Penn State men’s hockey coach Guy Gadowsky was dejected, deflated and defeated Tuesday night. And even that might not have been enough to describe Gadowsky’s mood as he spoke to reporters in a monotone voice after the Nittany Lions’ 4-2 loss to Robert Morris.
Shockingly, Gadowsky called his team “arrogant” and added, “I don’t know where to go from here.”
Tuesday marked the fourth consecutive defeat for Penn State, which opened its regular season winless to nearly rival the worst start in program history. Gadowsky's 2020 team began the season 0-5.
At least those five losses were against Big Ten opponents. Penn State’s four losses this season are were to non-conference programs, albeit two ranked teams in No. 16 UConn and No. 8 Quinnipiac. Regardless, Gadowsky didn’t mince his words Tuesday night.
“I feel that the success of this program over the last two years — obviously, we've had two pretty darn good years — I think that there's a feeling that it's just going to come easy, I guess,” Gadowsky said. “This is a terrible word to say, but I'm just telling the honest truth of how I feel. I feel it's arrogance.
“I feel that we feel we're above what we had to do in the past to get where we got. … Obviously that's on me, because that's a preparation issue. So that's absolutely on me and myself and our staff.”
The Nittany Lions lost to a Robert Morris team that never led in its first four games. On Tuesday, that same Colonials club never trailed against Penn State after scoring 20 seconds into the contest and bursting out to a 3-0 advantage in the first period.
That marked the second time already this season the Nittany Lions have been outscored by three goals in a period. And it was the third time they’ve allowed at least a trio of unanswered goals. Quinnipiac scored six straight goals against Penn State. Yes, it’s been that bad.
“We're going to turn this around,” Gadowsky said. “We're going to start playing our game, and we're going to play consistently.”
So what happened to a Penn State men’s hockey program that seemed to be on the rise after a Frozen Four appearance two years ago and the year of Gavin McKenna last season? There are many reasons, starting with the roster.
Penn State has seen major roster turnover
There’s no statistic that will answer that question more than this. Penn State lost its top four point scorers, and five of its top six, in the offseason. Forwards Aiden Fink (38 points), Charlie Cerrato (27 points), Matt DiMarsico (42 points) and McKenna (51 points) went to the NHL, while winger JJ Wiebusch (36 points) transferred to Wisconsin.
That’s a combined loss of 194 points and 66 goals. That’s pretty hard to make up, especially considering all five of those skaters were in the Nittany Lions’ top-six forward group last year.
Talent isn’t a deficiency
Gadowsky was quick to point out recently that this year’s team has the most NHL-drafted players in Penn State history (nine). Yet, it looked anemic against a Robert Morris team with one draft pick and a Sacred Heart squad earlier in the season with none.
In both games, the Nittany Lions fell to a three-goal deficit. Slow starts have been a problem thus far. Gadowsky said after the first weekend that his team has to be better at being ready at puck drop. That hasn’t improved yet.
How Penn State can fix it
It’s a mentality problem. Gadowsky said the team is arrogant, and that tracks.
For example, two of the Colonials’ goals on Tuesday came via mistakes by defenseman Jackson Smith. The first came within the first 20 seconds of the game, when Smith, while contested, loaded a slap shot, which was blocked and led to a breakaway goal.
Later in the game, Smith tried to take on several defenders before he turned the puck over, leading to a 3-on-1 rush for Robert Morris and a goal. The former first-round pick attempted to do it all himself instead of making an easy pass, and it backfired.
Gadowsky was asked about Smith’s performance after the game, and the coach paused for 5-10 seconds. “Jackson Smith is a great player,” Gadowsky said. “And when he plays great, we're a much, much better team.”
In short, Penn State needs to play more like a team and less like a one-man squad. The Nittany Lions look to break their losing streak Friday night against Canisius at Pegula Ice Arena. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
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