The stage was set at Capital One Arena but for a different kind of hockey and not Washington Capitals hockey. While the Caps took care of business in Columbus on the road, Capital One Arena hosted the Inaugural Capital Hockey Classic.
Penn State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second period and the deficit was too much to overcome for Army. Joey Baez scored the lone goal off an assist from Brent Keefer. JJ Cataldo made 26 saves in net for the Black Knights who are now 5-11-0 in non conference play and 5-7-0 in Atlantic Hockey America.
Penn State improves their record to 7-9-0 in non conferernce play but are 0-8-0 in the Big Ten. They got off to a quick start with Jimmy Dowd Jr. finding the back of the goal in just 87 seconds on a shot from the blue line off a screen up front. Penn State would then double their lead in the second period as Dylan Lurgis scored with Ben Schoen and Simon Mack earning he assist.
Later in the period a giveaway in the Army defensive zone led to Aiden Fink finding Reese Laubach for a shorthander to make it 3-0. Baez would then get a goal back for Army off a Brent Keefer feed but it wasn't enough. The Nittany Lions added one more in the third with Laubach getting his second goal of the game to put the contest out of reach.
You can read more stats about the game here via the Army website.
Stick taps to a memorable inaugural Capital Hockey Classic, presented by Google for Government!
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 13, 2024
Quite the show put on last night with a great finale between the boys at @ArmyWP_Hockey and @PennStateMHKY#WeAre | #GoArmy pic.twitter.com/WzDA6SWckx
You can check out the highlights below:
You can also catch the full game replay via Monumental Sports Network here in case you missed it from viewing the Caps game.
In case you totally missed out on going and love college hockey and Capital One Arena there's good news for you. In 2027 the Frozen Four will be coming.