A long time ago I used to clip out sports stories and paste them in a scrapbook……figured I’d cut and paste some of the narrative from the weekend’s games here for future reference. More details on the weekend in sports (watching) later….
Friday night: There were a lot of positives to take away from Penn State’s 3-2 loss to UMass-Lowell on Friday night. The offense consistently generated good chances, the defense held its ground against the speedy UMass forwards, and goaltender Eamon McAdam showed promise in his first start at the Pegula Ice Arena.
But despite all the positives, there is still one fact that Penn State can’t escape: It’s only the second season of Division I hockey for the Nittany Lions.
For all the raw talent that the Nittany Lions have on the roster, Saturday night’s game against UMass-Lowell — the top-ranked team in the preseason — showed that Penn State is still a team making the transition to the big leagues. There were times during last night’s game where the Nittany Lions outplayed the River Hawks, but ultimately UMass-Lowell’s experience and depth allowed them to outlast the up-and-coming Penn State team.
The first period opened with both teams trading chances back and forth. Penn State forward Casey Bailey almost got Penn State on the board first with a deadly wrister from the left face-off circle, but UMass-Lowell goalie Doug Carr (35 saves, .946 save %) was able to make the glove save.
On the ensuing face-off, River Hawks winger Derek Arnold was able to corral the puck and took it all the way down the ice before unleashing a wrist shot on Penn State goalie Eamon McAdam (41 saves, .932 save %). McAdam couldn’t control the rebound and Joe Gambardella was able bury the loose puck to make the score 1-0.
The play went back and forth for a few more minutes until Penn State went on the power play courtesy of an A.J. White elbowing penalty. Thirty seconds later, Penn State forward Eric Scheid scored after a Luke Juha slap shot bounced off the end boards and directly in front of the net. Scheid was able to find the loose puck and suddenly the crowd at Pegula came alive.
The excitement was short-lived.
Shortly after the power play goal, UMass-Lowell’s Stephen Buco gathered a puck that ricocheted off the end boards and slid it towards the crease. The puck bounced off of McAdam’s leg and trickled over the goal line to make the score 2-1 River Hawks.
With just under three minutes left in the first, UMass-Lowell drew a hooking penalty on Mark Yanis to give the River Hawks their first power play chance of the evening. The River Hawks opened the power play with some nice passing and eventually caught McAdam out of position. River Hawk Joe Pendenza had a wide open net and made the most of his opportunity as he wristed it by McAdam. UMass-Lowell went into the first intermission with a 3-1 lead.
The Nittany Lions opened the second period on the penalty kill after a questionable tripping call on Bailey to end the first frame. McAdam seemed to recover from his first period woes and made several key saves on the power play, including an incredible kick save on a shot by UMass-Lowell’s Adam Chapie.
“I thought I improved as we went along there,” commented McAdam after the game. “I knew we needed to shut them down after I had a shaky first [period] and that was kind of my goal going into the second.”
The rest of the second period was relatively quiet for both the River Hawks and Nittany Lions. Both David Glen and Jacob Friedman had good chances to score late in the period, but Carr stood his ground and the River Hawks carried their 3-1 lead into the third period.
The Penn State PK was solid all throughout the third period, as they were able to kill penalties by Taylor Holstrom and Michael McDonagh to keep the Nittany Lions in the game. With two penalties killed, Penn State had all the momentum and was just waiting on a UMass-Lowell mistake to capitalize on.
With eight minutes left in third, Penn State got its chance.
A rare mistake from the River Hawks allowed the puck to go right in front of their own net, making its way to Penn State forward David Goodwin. Goodwin quickly slid the puck to his backhand and beat Carr to make the score 3-2. The goal was Goodwin’s third of the year.
“That was the best pass I’ve gotten all year,” Goodwin joked after the game.
Unfortunately, a Mike Williamson tripping penalty with six minutes left in the third killed a lot of the momentum that Penn State got with its second goal. The Nittany Lions killed the penalty, but they were left with only a few minutes to score the tying goal.
Coach Guy Gadowsky pulled McAdam with roughly a minute left, but Penn State was unable to score with the extra man and the River Hawks left Penn State with a sweep of the Nittany Lions. Penn State is now 3-5-1 on the year.
