2023-204 Penn State Men's Hockey Game Grades: LIU

No. 16 Penn State captured the win in its season-opener over Long Island with a 3-2 victory which capitalized on late-period goals.

Freshman Matt DiMarsico opened up the scoring for the Nittany Lions with his first collegiate goal with 2.7 seconds left in the first period. Then, Ryan Kirwan scored the equalizer in the second and Dylan Lugris netted a power-play goal late in the third to put the Sharks away.

Here are the grades for Penn State’s season opener:

Offense: B-

This was a closer game than most people might’ve expected.

DiMarsico was the first to score for both teams, but LIU came back in the second with Preston Brodziak’s early goal. Then, Riley Wallack netted one two minutes later for LIU to go up 2-1 on Penn State.

Kirwan tied the game at two, but it was Lugris’s power-play goal with five minutes and change left in the game to hold off Long Island.

Penn State out-shot LIU 32-18 but only three of those found the back of the net.

However, it was the unlikely heroes like DiMarsico and Lugris who stepped up for the Nittany Lions, which is something that Guy Gadowsky stressed in preseason media.

Defense: B

The defense, alongside Liam Souliere in net, held LIU to 18 shots and two goals.

The unit only blocked six shots, and two bad turnovers in the second period gave LIU the lead until Kirwan and Lugris’s goals.

However, they were on point in the third period and were able to hang on to the Penn State lead.

Goaltending: A-

Senior goaltender Souliere got the nod for the Nittany Lions and improved to 1-0-0 on the season.

After coming off of a stellar junior year, Souliere looked strong in the first outing of the 2023-24 season and stopped 16 out of 18 shots on goal.

Souliere wasn’t tested that much throughout the contest but was sharp when he needed to be.

Coaching/Special Teams: A

Gadowsky stressed during preseason media that his squad worked on the power play and penalty kill units. Penn State scored on a power play, which was a unit that needed improvement from last season – the Nittany Lions were 15.9% with a man-up advantage in the 2022-23 season.

Penn State went 1-for-3 with a man-up this game and capitalized on Lugris’s goal.

Then, the Nittany Lions killed all three LIU man-up advantages.

“We want to do our best, game in, game out,” Lugris said. “We want to make sure our practice habits are here. We want to make sure that when we get a chance, whether it be one power play a game or two… that we capitalize.”

Penn State will travel to play Clarkson on Oct. 13.

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