After Penn State’s 6-3 win over Arizona State, the postgame press conference quickly turned into a showcase for one player — freshman Gavin McKenna. Before long, sophomore Charlie Cerrato chimed in, eager to put his teammate’s performance — and poise — into perspective.
“He’s Gavin McKenna. He’s the guy,” Cerrato said. “But I don’t think you guys see the amount of outside noise there is. We got people coming to the hotel after buses, after dinner. It’s crazy he’s 17. He’s handling it like that. It’s incredible.”
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The night itself had plenty to match the hype. The Nittany Lions’ 6-3 win over ASU featured Joey Daccord flying in from Seattle to see his jersey retired, McKenna making his much-anticipated college debut, and a national broadcast on YouTube and NHL Network capturing every moment.
The third period proved to be the Sun Devils’ downfall, as they surrendered four goals and dropped their season opener. Here is the recap:
Nittany Lions Top Sun Devils 6-3
From the opening puck drop, Mullett Arena was buzzing. The energy made it clear this was a top-15 matchup, and the crowd fed off every moment.
“This is a wonderful arena,” Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky said following the game. “It’s a great college hockey rink. It was a lot of fun. I thought the students were great. I thought the atmosphere and the music, I thought it was really good. It was fun.”
PSU wasted no time getting on the board, as Aiden Fink buried the opening goal off a feed from McKenna — the freshman’s first college point. In the second period, Cerrato doubled the lead, with McKenna once again setting up the play.
“Yeah, I thought it was good,” McKenna said. “I thought our team got a bit away from it in the second period, but for us to pull through in the third, I thought it was a great team game by our team, lots of guys stepped up, and that was a lot of fun.
Even with PSU in front, the crowd — especially the student section — made sure McKenna felt their presence every time he touched the puck, unleashing loud boos that echoed through the arena.
“I heard the boos when I got to touch the puck, and that was fun,” McKenna said. “I think playing in a crowd like that. It’s easy to get up for a game like this.”
Down 2-0, the Sun Devils’ offense was kick-started by freshman and former Erie Otter, Samuel Alfano, scoring his first college goal.
Not long after, Sean McGurn and Logan Morrell found the back of the net, giving ASU the lead and momentum in the second period. Head coach Greg Powers’ squad looked poised heading into the third, but the Sun Devils couldn’t hold on.
“We felt really good about where we were heading after the second period, found our ground game and did a lot of good things and executed the way we wanted to play,” Powers said. “They came out and they punched us right back (in) the mouth.”
PSU would go on to score four goals in the third period, led by Matt DiMarisco’s hat trick, all three of which came in the third period.
“It was just really a horrific third period, you know,” Powers said. “They looked like a team that just wanted it more than us in the third, and that’s disappointing.”
The two teams meet again tonight at 5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time at Mullett Arena and will try to even the series against the Nittany Lions.
“We believe if we manage the game the way we need to, then we can beat anybody. Like, we’re gonna have a really, really good hockey team,” Powers said. I know what this team is capable of, and it’s going to win a lot of games this year.”
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