“I hate to say this but the coaching staff looks at this [loss] as a bit of a positive,” Gadowsky said. ”Of course you never want to lose two in a row — absolutely not.But when you look at the difference in areas we can control between yesterday and today, I look at this as a positive.”
Saturday: “Little things creep into Bill O'Brien's field of vision that can inflame his temper. Purdue coach Darrell Hazell made the list this week.
The Boilermakers allowed 388 yards rushing to Wisconsin and 318 to Iowa this season, so they expect teams to run the ball against them. Hazell figured Penn State would as well, though he wondered aloud whether its offensive line would be as successful.
"Is Penn State as good up front as Iowa and Wisconsin? " Hazell asked during the week. "They're good. I don't think they're as good as those two teams."
Perhaps coincidentally, Penn State's head coach was daring his offensive line at practice to challenge those rushing numbers. And it came close, controlling Purdue physically in a game that set a tone for the season's final two weeks.
Penn State reached season-highs in rushing yards and first downs and tied its points mark in browbeating Purdue 45-21 on Saturday at Beaver Stadium. Zach Zwinak rushed for 149 yards and three touchdowns, quarterback Christian Hackenberg ran for another score and O'Brien had a chance to preen about it afterward.
"We felt like we could run the ball," the head coach said. "I'm not sure if [Purdue] felt that we could run the ball against them. I think they felt Wisconsin and Iowa were better than us, and that's for you guys to judge. We rushed for [289] yards today, so I would say that's pretty good."
Of course, Purdue was ranked 11th in the Big Ten in run defense, allowing 224 yards per game, making Penn State's scouting report astute. Still, the Lions have had trouble running against weak defenses (Indiana) before, so generating the execution was a point of emphasis all week.
Linemen Garry Gilliam (who posted Hazell's quote to Twitter) said O'Brien's challenge resonated with the line. Several linemen referenced another of O'Brien's favorite quotes, saying the "outside noise" had branded them as ineffective this season.
As a result, Gilliam told teammates he wanted to run for 400 yards. The Lions settled for 289, their highest total in four years, and 31 first downs, their most since 2005.
Penn State didn't punt at all, which hasn't happened since at least 1997, and appeared so confident in its run game that O'Brien chose to run out the clock before halftime instead of chase a touchdown in the one-minute drill.
"It's fun, knowing you can go out there and impose your will each play," Center Ty Howle said. "It's a lot of fun."
It was less fun for Purdue, which hasn't won in the Big Ten this season. Down 28-7, though, the Boilermakers made it a one-possession game with two unanswered touchdowns, the first on a 100-yard kickoff return by Raheem Mostert.
But for the first time in several weeks, the Lions followed by playing their coach's brand of "complementary fooball." Penn State scored a season-high 21 points off turnovers, converting touchdowns after a Jordan Lucas interception and a pair of fumble recoveries. Two of those scores came after Purdue had shaved its deficit to seven points.
"Our defense came to play today," O'Brien said. "They created come good turnovers, and we were able to take advantage of them. It was good to see."
Still, O'Brien left with a to-do list before Nebraska comes to Beaver Stadium next week. Penn State allowed 205 yards on kickoff returns, including the first 100-yard touchdown run since Michigan State's Derrick Mason in 1994.
The running backs also fumbled twice more (losing one), giving the team 12 lost fumbles for the year. That's tied for most in the Big Ten.
"They're better kids than they are players," O'Brien said. "I told them, the reason I get frustrated on the sideline, when we fumble the ball, is because I have high expectations for the players on this team."
Sunday: How to explain the Detroit Lions scoring 27 points in the second quarter Sunday -- and none the rest of the way against the Steelers? How to explain Detroit's great Calvin Johnson catching six passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns in the first half -- and none in the second? How to explain Matthew Stafford's 327 first-half passing yards for the Lions -- and 35 in the second half?
We give you Troy Polamalu, a man of few words, who explained it like this:
"We just did our job better."
Just as Dan Ferens, a longtime Steelers front office member who literally shut off Detroit players' annoying pregame music blaring from a boombox near the Steelers locker room, their defense had heard enough. They finally pulled the plug on the Lions in the second half.
Their 37-27 come-from-ahead, come-from-behind victory at Heinz Field raised the Steelers record to 4-6 with two consecutive wins to start the second half of the season.
"Offense, defense, we were up, we were down, there was no quit in anybody," said Ben Roethlisberger, who led his team from behind or tied in the fourth quarter for a 32nd time.
