March 17, 2015
| PENN STATE vs. OHIO STATE | |
| 18-14-4 (No. 4 seed) | 13-18-3 (No. 5 seed) |
| Thursday, March 19 at 4:30 p.m. ET | |
| JOE LOUIS ARENA | DETROIT | |
| GAME DAY CENTRAL |
| TELEVISION: Big Ten Network |
| BTN2Go | Audio ($) | |
| FRI RADIO: Penn State Sports Network |
| GAME NOTES Penn State | Ohio State |
| TEAM STATISTICS Penn State | Ohio State |
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| Men's Hockey Blog | 2014-15 Yearbook |
| @PennStateMHKY | Facebook | Instagram The 2014-15 Penn State Hockey Story |
PROMOTIONS
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| INSIDE THE NUMBERS | ||
| PSU | MINN | |
| 18-14-4 | Overall Record | 13-18-3 |
| 10-9-1-0 | Conference Record | 8-11-1-1 |
| 118 | Goals Scored | 95 |
| 110 | Goals Allowed | 113 |
| 3.3 | Goals Scored/gm. | 2.8 |
| 3.1 | Goals Allowed/gm. | 3.3 |
| 1,420 | Shots | 1,045 |
| 39.4 | Shots/gm. | 30.7 |
| 193 | Assists | 154 |
| 28-128 | Power Plays | 15-114 |
| .219 | Power-Play Pct. | .132 |
| 104-129 | Penalty Kills | 77-102 |
| .806 | Penalty-Kill Pct. | .755 |
| 1,066 | Saves | 934 |
| 0 | Shutouts | 2 |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. --The fourth-seeded Nittany Lions men's hockey team begins its quest for an NCAA Tournament automatic berth when it takes on fifth seeded Ohio State in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal Thursday (4:30 p.m.) at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The Penn State-Ohio State winner moves on to play No. 1 seeded Minnesota.
SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES
Ohio State (13-18-3) enters the Big Ten Tournament going 4-1-1 in its past six games and 6-3-1 in its past 10. The Buckeyes were without many key members of their team during a mid-season slump, but have clicked since their returns. Last weekend, Ohio State took five of six points at Wisconsin by winning 2-0 on Saturday and earning the shootout point in a 2-2 tie on Friday.
OSU's scoring is filtered out through many players with five scoring at least 20 points and seven others with 10 or more points. Tanner Fritz (11g, 15a) leads the team with 26 points, but Anthony Greco (15 goals) and Matt Johnson (13) lead the team in scoring. Matthew Weis is third on the team with 22 points, while Nick Schilkey has 21.
In net, Christian Frey has started 22 times with a 8-11-2 record, sporting a .906 save percentage and 3.17 GAA. He is 3-1-1 in his past five decisions. Matt Tomkins is 5-7-1 this year with a 3.28 GAA and an .876 percentage.
SEASON SERIES IN A NUTSHELL
Ohio State leads the season series, 3-1-0, which has featured a bunch of goals and two comeback victories.
In the season opener (Jan. 9), Penn State roared from a 4-0 deficit to force overtime, but fell in overtim, 5-4. The next night, PSU never trailed in a dominating 4-1 win.
At Value City Arena, the Buckeyes took a pair of 5-3 victories that were won in different ways. On Feb. 27, the Buckeyes took a 3-1 lead midway through the second and pulled away. The next night, Penn State led the majority of the game, but three straight OSU goals in the third period turned a 3-2 game into a 5-3 win.
SERIES HISTORY WITH OHIO STATE
All-Time Series: Penn State trails 3-6-0
PSU at home: 2-2-0
PSU at OSU: 0-4-0
PSU on Neutral Ice: 1-0-0
PSU Streak: 2 losses
First Meeting: 12/29/12, PSU 5-4
Last Meeting: 2/28/15, OSU 5-3
Last PSU Win: 1/10/15, 4-1
Last OSU Win: 2/28/15, 5-3
Last Tie: n/a
Largest PSU Win: 4-1, 1/10/15
Largest OSU Win: 5-1, 1/31/14
GADOWSKY NAMED B1G COACH OF THE YEAR
Head coach Guy Gadowsky earned the program's first major award when he was named Big Ten Coach of the Year Monday afternoon by his fellow coaches and media voting panel.
Gadowsky guided the Nittany Lions to their first winning season in the Division I era in just their third overall campaign. Penn State exceeded all expectations by remaining in the Big Ten title chase until the final weekend of the season and defeating every team in the conference at least once.
The award is Gadowsky's third coach of the year honor, picking up the 2001-02 CCHA award at Alaska and the 2007-08 ECAC Hockey award at Princeton.
BAILEY EARNS ALL-BIG TEN FIRST TEAM
Junior forward Casey Bailey capped his career season with an All-Big Ten First team honor, as announced on Monday afternoon. Bailey is the first Nittany Lion to garner an All-Big Ten honor as he led the league with 22 goals.
