About five minutes into the third period last Thursday night, Penn State was in its defensive zone.
There was no energy. Sticks weren’t actively swinging. Skates were not moving. Penn State’s defense, positioned relatively well, was as full of life as cardboard cutouts.
And before it was able to come to life, Wisconsin found the net for the second time in the period on its way to a 7-3 win over the Nittany Lions. Of single-game collapses in program history, this was one of the most damning.
This Penn State team is tired.
But there is no time for rest.
Penn State – without its health or much energy – must quickly piece it together as it begins postseason play. Just how many opportunities come from that postseason play hinges on Wednesday night’s outcome against Minnesota in the Big Ten Quarterfinals.
Win and Penn State’s likely into the NCAA Tournament with breathing room. Lose and Penn State may have suffered its worst season collapse in program history and will have to leave its fate up to the college hockey NPI gods. And with how injured this team has been, those gods are unlikely to look kindly upon Hockey Valley.
After that 7-3 loss, Reese Laubach offered a frank assessment of the situation.
“We got to buy in,” Laubach told the media. “I feel like guys are starting to check out, and I think we feel too comfortable. Obviously, we’re locked into the third seed in the Big Ten, but I think we’re getting complacent… I don’t need to say it, but the skill on this team now is light years ahead of the team last year we had and, yeah, I mean, you guys saw what we did with the team last year, right?”
This is, for a multitude of reasons, not Penn State’s team last year. That team went on a historic run that started in January and didn’t stop until the Nittany Lions played Boston University in the Frozen Four. That team was able to bounce back from early injuries and maintain a relatively healthy roster during the final stretches of Penn State’s season. That team had a clear No. 1 starting goaltender – and put him in a position to play like it.
This year’s team has been searching for a glimpse of that groove. It found two seven-game winning streaks at points this season. But each time things have fallen after those winning streaks, it’s taken a beat for them to get back on the right path.
In net, Guy Gadowsky has let Josh Fleming and Kevin Reidler take turns – splitting the reps almost evenly. Whether it be by design or by play, neither has occupied the net in the way Arsenii Sergeev did last season when he played in 33 of 40 games. And while Fleming at moments has looked like the better goaltender, a shaky performance or a strong performance by Reidler the next night has made the choice harder.
What’s been more damning has come in the way this team has felt the impacts of injuries.
They have come in consistent waves, starting in November when Aiden Fink must time until the new year. That rolled into Charlie Cerrato’s long-term injury – which he returned on Friday night and should be in the lineup on Wednesday. Captain Dane Dowiak left the Michigan series with an upper-body injury that ended his season in February.
While Penn State is missing 2 percent less manpower than it was missing last season, it’s how and when those injuries have come that have made this Penn State team look as tired as it did last weekend. At almost no point in this season has Penn State been ahead of the injury curve, but rather only playing behind it.
Defensemen Casey Aman and Nic Chin-DeGraves have both been asked to play in forward positions at times. On Thursday, Penn State played no third-line center. But even in Cerrato’s return on Friday night, Penn State still looked a step slower than Wisconsin.
Its effort – or lack of – got Reidler chased from the net in favor of Fleming. It was too late and far too little of an effort as Penn State skated with bad positioning and lazy play. The 25-shot total in the 5-3 loss was its lowest of the season since a 2-1 overtime loss to Michigan State in November.
While Laubach spoke of complacency as Penn State has been locked into the third seed of the Big Ten Tournament for a few weeks, it’s rare for a Gadowsky-led team to be as depleted as this one has been. They also are rarely as averse to gritty, tough play that has been the hallmark of Gadowsky’s tenure as this one has looked over the last two weekends.
This season has been a quest for Penn State to put its pieces together. It has its best offensive players in program history between Fink, always dependable Matt DiMarsico, highly touted Gavin McKenna and the skilled JJ Wiebusch. It’s gotten key goals from Jarod Crespo and Shea Van Olm at times.
But it’s never quite put all of it succinctly, concretely, neatly into place.
Penn State has to find that solution when Minnesota comes to Pegula Ice Arena on Wednesday night. The Nittany Lions are squarely an NCAA Tournament bubble team right now. While College Hockey News gives the Nittany Lions a 99.8 percent chance of getting in, that is before other games around the country are played, bids are potentially stolen and doesn’t include what a loss to Minnesota would do for Penn State’s NPI ranking.
Otherwise, there will not be time left to piece together what’s left of this season but only time to pull apart what caused this season to end.
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