Feb. 19, 2015
| PENN STATE vs. #15 MINNESOTA | |
| 15-9-4 (7-4-1-0 B1G) | 16-9-3 (7-2-3-0 B1G) |
| Friday, Feb. 20 at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. | |
| PEGULA ICE ARENA | UNIVERSITY PARK | |
| GAME DAY CENTRAL |
| FRIDAY TV: Big Ten Network |
| FRI: BTN2Go | Audio ($) | |
| FRI RADIO: Penn State Sports Network |
| SATURDAY TV: ESPNU |
| SAT: WatchESPN | Live Audio ($) | |
| SAT RADIO: 103.1 FM WRSC State College |
| GAME NOTES Penn State | Minnesota |
| TEAM STATISTICS Penn State | Minnesota |
| Follow Us: |
| Men's Hockey Blog | 2014-15 Yearbook |
| @PennStateMHKY | Facebook | Instagram The 2014-15 Penn State Hockey Story |
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| INSIDE THE NUMBERS | ||
| PSU | MINN | |
| 15-9-4 | Overall Record | 16-9-3 |
| 7-4-1-0 | Conference Record | 7-2-3-0 |
| 95 | Goals Scored | 100 |
| 77 | Goals Allowed | 71 |
| 3.4 | Goals Scored/gm. | 3.6 |
| 2.8 | Goals Allowed/gm. | 2.5 |
| 1152 | Shots | 941 |
| 41.1 | Shots/gm. | 33.6 |
| 152 | Assists | 176 |
| 23-107 | Power Plays | 31-108 |
| .215 | Power-Play Pct. | .287 |
| 81-98 | Penalty Kills | 83-104 |
| .827 | Penalty-Kill Pct. | .798 |
| 796 | Saves | 675 |
| 0 | Shutouts | 4 |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Nittany Lions return to Pegula Ice Arena for a crucial series with co-Big Ten leader No. 15 Minnesota Friday (6:30 p.m.) and Saturday (5 p.m.).
Friday's game is slated for a live broadcast on Big Ten Network/BTN2Go with Fred Pletsch and Ben Clymer providing commentary. The series finale will air live on ESPNU/WatchESPN with John Buccigross and Blake Geoffrion on the call.
TICKET INFORMATION
A limited number of tickets remain on TicketMaster and the Penn State Ticket Exchange".
PARKING & TRAFFIC INFORMATION
Fans should be advised that THON will be ongoing at the Bryce Jordan Center, creating congestion in the sports complex area surrounding Pegula Ice Arena. Fans are encouraged to leave extra time arriving to Hockey Valley each night. For more information, visit the Penn State Transportation & Parking website.
PEGULA ICE ARENA BAG POLICY
Fans attending Penn State men's hockey games at Pegula Ice Arena will have to comply with the updated Penn State University Bag Policy. Fans are advised that no backpacks or briefcases may be brought into the arena. For more information visit the Safety Policy SY44 Page or Penn State's Bag Policy Page.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN GOPHERS
Minnesota (16-9-3, 7-2-3-0 Big Ten) enters Pegula Ice Arena with a six-game unbeaten streak after a sweep of first-place Michigan at home, creating a tie at the top of the standings. The Golden Gophers have overcome a mid-season rough patch that featured a 4-9-2 record following a 7-1-0 start to the season as the preseason No. 1 team.
During the 5-0-1 run, Minnesota has scored four or more goals in five of those contests and held their opponents to two goals or less in each of the last four games. The Gophers won four of those games at home over Ohio State and the Wolverines to improve to 11-2-1 at Mariucci Arena. On the road, Minnesota is 3-5-2 with a 2-2-0 mark on neutral ice.
The Gophers are steered by a powerful offense that scores 3.57 goals per game, which ranks sixth nationally. The offense is fueled by the nation's best power play that scores at a 28.7 percent clip. Thirty-one of the team's 100 goals have come by way of the man advantage.
Individually, Minnesota's leading point scorer is defenseman Mike Reilly, a junior who is a fourth-round draft pick by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Reilly leads the nation in defensive scoring with five goals, 27 assists and 32 points. Forwards Kyle Rau and Travis Boyd each have 13 goals, while Reilly's brother, Connor, has 11 tallies. Reilly will miss this weekend's series due to an injury suffered at Wisconsin.
