Aiden Fink, Ryan Kirwan and company lead No. 19 Penn State in comeback over Army

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – After the holiday break, No. 19 Penn State welcomed Army West Point to Pegula Ice Arena in a wintry wonderland for University Park.

Penn State pulled off a comeback victory, defeating Army 7-6 after being down 6-2 to the Black Knights in the second period.

The Kid Line started for the Nittany Lions and ultimately continued the hot streak they had towards the end of 2023.

Noah Grannan started in goal for Penn State, coming off of a loss against now-No. 5 Wisconsin before the holiday break.

Aiden Fink scored the first goal for the Nittany Lions from a feed from Matt DiMarsico and Tanner Palocsik early on in the game with just over two minutes played, but Army answered with three goals all in a two-minute span.

After those back-to-back-to-back goals given up by Grannan, Liam Souliere was put in net with eight minutes remaining in the first period.

Before the clock ran out in the first, Simon Mack netted his third goal of the season with three minutes left.

Souliere stayed in net for the rest of the game, and even though the second period was rocky for Penn State, remained stalwart for the blue-and-white.

Barron Woodring and Joey Baez capitalized within twenty seconds of each other, and Army hopped out to a 5-2 lead within the first minute and a half of the second period.

Then, Max Itagaki scored shorthanded to strengthen the Army lead by four, but that was all the Black Knights were going to get on the Nittany Lions.

Fellow Kid Line member Reese Laubach got in on the action, and a few minutes later, Ryan Kirwan also netted an unanswered goal to help Penn State inch toward its comeback.

Kirwan had his second multi-goal game of the season, putting one in the back of the net within the first two minutes of the third period to put Penn State within a goal of Army.

Who else to equalize the action in Pegula than captain Christian Berger, who scored his second goal of the season and his first in 12 games.

Ending the game how it started, Fink sniped the game-winner with little under ten minutes in regulation, and though Army attempted a barrage at the last seconds of the game, Souliere and crew stood strong and retained a non-conference win.

Penn State will play host to No. 8 Michigan State on Jan. 12 and 13.

Adrianna Gallucci is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email amg7989@psu.edu.