at No. 5/5 Notre Dame (5-0-1, 1-0-1-0) and Michigan (3-4-1, 0-2) plays host to Minnesota (3-4-1, 0-1-1-1) in conference series on Friday and Saturday.
No. 12/12 Wisconsin (4-4, 0-2) plays a non-conference series at No. 20 Omaha (4-1-1) on Friday and Saturday.
MSUSpartans.com staff writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – One of the bright spots from last season was Michigan State's compete level and some success against Penn State.
The Spartans went 2-2 against the Nittany Lions, the highest-scoring team in the nation in 2018-19, winning one game on the road and one game at home.
MSU's 6-4 victory at Pegula Arena on Jan. 12 was one of the high points of the season and it ignited a 4-1-2 run, the Spartans' best of the year.
Five weeks later, Michigan State and Penn State split a series at Munn Arena, the Spartans winning 5-3 in the first game and the Nittany Lions capturing the series finale by the same score.
For MSU, the immediate challenge is having another strong series at Penn State and come away with at least another victory against the No. 6/6 ranked team in the nation.
The Spartans (2-4 overall), starting Big Ten play, and Nittany Lions (6-1, 2-0 Big Ten) meet at 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday at Pegula Arena.
"They shoot pucks from everywhere, they're high energy, high pace and you have to weather a storm at some part of the game,'' MSU senior defenseman Jerad Rosburg said. "In the games we won against them last season, we started pressuring them a bit.
"You have to play an honest game against them and be on the right side of the puck. And I think when we do that, we end up playing less defense and get more chances at the other end.
"And, obviously, when you get the chances, you have to get the puck in the net. Trying to run and gun with them may work a little but it's not going to work all the time.''
Michigan State, which last year lost the first meeting with Penn State, 4-2, on the road, scored 16 goals and allowed 16 in the four games vs. the Nittany Lions.
"I thought we controlled the puck pretty well in the games we won. We weren't just throwing it away,'' senior center Patrick Khodorenko said. "When we were able to get it across the blue line and we found guys crossing on the far side and were able to get shots, and our power play was working well.
"They play a hard game offensively but if we play the game we've always played and get pucks on net like we've done we can generate a lot of chances.
"They have a great offense and a great power play. Hopefully, we can stay out of the penalty box a little better than we did against Cornell.''
In Cornell's 3-2 and 6-2 sweep of the Spartans last weekend, the Big Red were 2-for-8 on the power play in the first game and 3-for-6 in the series finale. Meanwhile, all four of MSU's goals in the two games came on the power play.
In 12 games against Penn State over three seasons, Khodorenko has three goals and nine assists for 12 points. Linemate Mitchell Lewandowski has the second-most points vs. the Nittany Lions with six – three goals and three assists in eight games. Of course, Taro Hirose, now in the NHL with the Red Wings, played on the line with Khodorenko and Lewandowski for the last two seasons.
"There's something about playing at their barn that we like, especially our line,'' Khodorenko said. "Hopefully, we can keep that up.''
Khodorenko, who leads MSU in scoring after six games with a goal and six assists for seven points, is now on a line with freshman Nico Müller and either Lewandowski or senior Sam Saliba.
"They have a great student section. It's a fun place to play with the student section being so rowdy and with all their signs,'' Khodorenko said of atmosphere at Pegula Arena.
Rosburg said he and most of his teammates embrace playing in a loud, intense and colorful atmosphere.
"It's really loud and Penn State feeds off their crowd a lot,'' he said. "The crowd loves it when (the Nittany Lions) are running around and forechecking hard. It's a fun environment and not really intimidating. Most of my teammates feel the same way.
"When you shut down the other team's crowd, it feels good. I'm sure they say the same thing when they come here.''
Michigan State is 3-3-1 in the last six meetings with Penn State - 1-1-1 at Pegula Arena and 2-2 at Munn Arena.
The Nittany Lions, who will be playing their 8th and 9th straight home games and haven't been on the road this season, are coming of a 6-1 and 4-2 sweep of now-ranked No. 12 Wisconsin.
Penn State is averaging 4.57 goals per game, which ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten and No. 4 in the nation. But if you eliminate Harvard (7.0) and Princeton (5.0) who played their first games last weekend, the Nittany Lions would be second nationally, only behind Notre Dame (4.67).
PSU is one again living up to its reputation of firing the puck on goal from all over the ice. It averages 38.14 shots on goal, which is second in the nation.
"Penn State does present some challenges. They transition incredibly fast,'' MSU coach Danton Cole said. "They'll get their shots but you want to make sure you don't give them too many easy ones.
"Neutral zone decisions are always a huge part of the game offensively and defensively. We have to be better at that and make sure we're making their defense turn.''
Cole said that in games against PSU last season, he liked the way his team skated and competed and the way it handled the mental aspect of the Nittany Lions' high shot totals.
"The compete is a physical part but there's also a mental part with them shooting the puck a lot. In the one game, they had 82 attempts (shot at the net) to our 56. Eighty-two is a lot to put up,'' he said. "They put pressure on you that way and it's a mental thing. You look up at see the shot clock and say, 'wow, they have a lot of shots.'
"But sometimes the shots are from the neutral zone or wide in the offensive zone but they create a lot of shots out of that. If you can get yourself mentally around that and accept that you're all right, saying those aren't all grade A chances.''
Cole said a big factor in MSU's success against Penn State last season – and in all four games – was its play in the defensive zone.
