Game Grades: Robert Morris
After a very fun, competitive series against Arizona State last weekend, the Penn State Nittany Lions
took on Robert Morris this weekend in a home-and-home series and showed why they are one of
the top teams in the nation so far this season. Penn State won the first game 7-2, and te second 11-6
en route to sweeping Robert Morris to improve its record to 8-1. With that being said, here
are the series grades for the Nittany Lions performance this weekend.
Offense: A
Penn State’s offense continued to score a lot of goals this weekend against Robert Morris. In the
7-2 victory on Friday, senior forward Nikita Pavlychev led the Nittany Lions with two goals and
two assists for a four point night. Junior forwards Evan Barratt and Alex Ligomes also
continued to play well with a combined five points on Friday night. Penn State out shot Robert
Morris 40-39 and put up three goals in the last two periods to take this one.
In game two, the offense continued to put up incredible numbers. The Nittany Lions beat up
Robert Morris for game two with an 11-6 victory. Pavlychev, Barratt and Ligomes led the way
in this one again. Pavelchev had two goals and an assist, Barratt had a goal and an assist and
Ligomes had a goal and two assists. Ten different Penn State players had a goal in this game.
Although the Nittany Lions went 2-9 on the power play this weekend, the offense was still able
to produce 18 goals over the course of two games.
Defense: B-
Defensively, Penn State was much better this week rather than last week against Arizona State. In
game one of this series, Penn State pretty much shut down the Robert Morris offense other than
the two goal second period. Penn State had two penalties in the game, but did a great job on the
penalty kill by not allowing a goal. However, a negative in game one for the defense was that
Robert Morris had 39 shots on goal, which is too much.
In game two, however, the defense wasn’t where it needed to be. Penn State gave up three goals
in the first period and six overall throughout the game. Although the offense dominated by
putting up 11 goals, the defense needs to be better across the board. Penn State had seven penalties
and Robert Morris capitalized on three of them. Senior defenseman Kris Myllari and junior
defenseman Cole Hults both had nice a nice series against Robert Morris with a few goals and assists.
Still, the Nittany Lions have to improve their defense before their Big Ten series opener against
Michigan next weekend.
Goaltending: B-
Penn State is looking for some stability in net, and in game one of this series they gave the nod to
senior Chris Funkey. Funkey played extraordinarily well with 37 saves on 39 shots. He only
allowed the two goals and was key in Penn State’s game one win. Funkey’s record improved to
4-0 after the win Friday night.
In game two, Penn State went another direction with junior Peyton Jones getting the start. To
start the season, Jones had three great games with over 30 saves while not allowing more than two
goals. However, the last two games he has struggled, allowing 10 goals. Saturday night against Robert
Morris, Jones had 34 saves, but allowed six goals. The Penn State defense didn’t help with
seven penalties, but Jones needs to improve. His record, however, goes to 4-1 after the win. It
will be interesting to see who Penn State goes with in net for next weekend’s showdown.
Coaching: B+
In both games of this series Head Coach Guy Gadowsky had his guys ready to play from
opening puck drop. Penn State was playing fast and physical and came out with two easy, but hard-
fought wins. Although there are still some questions on the defensive end and goaltending, this
offense is the real deal and the head coach has something to do with that. Gadowsky is a major
part in the Nittany Lions great start to the season, and everyone will find out who they really are
once Big Ten play comes upon us next weekend.
Matthew McClure is a junior majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email mcmc5964@psu.edu.
