Athletics

Men's hockey downs Wisconsin 5-2 to reach Big Ten semis

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The third-seeded Penn State men's hockey bounced sixth-seeded Wisconsin, 5-2, in the opening game of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday evening at Xcel Energy Center. Eric Scheid scored twice and Luke Juha had a career-high three assists and a plus-three rating to lead the Nittany Lions.

Penn State (21-12-4) snapped a three-game winning streak by scoring twice late in the first period. The lead grew to 4-1 after two periods and an empty netter provided the final score line. Eamon McAdam earned his 13th win by making 35 saves.

The Nittany Lions move on to play second-seeded Michigan at Xcel Energy Center on Friday at 5 p.m. ET. That game will be shown live on Big Ten Network and BTN2Go.

Joining Scheid and Juha with their multi-point games were David Goodwin with a pair of assists, Ricky DeRosa on a goal and an assist and Tommy Olczyk who matched DeRosa's line. Scheid now has a team-leading seven goals against the Badgers.

The Nittany Lions opened the scoring with 7:55 remaining when Juha lifted a puck over the Wisconsin (8-19-8) defense to a rushing Scheid who skated in alone and scored his 12th of the year.

Penn State doubled the lead four minutes later when Connor Varley had his shot from the left point deflect off a Badger stick and get past Matt Jurusik (24 saves) for his first goal since Dec. 29, 2015 versus Clarkson. Scheid took a Goodwin faceoff win to send it back to Varley for the one-timer.

In the second, Luke Kunin scored his 19th of the year on a delayed penalty as he parked himself in front of the net to accept a Cameron Hughes offering 3:49 into the frame.

Ten minutes later, DeRosa responded by accepting a Juha feed as he entered he zone and DeRosa's snapshot went off Badger defenseman Tim Davison's stick and in for a 3-1 lead with 6:42 to go. The goal was DeRosa's sixth of the year and first since Jan. 30 versus Michigan. Additionally, it was his team-leading fourth game-winning goal.

Olczyk's goal came 95 seconds later as DeRosa forced a Wisconsin turnover near center ice and Olczyk went in for a breakaway and tallied his 11th goal of the year for a 4-1 advantage. For Olczyk, it was his sixth goal all-time against the Badgers.

Wisconsin showed urgency in the third period and pressed the Nittany Lions until they grabbed a goal through Grant Besse with 16:34 remaining to cut the lead to 4-2. The Badgers kept up the pressure earned a 13-9 shot advantage for the frame, but McAdam was strong in net by making 12 saves, allowing Scheid to net his second of the game with Jurusik pulled.

Wisconsin earned a 37-29 shot advantage for the game, while Penn State killed off all four Badger power plays, limiting Wisconsin to only four shots. Penn State was 0-for-1 on the man-advantage and blocked 17 shots, led by David Glen, who had three.

Last Updated March 18, 2016