CONWAY NAMED TO FRESHMAN TEAM
Freshman forward Scott Conway was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team on Monday, the first Nittany Lion to gather a freshman team nod. Conway ranks second in Big Ten freshman scoring with 10 goals and 26 points.
SIX LIONS GARNER HONORABLE MENTION
A pride of Nittany Lions were All-Big Ten Honorable Mention: David Goodwin, Taylor Holstrom, Nate Jensen, Luke Juha, Patrick Koudys and PJ Musico. A player must appear on two ballots to earn honorable mention.
Senior Max Gardiner was Penn State's representative for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
PENN STATE UNABLE TO SOLVE THE GOPHERS
For the third straight road trip, Penn State was unable to find a solution to the home team's potent offense, falling 5-0 and 6-2 to Minnesota this past weekend.
On Friday, Eamon McAdam made 35 saves for the Nittany Lions, who were held to their fewest shots (18) in their Division I history.
On Saturday, Penn State jumped to an early lead on former Gopher Max Gardiner's fourth goal of the season late in the first. Nevertheless, Minnesota would score back-to-back goals 20 seconds apart to take a 2-1 lead into the locker room.
That lead stretched to 3-1 just 4:32 into the second period before James Robinson tallied his fourth of the year two minutes later, briefly making it 3-2. The Gophers would add three more in the period for the 6-2 final.
NITTANY LIONS VISIT FOURTH NHL ARENA
Penn State plays in its fourth NHL venue this season when it travels to Detroit's Joe Louis Arena.
Penn State is 1-3-0 in NHL arenas this year, having already visited Madison Square Garden in New York, Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center and CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh. Overall, JLA is PSU's fifth NHL arena with last year's Big Ten Tournament being hosted by St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center.
Last time in an NHL arena, PSU's David Thompson scored from the right point to upset No. 14 Vermont in Philadelphia.
BAILEY TOPS B1G SCORING CHART, FIVE OFF NATIONAL SCORING LEAD
Behind a Big Ten-leading 22 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 17 players in the country, and the only one in the Big Ten, with 20+ goals. He is four goals behind Union's Daniel Ciampini (27).
Bailey ranks tied-seventh nationally in goals per game (0.61) and 25th nationally in points per game (1.11)
Bailey is first on the team with 12 multi-point games this season and has 20 in his Penn State career. He has tallied a point in 24 of 36 games this year.
In the Big Ten, Bailey is first in goals, goals per game and fourth in points with 40.
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. The remaining 10 finalists will be announced March 19.
Bailey leads the Big Ten in goals (22), while Holstrom is 10 assists off the Big Ten lead with 26.
VERSATILE NITTANY LION LINES
Penn State has used 45 different offensive line combinations through 36 games, and one line in particular stood out: David Goodwin-Taylor Holstrom-Casey Bailey. Unfortunately, due to an injury suffered by Holstrom in Saturday's loss at Ohio State, the Nittany Lions had to move on from of the nation's most productive lines.
Winger Tommy Olczyk joined Goodwin and Bailey to form Penn State's most successful combination last weekend in a sweep of Michigan, totaling four goals, six assists and 10 points with a plus-eight rating.
Goodwin-Holstrom-Bailey combined for 93 points (39 goals, 54 assists) and a plus-47 rating. Currently, the line is 14-10-4 this season.
The threesome were together for 28 of the first 32 contests (only times not together were Oct. 17 at Alaska, Dec. 5-6 at Wisconsin and Dec. 30 vs. Western Michigan), accounting for 93 of Penn State's 277 points (33.6 percent).
Only the Richard-Conway-Scheid line (42 points) had more than 10 points this season amongst the forwards. Those two lines were also the only ones to play more than nine games together this season.
GOODWIN SURGES FOR THE NITTANY LIONS
David Goodwin's five-point weekend against Michigan was the continuation of solid play since the flip of the calendar to 2015. Since Jan. 9, the sophomore forward is second on the team behind Casey Bailey (11 goals) with nine tallies, adding 11 assists for 20 points.
Goodwin also has a plus-13 rating in that span, which is tied for first with Bailey. Eric Scheid and Bailey have 21 points during the 2015 portion of the season, while Scott Conway has posted 18.
DEFENSIVE CORPS STEPPING UP OFFENSIVELY
Over the past 16 games, Penn State has received a crucial scoring and assist bump from an unfamiliar place: the defense.
In those last 16 games, the Nittany Lion defense has contributed 10 goals and 25 assists for 35 points, which is that's a 134 percent increase since the 20-game mark. In all, 57 percent of the entire defense's point output for the year has come in the last 16 games.
NEXT TIME OUT
Should Penn State win, the Nittany Lions will advance to Friday's Big Ten Semifinal against Minnesota. Game time would be 4:30 p.m. ET with a national broadcast on Big Ten Network.