Blue White Illustrated

FANTASTIC CUISINE EXCEP TIONAL ATMOSPHERE Colleg W ve Av . College & Cato carnegieinnandspa.com | 814.234.2424 Corner of C Corner of Cricklewood Dr. and Toftrees Ave. carnegieinnandspa.com | 814.234.2424 . Colleg W. College & Cato 814.861.3463 gigisdining.com ve Av . College & Cato 814.861.3463 gigisdining.com The Lions had used that style of play to sweep fifth-seeded Minnesota the previ- ous weekend in a best-of-three quarter- final series at Pegula Ice Arena, prevailing by scores of 5-3 and 6-5. Notre Dame typically sets a more me- thodical pace, but it skated up and down the ice with Penn State throughout an ini- tial 20 minutes that produced four goals. The Irish scored first, and Nate Sucese answered with a power-play goal for the Nittany Lions after Brandon Biro found him with a beautiful pass across the slot. When Notre Dame stuck again, Biro had the answer once more. The sophomore forward collected his own rebound on the rush and put it past Morris to tie the score. But the game slowed down coming out of the first intermission, as the Fighting Irish had their say in the pace. And the approach worked. The Nittany Lions didn't have the open ice they needed to best Morris, who dealt with a number of shot attempts from the perimeter and showed great rebound control to regain command of the game. The Irish were opportunistic on offense and took care not to expose themselves defensively and give Penn State a chance on the rush. They waited until the final moments of regulation, but their patience was rewarded with a trip to the Big Ten final, where they met second-seeded Ohio State, a 3-2 winner in overtime over Michigan in the other semifinal. After the game, Notre Dame coach Jeff Jackson said he thought PSU had made strides since the teams' previous meeting, a two-game series at Pegula Ice Arena in early February in which the Irish won the opener, 5-3, then earned a shootout win following a 2-2 tie in the second game. "They're a heck of a hockey team," Jack- son said. "They're a better team today than they were the last time we played them. I thought our defensive core did a really good job. [The win] is good for our confidence considering how we finished the regular season. I thought we did a better job than we have [in the past] against them managing the puck, and that's always a challenge because they pressure the puck so hard." Although they weren't able to secure the Big Ten's automatic berth for the second season in a row, the Lions appeared likely as of mid-March to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. They were 18-14- 5 following the narrow loss to Notre Dame and were 12th in the PairWise rankings, which are considered the most accurate predictor of the tournament field. The NCAA tournament features six au- tomatic qualifiers and 10 at-large teams. There were some scenarios in which a string of upsets in the conference tourna- ments could push Penn State out of the NCAA field. But as of March 11, the Nittany Lions had a 99.9 percent chance of making the tourney according to the College Hockey News PairWise Probability Matrix. The tournament field was set to be re- vealed on March 18. If selected, Penn State will play host to a regional March 24 and 25 at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pa. ■

• Cover