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Penn State goaltender robs opponent with incredible stick save (Video)

By Sean LeahyOct 14, 2017, 7:53 AM EDT

Penn State’s men’s hockey team won their fourth straight Big Ten conference opener thanks to a strong power play and the goaltending of Peyton Jones, who will find himself on many highlight reels this weekend.

With the Nittany Lions up 3-0 on the Minnesota Golden Gophers late in the second period, Jones, who stopped 20 of 21 shots faced, kept his shutout alive with this dazzling stick save on Mike Szmatula:

“I’ve obviously seen saves like that before on SportsCenter, but I’ve never seen one live,” Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky said via USCHO. “It was pretty incredible.”

Jones, a sophomore who was making his 19th consecutive start, did find himself on SportsCenter’s top 10 plays of the night Friday, landing at No. 3.

The Nittany Lions, with help from two power play goals, would hold on to win 3-1 to improve to 2-1-0 on the season.

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.

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It might be time to say goodbye to the “Fighting Sioux” moniker

By Joe YerdonJun 13, 2012, 10:09 AM EDT
25 Comments

The University of North Dakota will be looking for a new nickname for their sports teams.

Voters in North Dakota chose to retire the Fighting Sioux moniker the university’s sports teams have had for year by a 67.35 percent to 32.65 percent margin according to the Grand Forks Herald.

The Fighting Sioux name has come under fire in recent years thanks to the NCAA looking to move away from “hostile and abusive” nicknames and mascots for schools. North Dakota’s men’s hockey team fought hard to keep the name, but the NCAA and member conferences in other sports put the squeeze on the university by threatening to ban the school from playoffs because of the name.

University president Robert Kelley sounds resigned to giving up the name in a statement after the vote.

We are appreciative that voters took the time to listen and to understand the issues and the importance of allowing the University to move forward.  We also understand how deeply this has affected all of us.

Tuesday’s vote allows us to focus our attention on our students as we continue to build exceptional programs in all areas of the University.  We appreciate the support that has been expressed for the University of North Dakota over the past several weeks, and especially for UND Athletics.  It is support that will continue to be important as we build a great future for the University and for UND Athletics.

We will continue to work with the State Board of Higher Education, the North Dakota University System, and the leadership in athletics as we move forward.

The school has fought hard to keep the name and while they’ve been respectful of the Sioux name, it appears change is coming for North Dakota.

(h/t Jennifer Conway on UND statement)