Michigan falls to Penn State, drops second game of young season
It was a rough night for Brandon Naurato and the Michigan hockey team, to say the least. The Wolverines were outshot, 49-17, and dropped their second game of the season to Penn State in State College by a score of 3-0.
There isn't much to highlight from this one. Penn State dominated from start to finish. The Nittany Lions jumped all over the Wolverines from the get go and never took their foot off the gas.
One bright spot from the game was junior goaltender Noah West, who got the start between the pipes due to Erik Portillo being under the weather. West made 48 saves in his first career start, and only allowed two goals.
West's performance was eerily similar to a starting pitcher who pitched seven innings of two-hit baseball, but his offense failed to give him any run support. Michigan tallied only four shots in the first period, which was its lowest of any period this season.
The second period didn't go much better for Naurato's squad. The Wolverines had 10 shots in the second period, but still failed to find the back of the net, and found themselves down, 2-0, through 40 minutes of play.
Michigan had only three shots in the third period, and Penn State scored an empty-net goal late in the game to seal the deal. Michigan now sits at 7-2-0 on the season, with its only other loss coming to Boston University back on Oct. 16.
The two teams will battle it out once again on Saturday night, and Michigan looks to hand Penn State (9-0-0) its first loss of the season. The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m.
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