Blue White Illustrated

Phillips scored his first goal as a Nit- tany Lion from the left point, right in front of the Penn State bench, con- tributing to a 6-4 victory over Michigan State on Nov. 9. He was soon engulfed in a group of Penn State sweaters, his teammates mobbing him for the mile- stone. "Great guy," Limoges said of Phillips. "Tons of personality. ... We're really good friends. It's lots of fun hanging around him." Phillips gave the media a glimpse into that personality following the victory over the Spartans, when he proudly de- clared postgame that he planned to use Just For Men hair coloring products to help give him an edge in Penn State's "Movember" competition, a mustache- growing initiative geared toward raising money for men's health. Liam Folkes claimed that's cheating. Sporting a much more pronounced 'stache two days later, Phillips insisted he had done nothing wrong. "It's allowed," he deadpanned. "One hundred percent, it's allowed." ■ New defensive approach paying o for Nittany Lions Typically among the more stoic faces on Penn State's roster, senior defenseman Kris Myllari couldn't help but surrender a subtle smile as he took questions about the way the Nittany Lions locked down Wis- consin, a team loaded with scoring talent. Long derided for the way they defend, the Nittany Lions surrendered only three goals in two games to the Badgers, who came into the game averaging 4.5 goals per game, second-best in the nation. That's not how the weekend was sup- posed to go – not to outsiders, anyway. The Badgers had scored nine goals in two games against two-time defending champion Minnesota-Duluth, which won those titles on the strength of a nearly impenetrable defense. But Penn State left them flum- moxed, using a tweaked defensive scheme. "I think we always knew we can have it," Myllari said. "We were just missing a piece here or a piece there." Among the tactical changes Penn State's coaching staff made this season is an altered approach to gap control – or how much space there is between Penn State's defensive player and the offensive player carrying the puck. In past seasons, Guy Gadowsky said, the Nittany Lions would tend to sit back, allowing the puck carrier more room. "We were giving up a lot of shots on goal that were worse because they had to go through a defender, meaning that our goaltenders were screened," Gadowsky said. "If they're going to shoot, they're going to shoot from way out or get around us," he added. "With the way we're looking at it now, we would rather have either of those situations than back up and have them shoot through us." Their comfort in making the change partially stemmed from the personnel the Nittany Lions have on defense, where they've added agile skaters like Clayton Phillips and Evan Bell via the transfer market over the past two seasons. "You've got to have good-skating de- fensemen and good mobility," Myllari said. As the Lions looked to implement the system in the season's opening weeks, the results were varied. They allowed six goals in two games on opening weekend against an overmatched Sacred Heart team. The following week, Penn State surrendered four goals in a stunning loss to Alaska. "Of course it takes a while to get used to everything if we change how we play," forward Aarne Talvitie said. "But I think everybody is on the same page now, espe- cially after that weekend." The sweep of the Badgers may just have been the proof of concept Penn State needed to cement the change, which has ramifications across the roster. It's probably not a coincidence that Peyton Jones is playing some of the best hockey of his career in goal. Free from screens by his own defensemen, Jones was 13th in the country with a .934 save percentage. Penn State's short gaps have also made life easier for its forwards. Because the defensemen are engaging the puck carrier sooner, the forwards don't have to skate as far to backcheck. "The forwards aren't going to want to backcheck if we're going to make them skate the whole length of the ice," Myllari said. The whole process – which Gadowsky said is still ongoing – has tested the teaching ability of the entire staff. It's something they each take very seriously; they even practice making presentations to players to hone that craft. If the team's recent results are any indi- cation, those reps are paying off. "How you judge if you're a good teacher or not is how much your students retain," Gadowsky said, "and that's what we're trying to get." – D.E. Penn State earns sweep over Golden Gophers Junior Clayton Phillips scored the winner in the third period, as No. 8 Penn State erased a two-goal de8cit with 8ve unanswered goals to de- feat Minnesota, 6-3, on Nov. 16 in Minneapolis. Penn State improved to 9-2-0 on the season and 5-1-0 in conference action with the win, which com- pleted a two-game sweep. One night earlier, the Lions romped to an 8-2 victory. The sweep against the Gophers was the 8rst for Penn State at Mari- ucci Arena and the 8rst Big Ten road sweep for the Nittany Lions since they won a pair of games at Michi- gan State on Feb. 24-25, 2017. ■

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