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Penn State Hockey Is One Win From Its First Frozen Four

The Nittany Lions defeat Maine 5-1 to reach the Allentown Regional final of the NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament.
Mark Wogenrich|
Penn State hockey players celebrate a goal vs. Michigan in the Big Ten hockey tournament.
Penn State hockey players celebrate a goal vs. Michigan in the Big Ten hockey tournament. | Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Images

Penn State hockey might be the hottest team in any sport, not just college ice hockey. Now the Nittany Lions, whose season looked lost in December, are just one one from reaching their first Frozen Four.

Penn State got two goals from Matt DiMarsico and Dane Dowiak and 26 saves from goaltender Arsenii Sergeev to defeat Maine 5-1 on Friday in the NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament's Allentown regional. With the win, Penn State advanced to its third regional final in program history against Connecticut, which happens to be Sergeev's former team.

Penn State, ranked 13th in the Pairwise ratings, will play No. 6 UConn in the Allentown Regional final at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the PPL Center, which a crowd of 7,358 turned into a de facto home game for the Nittany Lions on Friday. Sergeev played the past two seasons at UConn before transferring to Penn State, where he is 18-8-4 this season and part of a remarkable story.

Penn State (21-13-4) qualified for the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team with the 16-team field's wildest resume. In December, the Nittany Lions were winless in their first nine Big Ten games (0-8-1), reaching bottom by getting swept at home vs. Ohio State by a two-game aggregate score of 8-2. The Nittany Lions fell to 33rd in the Pairwise rankings, and coach Guy Gadowsky has said that his team was "left for dead."

Once the calendar flipped, though, so did Penn State. The Nittany Lions are 14-4-4 since Jan. 3, having climbed into a Big Ten Tournament spot and then sweeping Michigan in the first round. On Friday, Penn State played perhaps its best game of the postseason, roughing up No. 3 Maine, which defeated UConn last week for the Hockey East title.

After giving up the opening goal just over 4 minutes into the game, Penn State launched its offense. Freshman JJ Wiebusch, who scored a mesmerizing between-the-legs game-winner against Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament, evened the score vs. Maine on a lovely power-play move. Wiebusch has scored six goals in four postseason games, including a hat trick against Michigan.

Penn State took a 3-1 lead after one period as DiMarsico and Dane Dowiak added goals, with Dowiak scoring on a second power play that was upheld after being challenged for offsides. DiMarsico scored his second goal by making Maine pay for a skittish turnover behind the net. Charlie Cerrato collected the wayward Maine pass behind the net and centered to DiMarsico, who buried the shot past Maine goaltender Albin Boija.

Penn State generated significantly more offense through two periods, forcing Boija to make some under-duress saves on breakaways in the second. The Nittany Lions outshot 25-18 in those periods.

Gadowsky brings Penn State to a regional final at Allentown's PPL Center for the second time in two years. In 2023, the Nittany Lions advanced to the regional final with an 8-0 win over Michigan Tech before falling to Michigan in overtime. Penn State also made the regional final in 2017, falling 6-3 to eventual national champ Denver.

Connecticut defeated Quinnipiac 4-1 on Friday in the first game of the Allentown regional. UConn is playing in its first NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament.

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.

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