Penn State Men’s Hockey: Scheid’s Two Goals Lifts PSU Over OSU 4-1

A two-goal second period helped the Nittany Lions bounce back from a tough overtime loss the previous night as Penn State (10-7-2, 4-2-0 Big Ten) beat Ohio State (7-10-2, 2-3-0 Big Ten) 4-1 Saturday afternoon.

Junior Eric Scheid tallied two goals and one assist in his second game back after sustaining a concussion that kept the forward out of the line up for six weeks.

“I think after missing six weeks like that, I was a little nervous going into [last night],” Scheid said. “Obviously you don’t want to take another hit like that and see yourself off the rest of the season so I kind of played a little nervous.

“I think just getting the game under my belt and getting back into the swing of things really helped me.”

With the score tied at 1-1 heading into the back half of the second period, Scheid and sophomore David Goodwin lit the lamp for the Nittany Lions 50 seconds apart to break the deadlock and help lift Penn State over the Buckeyes to earn their second straight home series split against Ohio State.

While the Nittany Lions were outshot 13-0 through the first 10 minutes of the second period, Goodwin opened the scoring for Penn State at 12:09 of the frame. Taylor Holstrom came in alone to start the play but was overtaken by two Ohio State defenders and the puck slid behind the Buckeye net. Ohio State goaltender Christian Frey misplayed a poke check and Holstrom backhanded the puck in front to Goodwin for the easy tap in and the 2-1 lead.

On coincidental minors to Nate Jensen and Christian Lampasso for cross-checking and unsportsmanlike conduct, Scott Conway and Scheid broke out of the defensive zone for a 2-on-0 breakaway and  Conway fed a slick feed across and the junior beat Frey stick side on the pretty passing play nine seconds into the 4-0n-4 for the 3-1 score heading into the second intermission.

However, both teams started sluggish in the neutral zone after the previous night’s OT thriller, though Penn State picked up steam as the period went on, going on to outshoot the Buckeyes 14-8 through the first 20 minutes.

“I thought the first period was sort of two teams that knew that they messed up a little bit last night and were playing a little bit hesitant not to make mistakes rather than go out and really take it,” head coach Guy Gadowsky said. “Maybe that’s to be expected, but I thought that actually after that we got in the flow and it was a better hockey game after the first period. Guys were getting into it a little bit more.”

Scheid got his first crack at the net with 9:16 to go in the period, after getting Frey out of position on his glove side but the junior hit iron instead of net and the score stayed tied at zero heading into the last few minutes of play.

Redemption came for the forward on the power play to end the first frame, after Tommy Olczyk got laid out by Ohio State player’s elbow in front of the Buckeye bench. The hit resulted in a two minute minor to end the period for the Nittany Lions, and they capitalized off of Scheid’s backhanded pass to Curtis Loik on Frey’s doorstep with 42 seconds to go in the period for the 1-0 score heading into the first break. The tally for the junior is his fifth of the season.

It took six seconds into a 5-on-3 for Ohio State to tie the game at one apiece to start the second period. With Max Gardiner in the box for cross-checking at 2:51 of the frame, Jensen took a cross-checking penalty of his own with 11 seconds left in the minor. The Buckeyes wasted no time as Matthew Weis pocketed his third of the season on a cross-ice feed from Lampasso glove side on Penn State goaltender Eamon McAdam for the 1-1 score.

The afternoon win for the sophomore is his first at home in his collegiate career.

“It’s good, just knocking back milestones here,” McAdam said. “It’s a good win in general and we needed a bounce back and we showed a lot of character today.”

McAdam himself came up with the play of the game, keeping Ohio State out of the net on a shorthanded breakaway with almost seven minutes left in the game, faking a poke check and closing the pads five-hole on Weis, who was looking for his second of the night to cut the Penn State lead to one.

“Sometimes you’ve got to poke check just to put pressure on them, kind of force them one way or the other,” McAdam said. “I knew he was going to try to beat me five-hole so I came over and luckily he just ditched it right into me.”

Scheid tallied his second and final goal of the night on an empty netter after an Ohio State turnover in the neutral zone gave the forward the easy half-rink shot into the net with 1:43 to play to seal the Penn State win, 4-1.

The Nittany Lions were outshot by the Buckeyes 36-35 through the match but Penn State went 1-for-3 on the power play while holding Ohio State to 1-for-4.

Penn State will continue their home stand, taking on Michigan State (7-10-1) next weekend on Jan. 16 and 17, with the latter to be televised on ESPNU. The Nittany Lions will also look to unveil a new alternate jersey during their final game of the weekend as well.