Other key offensive weapons at the Gophers' disposal are Justin Kloos and Seth Ambroz with their respective nine goals. Taylor Cammarata has supplied 20 assists, which is second best to Mike Reilly's total. Hudson Fasching (8 goals), Sam Warning (7) and Vinni Lettieri (6) exhibit Minnesota's scoring depth.
Between the pipes is last year's Big Ten Player of the Year, Adam Wilcox. Wilcox has started all 28 games with a 2.50 GAA and .905 save percentage this season, while shutting out four opponents.
SERIES HISTORY WITH MINNESOTA
All-Time Series: 0-4-0
PSU at home: 0-2-0
PSU at MINN: 0-2-0
PSU on Neutral Ice: 0-0-0
PSU Streak: 4 losses
First Meeting: 1/12/14, MINN 3-2
Last Meeting: 3/1/14, MINN 2-1
Last PSU Win: n/a
Last MINN Win: 3/1/14, MINN 2-1
Last Tie: n/a
Largest PSU Win: n/a
Largest MINN Win: 5-1, 2/28/14
NITTANY LIONS SUFFER FIRST SWEEP
Penn State saw its eight-game unbeaten streak come to a halt with a pair of losses at Michigan State, 3-0 and 3-2.
In the opener, MSU controlled the pace of play on Friday, becoming the first opponent to shutout Penn State all season. In the process, the Spartans became just the third team to out-shoot the Nittany Lions all season with a 34-28 advantage, including a decisive 22-13 edge in the opening two frames. PJ Musico made 31 saves.
On Saturday, Penn State came out energized and dominated possession and shot count (36-20) for the first two periods. Nevertheless, Penn State trailed 2-1 and would ultimately fall behind 3-1 on a Mackenzie MacEachern hat trick with two of his goals coming on the power play.
Casey Bailey tallied his conference-leading 20th goal in a 5-on-4 extra attacker situation with 1:14 remaining, but the Nittany Lions were unable to scrape any closer, ultimately getting out-shot 9-6 in the period and falling 3-2 in the game.
Connor Varley tallied a power-play goal in the second period to briefly even the score, while Matthew Skoff had 26 saves.
RETURNING TO THE FRIENDLY CONFINES
Penn State and Minnesota are among the best teams when it comes to home ice advantage. The Nittany Lions (10-1-3) and Gophers (11-2-1) sport identical .821 winning percentages at their respective home arenas, which is tied for second in the country behind Minnesota State (.857, 12-2-0).
Penn State's is the only team left in NCAA Division I with one loss or fewer, and that loss came in overtime to Ohio State (Jan. 9) following a four-goal comeback.
PACKING THE PEG
Penn State has played to a sellout crowd in 29-of-32 home games, including 13 of 14 this season. More than 6,000 fans have filed into the arena on 18 occasions with a season-high 6,203 see Penn State beat Northern Michigan, 5-4, on Friday, Jan. 23. That crowd was the fourth-best at PIA.
Currently, Penn State ranks seventh in average attendance (6,014) and leads the nation in building capacity percentage (104.0 percent). Only Quinnipiac (102.0) can boast a capacity percentage over 100.
Last season, 108,193 total fans packed Pegula Ice Arena during the facility's inaugural campaign, filling the 5,782-seat arena with an average of 6,011 fans per game.
MUSICO TO MY EARS
Entering the season, PJ Musico was Penn State's third goaltender and didn't see action through the first 16 games of the year. Since then, Musico has played in eight of the last 12 games, initially in a reserve role earning more playing time on each occasion, before garnering his first start vs. No. 14 Vermont.
Against the Catamounts, Musico made 33 saves to earn his second win of the year, improving to 2-1-1. His 33 saves were the most since making 46 at Wisconsin on Feb. 24, 2014. The start was his first since March 7, 2014, also against Wisconsin.
The following weekend, Musico anchored Penn State's sweep of Wisconsin, improving to 4-1-1 at the time. The senior from California started in Friday's 3-0 loss to Michigan State despite making 31 saves.
Musico was announced as Friday's starter vs. Minnesota by head coach Guy Gadowsky on Wednesday. He is 4-2-1 this season with a 2.13 GAA and .933 save percentage.
OVER/UNDER THREE GOALS
The demarcation line of Penn State's success can be found in one number: 3. All of Penn State's wins have come when scoring at least three goals, while all of Penn State's losses have come when giving up three or more goals.
The Nittany Lions are resoundingly better when scoring three goals or more (15-3-2) than not (0-6-2). Defensively, the same holds true as Penn State is 14-0-2 when allowing less than three goals, but just 1-9-2 when giving up three or more.
