MINNEAPOLIS — In a number of Big Ten sports, Penn State has had the best of the Minnesota over the years.
In hockey, the Gophers have been at it a lot longer, and it showed as they bested a Nittany Lions squad embarking on its third varsity season, 8-0, at Ridder Arena.
Goaltender Sidney Peters waited a year to get on the ice in a game for Minnesota (1-0-0), but the redshirt freshman made the most of her first college start in a 15-save shutout.
“I don’t think there are words to describe how special that moment was,” Peters said. “It was definitely worth practicing for a whole year. Just that one game, it was truly magical.”
Penn State (0-1-0) had the better of the action in the early minutes, but once Peters and the Gophers survived a rusty start unscathed, their skill players took over.
“There was a couple tough ones, but there were also a couple layups for her that she was able to feel the puck and just get the nerves out of there, but certainly on that breakaway, stopping that slap shot and getting out on top of her crease and allowing it to hit her was big for her,” Minnesota coach Brad Frost said.
Minnesota scored on four of six power-play opportunities.
Milica McMillen and Dani Cameranesi scored twice apiece, freshman Cara Piazza got her first NCAA goal and Hannah Brandt had a goal and three assists. Meghan Lorence and Kelsey Cline also scored.
Junior Celine Whitlinger made 40 saves in the Penn State net.
“Even though they gave up eight goals, I thought their goaltender played tremendously,” Frost said. “There’s not a lot of difference between their four lines. They all compete and they all battle. When they get some big-time difference-makers in there, that’s going to change their team.”
Penn State’s roster features seven Minnesota natives, which made for a good atmosphere with lots of friends and family in the crowd of 2,040.
“It was fun,” Minnesota defenseman Lee Stecklein said. “I ran into Paige Jahnke, who I went to high school with and grew up playing with here. All those Minnesota kids – their families were finally able to come watch a game here.”
On Saturday, the teams take on new opponents in Ridder Arena as Penn State faces St. Cloud State at 4:07 p.m. CDT and Minnesota clashes with Boston University at 7:07 p.m.