Stafford was brilliant for one quarter, the second, when the Lions (6-4) stunned the Steelers defense for all 27 points and Johnson -- known as Megatron -- went wild on Steelers corneback Ike Taylor.
Roethlisberger was magnificent throughout, opening the game in the no-huddle offense and playing that scheme much of the way. He completed 29 of 45 for 367 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. He was sacked once.
He did it with little help from his ground game, which managed just 40 yards on 27 carries, 12 of them on six of his own scrambles.
Roethlisberger's fourth touchdown pass was a 20-yarder to Jerricho Cotchery, who caught it in the end zone on a fake screen play that ended all the drama with 2:29 left.
"I came here to play with him," said Cotchery, in his third year catching passes from Roethlisberger. "He has a lot of respect from around the league.
"He doesn't get a lot of attention, but with the amount of touchdowns and yards in a cold-weather city, it speaks volumes about him."
Roethlisberger threw two quick touchdown passes to Antonio Brown on the Steelers first two offensive series of the game. Both were short passes that Brown turned into scores of 37 and 47 yards. Brown did not quite match Megatron's performance, but he did have seven receptions for 147 yards, and unlike Johnson, did not stalk out of the locker room afterward without speaking.
"It's all about our teams -- the Steelers and Detroit and whose team did a good job," said Brown, the NFL's leading pass-catcher. "My team did a good job today."
So after one quarter and their first 14-0 lead of the season, the Steelers looked to be on their way to a blowout victory.
Enter Stafford, Johnson and Taylor.
Taylor tipped away Stafford's first pass to Johnson, who caught only one in the first quarter. It was a good start. Then Johnson added five more in the second quarter and by halftime, he had two touchdowns and 179 yards. Taylor dropped two easy interceptions right to him, was penalized for pass interference in the end zone and was called for holding Johnson on a play in which the Detroit receiver still managed a 22-yard catch.
It was as tough a quarter as Ike Taylor ever had. Then, boom, he allowed nothing in the second half, and afterward said he never lost confidence.
"Ike Taylor stood up," said safety Will Allen, whose interception of Stafford set up the final touchdown. "Taylor had him man-to-man the whole game. Taylor came through. That's what he gets paid for and that's what he did. He got hands on him and made it hard for him."
The entire defense did a 180 turn and, with starters LaMarr Woodley and Brett Keisel out with injuries, blanked Stafford and the Lions the final 30 minutes. As Polamalu said, they changed little schematically.
"The game plan was the game plan," Taylor said. "We stuck with it."
He said they became more aggressive mentally, and maybe they did. Something had to explain the difference.
First, though, came another hiccup for the Steelers in the red zone. They moved in the third quarter to a first down at the Lions 1 and could not score on three tries. Shaun Suisham kicked a 21-yard field goal.
Twice in the second quarter while Detroit was inundating them with touchdowns, the Steelers responded with field goals after cracking the red zone. Suisham kicked a 25-yarder and then a 34-yarder.
So his 21-yarder to open the scoring in the third quarter, while it brought them within 27-23, was not a particularly good sign.
But then they got some defensive help late on Detroit's next drive and some aid from the Lions themselves. Stafford moved his offense to second-and-4 at the Steelers 9, looking to respond to another field goal with another touchdown. But Ziggy Hood rose up to tackle Reggie Bush for a 1-yard loss, Ryan Clark tipped away a pass headed for Johnson in the end zone and the Lions lined up for a field goal.
Instead of kicking the 27-yarder, holder/punter Sam Martin took the snap and tried to run with it. He fumbled while being tackled short of the first down and the Steelers took over at their 3.
That looked problematic when it was third-and-9 at the 4. But Brown caught another pass from Roethlisberger, this for 20 yards over the middle, and a 97-yard, winning drive got its fuel.
It ended when fullback Will Johnson caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Roethlisberger to put the Steelers in front, 30-27.
"It was a situation that I told the guys, first and foremost, let's get a first down," Roethlisberger said of that 16-play, eight-minute drive. "If you get a first down, then you see where you go."
That is how they now look at their season that started 0-4. Win a game, see where it goes.
"We said coming in that we wanted to be 1-0 after this week, and that is what we are," Roethlisberger said. "Starting Monday, we are back to square one."