DEFENSIVE CORPS STEPPING UP OFFENSIVELY
Over the past nine games, Penn State has received a crucial scoring and assist bump from an unfamiliar place: the defense.
The Nittany Lion defense has contributed five goals and 17 assists for 22 points, which may not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but that's 43.5 percent of the entire defense's point output for the year.
For Penn State, the production has been widespread with every defenseman that's skated in more than one game tallying at least two points.
TOP LINE REMAINS PRODUCTIVE, INTACT
Penn State has used 37 different offensive line combinations through 28 games, but one thing has remained constant: David Goodwin-Taylor Holstrom-Casey Bailey will play and score.
The three have combined for 36 goals, 43 assists and a plus-39 rating. Currently, the line is 13-7-4 this season.
The threesome have been together in 24 of 28 contests (only times not together were Oct. 17 at Alaska, Dec. 5-6 at Wisconsin and Dec. 30 vs. Western Michigan), accounting for 79 of Penn State's 243 points (32 percent).
Only the Richard-Conway-Scheid line (35 points) has more than nine points this season amongst the forwards.
BAILEY THREE OFF NATIONAL SCORING LEAD
Behind a Big Ten-leading 20 goals, junior forward Casey Bailey has regained his scoring form from 2012-13 that saw him tally 14 goals during his freshman campaign. Last season, Bailey tallied nine goals in 32 games.
Entering this week, Bailey is one of five players in the country with 20 goals. He is behind only Union's Daniel Ciampini (23 goals), RIT's Matt Garbowsky (21) and AIC's Austin Orszulak, while tied with Minnesota State's Bryce Gervais (20).
Bailey ranks tied-fourth nationally in goals per game (0.71) and tied-for-15th nationally in points per game (1.21)
Bailey is first on the team with 10 multi-point games this season and has 18 in his Penn State career. He has tallied a point in 20 of 28 games this year.
RIGHT WHERE WE WANT `EM
The Nittany Lions have excelled in goals while trailing or tied in the New Year. Penn State leads the nation in this category over that time frame with 30 goals (2.73 per game). PSU has scored 40 total goals in that span, which means 75 percent of the team's goals have come while tied or behind.
While tied or trailing since Jan. 9, Penn State leads in the county in even-strength goals (22).
THIRD PERIOD SCORING MACHINE
Since Penn State's first game of the new year on Jan. 9, the Nittany Lions are third in the country with 21 third-period goals for an average of 1.91 per game.
Leading the Penn State third-period charge is Casey Bailey with six goals, while line mate David Goodwin has three tallies in that span.
OFFENSE LOOKS TO REFUEL
Penn State's offense went dormant last weekend vs. Michigan State, registering just two goals. The two goals were the fewest in a weekend since a pair of losses at the Three Rivers Classic (4-2 vs. RMU, 4-1 vs. Western Michigan).
The Nittany Lions had tallied 38 goals (4.22 per game), scoring at least four goals in all but one game in in the previous nine games. The 4.22 goals per game ranked third nationally since Jan. 9 behind only Michigan (5.57) and BU (4.33) at the time.
JUNIORS PROVIDING THE SCORING
Penn State's juniors have been the most productive scoring class this year with 47 goals and 59 assists for 106 points, which is good for 42.9 percent of the team's total point production.
As for goals, the juniors have tallied 49.5 percent of the tallies led by leading scorers Casey Bailey (20) and Eric Scheid (13).
The three other classes combined have totaled 48 goals and 93 assists for 141 points.
BALANCED NITTANY LION SCORING
Penn State has 95 goals through 28 games, an average of 3.39 goals as opposed to last year's 2.22 average (80 goals in 36 games).
Eight Nittany Lions have tallied 10 or more points so far this season: Casey Bailey (34), Taylor Holstrom (27), David Goodwin (24), Eric Scheid (23), Scott Conway (19), Dylan Richard (17), Curtis Loik (16) and Luke Juha (13). Last season 12 Lions garnered at least 10 points or more in 36 contests.
Moreover, 19 different Nittany Lions have registered a goal this season with a total of 22 Lions recording a point. In 2013-14 alone, 16 Lions scored goals with 21 total earning points.
SECOND LINE SCORING RE-EMERGES
Penn State's second line of Eric Scheid, Dylan Richard and Scott Conway provided the scoring punch it was missing from its top line against Northern Michigan and has continued through the weekend vs. Wisconsin.