"We got out of our zone really well and made good reads coming through, whether it was zone to zone or getting it behind their defense wherever we were at,'' he said. "They're going to get chances but we have to make them work for them. I thought we did that well over all four games.''
THE MSU-PSU RIVALRY: The Nittany Lions hold a 13-9-4 edge in the series which started with a 5-3 Spartans victory on Jan. 25, 2013, at Munn Arena.
MSU went 6-2-2 in the first 10 meetings before Penn State took control in the next phase, going 8-0-1 against the Spartans. It's all even in the last seven meetings at 3-3-1.
Michigan State is 7-6-1 vs. PSU at Munn Arena and 2-7-3 at Pegula Arena.
SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS: Penn State's only loss this season was at home against Alaska, 4-0, on Oct. 18, one day after the Nittany Lions routed the Nanooks, 7-0.
PSU has sweeps over Sacred Heart and Wisconsin and a single game win against Robert Morris. Next weekend, the Nittany Lions play on the road for the first time this season, at Minnesota. The week after, they host Ohio State.
The reason Penn State was picked to finish first in the Big Ten and has been ranked high in the national polls is a highly skilled group of forwards and lots of seniors and juniors playing key roles.
The Nittany Lions have nine seniors and eight juniors on the roster and usually seven seniors and six juniors are in the lineup.
Top guns on offense include seniors Nate Sucese (4-9-13), Brandon Biro (5-7-12), Denis Smirnov (2-4-6), Nikita Pavlychev (1-4-5) and Liam Folkes (1-2-3), juniors Alex Limoges (2-3-5), Sam Sternschein (3-2-5) and Evan Barrett (1-4-5) and sophomore Aarne Talvitie (3-4-7).
Sucese is tied for first in Big Ten overall scoring while Biro is tied for third.
Limoges and MSU's Taro Hirose led the nation in scoring last season with 50 points. Limoges had 23 goals and 27 assists in 39 games while Hirose had 15 goals and 35 assists in 36 games.
Penn State's defense is led by junior Cole Hults (4-4-8), the team's third-leading scorer, sophomore Paul DeNaples (1-1-2), senior Kris Myllari and juniors Alex Stevens and Clayton Phillips, a transfer from Minnesota.
Five freshmen have received steady playing time – forwards Connor MacEachern, Connor McMenamin, Tyler Gratton and Kevin Wall and defenseman Mason Snell.
In goalie, senior Peyton Jones is starting for his fourth season. He has a 6-0 record, 1.67 goals-against average and a .947 saves percentage.
Guy Gadowsky is in his eighth season as Penn State coach and has a 131-111-19 record in Happy Valley. In 20 seasons as a head coach, he's 304-309-56. Gadowsky, 52, a 1989 Colorado College graduate, was head coach at Alaska and Princeton before becoming Penn State's first coach in 2012.
The Nittany Lions won the Big Ten playoff championship in 2017, earning their first NCAA Tournament berth in the fifth year of the varsity program. They earned an at-large spot in the NCAAs in 2018. Last season, PSU lost to Notre Dame in the Big Ten title game but did not make the NCAA Tournament.
BIG TEN FUN: After six non-conference games, including four on the road at Northern Michigan and Colorado College, Michigan State is ready to begin Big Ten play – the last team to do so.
The other six teams had conference openers last weekend and now it's the Spartans' turn to begin their 24-game Big Ten schedule.
"Conference games are the best. It's a lot of big schools, high-energy games and full buildings,'' MSU senior defenseman Jerad Rosburg said. "It's the reasons why you play in the Big Ten and it's one of the best conferences because of the skill and the atmospheres.''
Rosburg is confident the Spartans can improve on their 8-12-4 record in the Big Ten record last season.
"We were doing pretty well in the Big Ten last year until the end of the season when we faded a bit but we have a lot of the same players back,'' he said.
Patrick Khodorenko, MSU's top scorer, agrees with Rosburg.
"I just think we're more experienced defensively. We have an older team, especially on the back end,'' Khodorenko said. "Hopefully, we can use that to our advantage.
"The games in the Big Ten mean a lot more. It's not to say the nonconference games don't mean a lot, but they get us prepared for the Big Ten and games that count in the standings.''
The Spartans play 10 conference games before running into another non-conference opponent in Arizona State on Dec. 14-15 at Munn Arena. The first stretch of conference games includes series at Penn State, home-and-home with Michigan, home vs. Notre Dame, at Ohio State and home with Wisconsin.
SPARTAN POTPOURRI: Michigan State is averaging 2.5 goals per game but the power play ranks 10th in the nation, clicking at 29.2 percent (7-for-24). Six players have scored power-play goals – defenseman Dennis Cesana leads with two, while Patrick Khodorenko, Mitchell Lewandowski, Nico Muller, John Nodler and defenseman Cole Krygier have one goal apiece . . .
Nine different players have scored MSU's last 10 goals with Muller chipping in two . . . The Spartans rank third in the nation in faceoff success at .565. Center Tommy Apap leads MSU with a .605 winning percentage, followed by Khodorenko at .579.
IN THE BIG TEN: No. 9 (USCHO)/No. 8 (USA Hockey) Ohio State (6-1-1 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) is at No. 5/5 Notre Dame (5-0-1, 1-0-1-0) and Michigan (3-4-1, 0-2) plays host to Minnesota (3-4-1, 0-1-1-1) in conference series on Friday and Saturday.
No. 12/12 Wisconsin (4-4, 0-2) plays a non-conference series at No. 20 Omaha (4-1-1) on Friday and Saturday.
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