Series Preview: Penn State vs. Alaska Fairbanks

Audio/Story posted October 16, 2019 in CommRadio, Sports by Connor Griffin

Host Matt McClure and analysts Jacob Cheris and Christian Bellissimo preview Penn State's upcoming series against Alaska-Fairbanks:

Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky secured the 300th win of his career last Saturday. This week, he has the opportunity to beat the program that gave him his first job as a collegiate head coach.

After a brief stint coaching in the minor leagues, Gadowsky landed at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. He spent five years as head coach of the Nanooks and now he’s set to face them in a two-game bout this weekend. The series will mark the first matchup between these two schools since Penn State entered NCAA Division I in 2012.

The Nittany Lions are coming off of an opening series sweep against Sacred Heart. After a dominant 8-2 win over the Pioneers on Friday, Penn State squeaked out a 5-4 victory the following night.

Sacred Heart stormed back after trailing 4-0 heading into the final period. Penn State was obviously able to prevail, but the late scare from the Pioneers left Gadowsky a bit reserved in the postgame press conference.

“Anytime you get a sweep, you have to feel really good, but obviously we have some work to do and the third period was a great example of why,” Gadowsky said.

One clear positive from the weekend was the performance of junior Cole Hults. The star defenseman tallied three goals in Friday’s matchup, becoming the eighth player in program history to score a hat trick. On Saturday, Hults followed up his historic effort with yet another multi-point outing. After netting the first goal of the night, he set up forward Brandon Biro for the second score of the contest.

Hults’ stellar play was enough for him to be named Big Ten Third Star of the Week on Tuesday. It’s the first time the Wisconsin native has garnered weekly recognition in his three years with the team. Alongside Arizona State's Brinson Pasichnuk, Hults leads all Division I defensemen in points with five.

Leading the charge for Alaska-Fairbanks is another defenseman—this one by the name of Chris Jandric. Jandric scored in both matchups of the Nanooks’ series against Michigan Tech, and the defenseman’s performance was crucial in pulling off a two-game sweep.

It was a nice way for Alaska-Fairbanks to rebound after a tough opening series with the University of Denver. Even though the Nanooks were on the wrong end of a sweep, they were certainly able to put some pressure on the nation’s top team.

In the first game of the series, Alaska-Fairbanks drew first blood with a goal just 16 seconds into the contest. The Nanooks managed to head into the final two minutes tied at three goals apiece, but a late score from Cole Guttman sealed the win for Denver.

Nevertheless, the Nanooks are a team that cannot be overlooked by Gadowsky’s squad. Considering this is Penn State’s last series before opening up Big Ten play, it’s imperative for the Nittany Lions to get their mistakes from last series in check before squaring off against No. 17 Wisconsin in less than two weeks.

The first game of the series between Penn State and Alaska-Fairbanks will get underway at 7 p.m. Thursday, and the second game will begin at the same time on Friday. Both games will be at Pegula Ice Arena.

Prediction: Penn State sweeps Alaska-Fairbanks 2-0

 

Connor Griffin is a sophomore majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact him, email cfg6@psu.edu.

About the Contributors

Matthew McClure's photo

Matthew McClure

Senior / Broadcast Journalism

With his hard-work and dedication to excellence, Matthew McClure looks to achieve future goals in sports broadcasting. He is from Glenmoore, Pennsylvania and a senior broadcast journalism major at Pennsylvania State University. He has experience working in sports and is willing to work outside his comfort zone. Matthew served as an active member at CommRadio, where he performed many different play by play broadcasts, wrote articles, and is a host of his NBA talk radio show Half Court. The past two summers, Matthew moved to Florida to work as an communications intern at the Florida Collegiate Summer Baseball League. There, he broadcasted every game for the Seminole County Scorpions, and was presented with the Sara Whiting Young Professionals Award.

Connor Griffin's photo

Connor Griffin

Junior / Broadcast Journalism

Connor is a junior from Horsham, Pennsylvania. This is his second year working with CommRadio, and he currently serves as one of the station’s two production directors. In addition to his managerial role, he calls play-by-play for Penn State sports and co-hosts No Boundaries with Zach Donaldson. On the weekends, he is a student reporter on the Unrivaled Pregame Show for Penn State Athletics. You can contact him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Christian Bellissimo's photo

Christian Bellissimo

Freshmen / Broadcast Journalism

Christian Bellissimo is a member of CommRadio, PSSN, and the Bellisario Student Council
Instagram: christianbellissimo