STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Despite a season-high, three goals, the visiting Alaska Anchorage Seawolves fell to the nationally-ranked No. 12 Penn State Nittany Lions, who furnished a 6-3 non-conference win on Friday at Pegula Ice Arena.
The Seawolves (1-8-0, 0-4-0 WCHA) registered a season-high three goals and a season-high two power-play goals in the final frame, but were unable to come back after allowing a three-goal first period by the Nittany Lions (8-1-1, 0-0-0 Big Ten). Scoring for UAA were juniors Jarrett Brown and Tad Kozun.
In the final 20 minutes of play, the teams went back-and-forth, trading off goal scorers. UAA started when Brown ended the shutout, collecting his second on the season and first since season opener against Minnesota. With 19 seconds left in the Seawolf power play, Brown scored at 3:29 with helpers credited to sophomores Nils Rygaard and Alex Jackstadt.
Just 61 seconds later, the Nittany Lions retaliated with their fifth strike of the game, coming at 4:30 by Ricky DeRose – his first of the season – before Kozun made it 5-2. After leading the Seawolves with six man-advantage strikes last season, Kozun picked up his first point of the season with a power-play goal at 10:00. Kozun beat PSU's netminder Peyton Jones, down low with assists from sophomore Nicolas Erb-Ekholm and freshman Tomi Hiekkavirta – their first helpers of the season.
PSU received its final tally at 15:42 – Myllari with his second of the night – extending the Nittany Lions unbeaten streak to eight games. Kozun then picked up his second with UAA's only even-strength goal, just 11 second left in the game. Junior captain Matt Anholt assisted on the play.
After a scoreless first 10 minutes in the opening period, the Nittany Lions made up for it in the second half of the frame, taking a 2-0 lead with back-to-back goals at 13:51 and 14:15. Chase Berger collected his first of the game, while David Goodwin picked up a helper – becoming the first Nittany Lion to reach 100-career points. Kris Myllari scored his first collegiate goal – and first of the game – 24 seconds later, before Berger netted his second of the game with 1:34 to play.
The Nittany Lions, who are currently No. 2 in the early PairWise ranking, added the only second-period strike with a power-play goal by Vince Pedrie, just 11.8 seconds left in the frame. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions were awarded a penalty shot, when senior defenseman Chase Van Allen was called for hooking on a shorthanded, breakaway attempt by Nick Sucese. Junior netminder Olivier Mantha made the stop.
UAA allowed PSU to hit them with a season-high 45 shots, with Mantha turning aside 39. UAA placed 17 on target, with Jones making 14 saves.
The Seawolves were tagged with 12 minutes of infractions to the Nittany Lions' 28. UAA went 2-for-8 on the power play, while going 2-for-4 on the penalty kill.
The Seawolves and Nittany Lions will hit the ice tomorrow at 3:07 p.m. AST.
