Michigan Tech, star goalie Blake Pietila pounded by Penn State, 8-0, in NCAA tournament
Michigan Tech hockey will have to wait another season — at least — to end its NCAA tournament victory drought, as the Huskies were humbled by Penn State, 8-0, in the first round of Friday’s Allentown regional.
MTU hasn’t won a first-round game in the NCAAs since beating Providence in 1981. There wasn’t much providence at the PPL Center on Friday, unless you were a Penn State fan. The Nittany Lions got goals from eight different players, a shocking result against Michigan Tech goaltender Blake Pietila. The senior, one of two netminders to make the Hobey Baker Award finalist list, hadn’t allowed more than four goals all season. Against Penn State, he had 311 saves as the Nittany Lions peppered him throughout the game with 39 shots, including 14 in the third period.
Next up, Penn State will face the winner of Friday’s second first-round game between top-seed Michigan and Colgate, with the potential for an All-Big Ten regional final. (PSU went 1-3 in the regular season against the Wolverines.) Friday’s victory was just the second in the NCAAs for Penn State, which began its Division I program in 2012. PSU won its first-ever NCAA game in 2017, beating Union, 10-3, before losing to Denver in the regional final.
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A early shock
The Nittany Lions grabbed an early lead just over two minutes in. Tyler Paquette chased down a outlet pass from deep in PSU’s zone on the right boards near the goal line and carried it below, then wrapped around the net, slipping the puck over Blake Pietila’s right pad for a 1-0 lead with 17:48 remaining in the first period.
Pietila settled down after that, stopping several solid PSU shots and making 10 saves. His opposite number in the Penn State crease, Liam Souliere, wasn’t nearly as tested, making seven saves in the first period. His biggest came when Kyle Kukkonen drove toward the net on a breakaway with just over seven minutes remaining. Kukkonen, crossing from the left boards, appeared to have Souliere beat while moving to his left, but the goalie snapped his glove up to take away the high shot.
Dominant second
In the second period, the Nittany Lions’ defense made it a two-goal lead less than five minutes in, as Carter Schade brought the puck into the offensive zone, and then dropped it to his blue-line partner, Jarod Crespo. Using a defender as a screen, Crespo snapped off a wrister to the left side of Pietila and buried it in the upper corner that the senior netminder couldn’t get to.
With just over five minutes left, Ashton Calder made it 3-0. The Sault Ste. Marie native picked up another long outlet pass (from Simon Mack) to get behind the defense. This time, the Nittany Lion skated to his left, taking Pietila to his right before slipping a backhand into the net.
As the second period was winding down, Penn State struck again as Ryan Kirwan and Christian Berger set up a two-on-one rush. Kirwan, from the edge of the right circle, snapped a pass to Berger on the left. He collected the puck, paused for a second and then fired a wrist shot over Pietila’s blocker for a 4-0 lead with 1:15 remaining before the second intermission.
From bad to worse
The rout was on when Kevin Wall scored Penn State’s fifth goal of the game, beating Pietila with 16:59 remaining. The Nittany Lions’ leading scorer showed off his puck-handling skills with a spin move followed by a backhand that sent the puck past Pietila on his right side. It got even worse about three minutes later as Chase McLane scored just his second goal of the season on an improbable shot; the Trenton native launched the puck on net from below the goal line, only for it to pop off Pietila’s shoulders and under the crossbar to make it 6-0 with 12:29 remaining.
Connor McMenamin and Ryan Kirwan scored just 33 seconds apart late in the third to make it 8-0 PSU with five minutes to go.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Tech eliminated from 2023 NCAA tournament by Penn State, 8-0
