ANNAPOLIS, MD (Saturday, November 03, 2007) – Penn State University scored three unanswered third period goals -- two of them shorthanded -- to break open a tight game and defeat Navy’s ice hockey team, 6-1, Saturday night at the McMullen Hockey Arena in Annapolis.

 

With Saturday night’s loss the Midshipmen fell to 5-8 overall this season and 0-8 in the Eastern States Collegiate Hockey League (ESCHL).  Meantime, Penn State’s Icers improved their overall record to 10-1-2 and their league mark to 8-0.

 

For the second consecutive game, PSU took an early lead Saturday night, getting a power play goal when the puck trickled past sophomore Navy netminder Eric Anderson off the stick of Penn State’s Michael McMullen at 6:28 of the first period.

 

Navy tied the score just over a minute later while the Mids were enjoying a power play of their own when junior Jeff Martin fired a hard wrist shot that beat Penn State’s freshman goaltender Edward Hume at 7:52.  Classmate Nolan Anliker and senior Brian Gleason assisted.  It was Martin’s second goal of the weekend, fifth of the season, and 15th of his Naval Academy career.

 

The Icers quickly regained their one-goal advantage, 2-1, when senior Paul Zodtner knocked a rebound past Anderson at the 8:31 mark of the first while the teams were at equal strength, assists going to seniors Keith Jordan and Bryan Sobonya.  It was Zodtner’s first goal this season.

 

Navy held Penn State in check for most of the second stanza, but the Icers extended their advantage to 3-1 late in the period when junior Scott Dakan scored at 17:15 while PSU had an extra attacker on the ice due to a delayed penalty call against the Mids.  Juniors Kyle Mills and Brandon Rubeo assisted on Dakan’s goal.

 

Any chance Navy had to gain its first league victory disappeared in the third period when the Mids were held scoreless and the Icers found the net three times.  Junior Jaime Zimmel scored shorthanded at 6:52, freshman Tim O’Brien recorded a power play tally at 10:00, and senior Nate Obringer picked up another shorthanded goal at 14:29 to complete the night’s scoring.

 

Anderson had another busy night between the pipes for the Mids, finishing with 51 saves, while Penn State’s Hume was credited with 29 stops, as PSU outshot Navy by nearly a two-to-one margin, 57-30.

 

The Midshipmen are in action again Friday night when they travel to the University of Delaware for a key ESCHL clash at 7 p.m.   Navy then hosts Delaware next Saturday night (November 10) at 7:30 p.m. at the McMullen Hockey Arena.

 

PUCK POINTS: Saturday night’s crowd was late arriving, as many attendees were undoubtedly glued to the TV watching Navy’s football team upend Notre Dame in triple overtime, 46-44, breaking a streak of 43 tough losses to the Fighting Irish…in another ESCHL game Friday night, the University of Delaware lost at Rhode Island, 3-2, in overtime when the Rams won a shootout, 2-1…Drexel beat Towson Friday night, 7-6 in a non-league game…Delaware faced URI at the Brad Boss Arena and Towson traveled to Drexel again Saturday night…even though it’s a road game, Navy’s game Friday night at Delaware will be broadcast on the TEAMLINE network, with Josh Martinelli and Pete Bourgeois handling the play-by-play and color commentary.

 

SCORING SUMMARY

 

Penn State                    2          1          3          -           6

NAVY                         1          0          0          -           1

 

First Period

PS – McMullen (O’Brien, Mills) 6:28 PP

N – Martin 5 (Anliker, Gleason) 7:52 PP

PS – Zodtner (Jordan, Sobonya) 8:31

 

Second Period

PS – Dakan (Mills, Rubeo) 17:15

 

Third Period

PS – Zimmel (unassisted) 6:52 SH

PS – O’Brien (Mills, DeLorenzo) 10:00 PP

PS – Obringer (O’Brien) 14:29 SH

 

 

SAVES

Hume (Penn State)       5          10        14        -           29

Anderson (NAVY)     10          19        22        -           51

 

SHOTS

Penn State                    12        20        25        -           57

NAVY                         6          10        14        -           30

 

(Information compiled by Jim Guiberson)