Oct. 2, 2014
From BigTen.org: Big Ten/Hockey East Challenge Details
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
T he Penn State men's hockey team is set to take part in the second Big Ten/Hockey East Challenge by hosting the first set of games Oct. 10-11 vs. Connecticut. In all, PSU takes part in four of the 20 contests.
Between the two conferences, 14 of the most storied college hockey programs will take part in the Big Ten/Hockey East Challenge, as announced on Thursday morning. Penn State is one of five Big Ten teams participating, while nine of the 12 Hockey East schools will take part in the 20-game competition that will run until Nov. 29.
Penn State hosts Connecticut in its season-opening series Oct. 10-11 at Pegula Ice Arena to open the challenge. Providence at Ohio State is the other Big Ten/Hockey East matchup on opening weekend.
The Nittany Lions travel to UMass Lowell for a two-game set on Nov. 14-15. Those games will be the first road tests at a Hockey East school.
"As we move into the second year of the Big Ten/Hockey East Challenge, the event continues to offer student-athletes a great opportunity to play in high-level games against top competition," said Big Ten Associate Commissioner Jennifer Heppel. "The event reinforces our excellent relationship with Hockey East and helps promote the game of college hockey across the nation."
"We enjoy a great relationship with the Big Ten and its institutions and we hope to grow those relationships through increased competition between our member schools," said Hockey East Commissioner Joe Bertagna. "We increased the number of games in the "Challenge" this year and hope we can continue to interact as conferences."
The Big Ten/Hockey East Challenge Cup will be awarded to the league with the most points from the 20 games. Points will be handed out for wins (2), ties (1) and a bonus point for road victories. Shootouts will not be calculated into the point system.
Between the 18 teams in the two conferences, they have claimed 33 NCAA titles in 67 seasons. Six of the 14 teams participating in this year's challenge were in the 2014 NCAA Championship.