Michigan
Penn State
2/1/2025 9:48:00 PM | Ice Hockey
By: Kristy McNeil
» T.J. Hughes extended his career-long point streak to 11 games with a goal and an assist.
» Garrett Schifsky notched his 50th collegiate point with a big third-period goal.
» Defenseman Will Felicio pushed his point streak to four games with a two-assist night.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A four-goal barrage in the third period propelled the 13th-ranked University of Michigan ice hockey team past Penn State 7-3 on Saturday night (Feb. 1) inside Yost Ice Arena.
The Wolverines had seven different goal scorers and 13 players collected at least one point. Michigan went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and was 1-for-2 on the power play, which has converted 50 percent since the turn of the calendar.
Freshman goaltender Cameron Korpi started between the pipes for U-M after entering Friday’s contest in relief. He made 36 saves on the 39 shots that he faced from PSU’s dangerous offensive attack to earn his sixth victory of the season.
Michigan (15-11-2, 9-8-1 Big Ten) opened the scoring at 7:43 when T.J. Hughes crashed the blue paint to finish off a loose puck that had been pushed into the crease by Josh Eernisse during a netfront scramble. Captain Jacob Truscott, earned the secondary assist by funneling the puck toward the net from the left point to initiate the chance. With the goal, Hughes extended his point streak to 11 games, a new career best for the team’s active leading scorer.
After 20 minutes, Michigan held on to a 1-0 lead despite trailing 12-9 in shots on goal. Penn State (12-12-3, 3-10-3 Big Ten) returned to its form to build a 14-10 edge in the faceoff dot, but U-M’s ability to kill off both penalties they accrued was the difference in the first frame.
Penn State stormed out for the second period and capitalized on a play in transition to tie the game just seconds after U-M had put a chance of their own on the PSU net at the other end of the ice. The Nittany Lions used an odd-man rush to break through the defense and slip a game-tying goal through the wickets just 49 seconds into the period.
Michigan received its first power play of the contest at 5:08 when Whitelaw was dragged down while skating into space in pursuit of the puck following a high flip. Six seconds later, Ethan Edwards carried the puck into the center of the zone and sunk closer to the net into space before unleashing a hard shot that beat the netminder. Hughes added a lone assist by winning the draw.
On the ensuing shift, Penn State knotted it up at 2-2 by taking advantage of a turnover and burying just 18 seconds after U-M had regained a lead. The bad news kept coming for the Wolverines when Eernisse was sent off for leg checking just 20 seconds after PSU tied it up, but Michigan successfully killed off the penalty for the fourth straight time.
U-M took its third lead of the night at 9:53 when Michael Hage showed off his scoring touch by going to the hard area and redirecting a pass from Will Horcoff to pull ahead 3-2. Nick Moldenhauer picked up the secondary assist as a reward for a strong shift.
With one period left in the weekend series, Michigan hauled a 3-2 lead up the stairs to the dressing room.
Michigan doubled its lead and made it 4-2 at the 7:58 mark when Whitelaw broke into the Penn State zone on the left flank before carving in toward the hash marks and ripping a shot that worked its way through the netminder’s pads which became his ninth goal of the campaign. Upperclassmen Philippe Lapointe and Tyler Duke assisted on Whitelaw’s marker.
Freshman blueliner Will Felicio extended his point streak to four games when he stormed onto the ice, joined the action in the offensive zone and picked up an assist by pushing the play below the goal line before turning back and finding Garrett Schifsky in the slot. Schifsky gloved the pass and dropped the puck to the ice before zipping a quick shot past the goalie to make it 5-2 while locking up his 50th collegiate point. Truscott earned the second assist.
The dam broke for good when Michigan made it 6-2 with just under 10 minutes remaining in regulation. With the Nittany Lions already reeling, Hage slid a pass into Werner’s wheelhouse and the sophomore crushed a one-timer from the center lane that found twine to give the home team a four-goal lead. Felicio recorded the secondary helper for his second point of the period.
Werner’s 11th of the year marked the third goal in four shots for U-M over a span of just 2:23.
Penn State took a penalty shortly after the goal to go down one skater, but the Nittany Lions stopped the bleeding at 11:29 when their leading scorer got loose behind the Wolverine defense to notch the second shorthanded goal of the weekend series and bump the score to 6-3.
Shortly after the visitors emptied their net in favor of an extra attacker, Horcoff ended things by burying his third goal with U-M at 16:19. He found the center of the net with a long-range heave from the blue line to tweak the final score to 7-3.
Michigan salvaged the weekend split and three critical points in the Big Ten standings by putting together a strong four-goal third period to finish the weekend on a positive note. The four-goal outburst was the first period of its kind for U-M since they did it earlier this year in a 10-6 victory on the road at Penn State.
The Wolverines ended the evening with a 41-39 edge in shots on goal as well as a wide 27-10 gulf in blocked shots. Michigan also dominated the special teams battle, going 4-for-4 on the penalty kill in addition to 1-for-2 on the power play. One bright spot for PSU came in the circle, where they finished the night with a 38-31 advantage in faceoffs.
Next week, Michigan stays in-state for a pair against Michigan State on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 7-8). Friday’s (Feb. 7) contest will take place in East Lansing where puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m., while Sunday’s (Feb. 8) finale will take place at 8 p.m. inside Little Caesars Arena.