The trio has now appeared in 10 games this season (7-1-2), tallying 13 goals and 21 assists for 34 points.
SCHEID'S CONTRIBUTIONS CONTINUE
Forward Eric Scheid missed six games and returned to the ice in impressive fashion, tallying four multi-point games and a pair of two-goal performances to pace the Penn State offense since Jan. 9.
Scheid has tallied a point in nine of 11 games since his return. Scheid is second on the team with 13 goals. The Nittany Lions went 2-4-0 in during his absence, which puts PSU at 13-5-4 when Scheid is in the lineup.
FIRE AWAY!
Penn State likes to shoot the puck. A lot. The Nittany Lions lead NCAA Division I men's hockey with 41.14 shots per game, over five shots more per game than second best Boston University (36.07).
The Nittany Lions have fired 50 or more shots on six occasions this season, going 4-0-2. Moreover, PSU has attempted 40 or more shots 15 times, going 9-4-2 in those games.
The Nittany Lions have out-shot their opponents in 23 of 28 games this year. PSU is 12-7-4 when out-shooting its opposition.
Contributing to the staggering shot totals is Casey Bailey who leads the nation in shots on goal (167), averaging a nation-high 5.96 shots a game. Bailey has three games of 10 shots or more this season.
Penn State ranks second nationally in shots on goal margin per game (+9.96), while Minnesota ranks seventh of 59 teams at +6.96.
Minnesota ranks seventh nationally in shots per game with 33.61, while ranking ninth in shots allowed per game (26.64). PSU is tied-for-38th in that category (31.18).
In games where PSU fails to shoot at least 30 times Penn State is 1-1-1 with a tie vs. Alaska Anchorage, a win at Michigan and a loss last week at Michigan State.
ROLLING WITH HOLSTROM
Penn State's most productive passer has been Taylor Holstrom with six goals and 21 assists for 27 points.
His 21 assists are the most in a Penn State uniform in a single season. Holstrom is three dishes away from matching his freshman performance in 2010-11 at Mercyhurst.
Currently, Holstrom is seventh in the nation with 0.84 assists per game.
BAILEY, HOLSTROM UP FOR HOBEY BAKER
The forward tandem of Casey Bailey and Taylor Holstrom were nominated for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, as announced Wednesday, Jan. 7. Fan voting, which accounts for one percent of all voting, continues through March 8 before the 10 finalists are named.
Bailey leads the Big Ten in goals (20), while Holstrom is six assists off the Big Ten lead with 21. Fans can vote for the Hobey Baker Award by visiting this website.
IMPROVING IN BIG TEN PLAY
The Nittany Lions started 0-9-0-0 in Big Ten play last season, but finished the year going 3-7-1-0 down the stretch before going 1-1 in the Big Ten Tournament.
After 12 games of Big Ten play, Penn State stands at 7-4-1-0 this season. The Nittany Lions have gone 11-12-2-0 vs. Big Ten competition since Feb. 8, 2014. Penn State has already surpassed its Big Ten win total from last season.
Penn State sits in a tie for third place in the Big Ten with 22 points behind Michigan and Minnesota (24). The Nittany Lions are one of only two Big Ten teams to defeat the Wolverines this season, winning at Yost Ice Arena on Nov. 21.
WINS OVER RANKED TEAMS
Penn State's victory over No. 14 Vermont was the program's fifth against ranked competition.
Prior to Nov. 15, 2014 PSU was 0-8-0 against top-five squads, beating No. 4 UMass Lowell, 4-1.
Saturday's game against No. 14 Vermont was just the third game against a USA Hockey ranked foe this season.
Last season, Penn State went 3-16-0, with all three wins coming against Michigan, while in 2012-13 the Nittany Lions went 1-3-0. Penn State now stands at 5-20-0 all-time against ranked teams.
PENN STATE-MINNESOTA CONNECTIONS
Three Nittany Lions hail from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, which includes Eric Scheid (Blaine), Nate Jensen (Shorewood) and Max Gardiner (Deephaven). Gardiner transfered from Minnesota following the 2010-11 season.
Another connection includes the Reilly family. Mike, Connor and Ryan all play for the Golden Gophers, while their younger sister, Caitlin, plays for the Nittany Lion women's team.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State heads to the road once again to face Ohio State in a two-game series on Friday and Saturday. The first game airs on Big Ten Network/BTN2Go at 6:30 p.m. while the finale is set for 7 p.m. on American Sports Network/BTN2Go. That game will air locally in markets around Ohio and Pennsylvania.