Men’s Hockey Erases Early Deficit, Falls Late to No. 5 Michigan, 6-5 – Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – For the third-consecutive game Penn State mounted a late comeback to erase a multi-goal deficit, but the Nittany Lions were unable to complete the feat as No. 5 Michigan used a late goal to secure the 6-5 victory in Big Ten Conference action on Friday evening inside Pegula Ice Arena.

Penn State drops to 4-6-0 on the year and 0-5-0-0-1-0 in Big Ten play with the loss while the Wolverines move to 8-2-1 overall and 3-0-0-1-0-0 in conference action with the victory.

📹 Highlights from Friday night’s contest vs. Michigan.#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/wRVytsmJdB

— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) November 23, 2024

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Penn State opened the scoring with an early powerplay tally just 90 ticks into the first period as freshman Charlie Cerrato (Fallston, Md.) danced into the zone and between the circles before finding sophomore Matt DiMarsico (Wexford, Pa.) driving to the net and he went forehand-backhand and slipped the puck through the pads of Wolverine net-minder Logan Stein for the 1-0 edge.
• Michigan answered just over a minute later as TJ Hughes found open ice in front of the crease, and he redirected a point shot through Nittany Lion junior goaltender Noah Grannan (Germantown, Wis.) for the 1-1 score at 2:33 of the opening frame.
• The Wolverines then took the lead as Michael Hage corralled a bouncing puck between the circles and beat Grannan past the glove with a snapshot for the 2-1 advantage at the 5:59 mark.
• Michigan extended the lead to 3-1 as William Whitelaw snuck into the slot and ripped a wrister past the blocker of Grannan after a feed from behind the net by LaPointe at the 10:29 mark of the first stanza.
• The visitors scored their fourth-straight goal of the period on the powerplay as a slapshot from the high slot by Jacob Truscott deflected off a Nittany Lion stick and fluttered over the shoulder of Grannan and into the back of the net for the 4-1 margin at the 14:21 mark.
• The Nittany Lions cut into the deficit midway through the second period with another powerplay tally as Cerrato laced a wicked wrister through traffic and over the glove of Stein for the 4-2 score at the 8:53 mark.
• The Wolverines got it right back with a powerplay tally of their own as Garrett Schifsky finished in the crease for the 5-2 lead at 13:58 of the second period.
• Penn State continued to push as freshman Cade Christenson (Edmonton, Alberta) skied the puck to center ice and sophomore Aiden Fink (Calgary,…