Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/199173
MEN'S ICE HOCKEY COLD OPEN Penn State christens its raucous new arena with a victory over Army | O ne of the more eventful homecoming weekends in Penn State history got off to a thrilling start when the men's ice hockey team opened the Pegula Ice Arena by defeating Army, 4-1, before a capacity crowd on Oct. 11. The university's newest athletic facility cost roughly $90 million and took 20 months to build, but all that hard work paid off spectacularly on opening night, as more than 6,300 fans filled the facility for its debut. A little over three minutes into the inaugural game, redshirt junior defenseman Nate Jensen scored the season's first goal. Jensen redirected a shot by Taylor Holstrom that slipped past Army's goalie, Rob Tadazak. It happened so fast that Jensen didn't even know at first whether it was he or Holstrom who had scored. "I saw Taylor went down and did some celebrations after the goal, so I was confused," he said. He said it was a real honor to get the first goal in the new "barn." Jensen praised the student section, which was on its feet for the entire game. "I think it's going to be crazy throughout the whole year, he said. "When a goal is " scored, it gets loud. I might black out every time I score. " The other goal scorers on the night were sophomore forwards Curtis Loik and Eric Scheid and freshman David Goodwin. Scheid's goal was an empty-netter to seal the victory. Nittany Lion head coach Guy Gadowsky described the opening as a milestone for Penn State. "It was a great night for Terry Pegula, Joe Battista and the guys, he said. " Pegula, of course, got the men's and women's varsity programs started with his initial donation to the university in 2010, while Battista for years nurtured the dream of bringing Division I ice hockey to Penn State, first as coach of the clublevel Icers and later as associate athletic director in charge of the Ice Arena and hockey development. "But the real star of the night, Gadowsky " added, "was the student section. " The students were energized from the start, helped by a three-row Blue Band, cheerleaders and the Nittany Lion mascot. With about six minutes left in the game, Gadowsky saw the Lion being carried up the stands by a crowd of students. He said