| 2015-16 PSU SCHEDULE | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(1) The International Game, exhibition |
May 26, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State men's hockey program announced its 36-game regular-season schedule for 2015-16 on Tuesday morning. The slate features 18 regular-season home games at Pegula Ice Arena, including a newly announced four-year series with Notre Dame, as well as games in four NHL arenas and a road trip to Anchorage, Alaska.
"First of all, thank you to our season-ticket holders once again for selling out Pegula Ice Arena. The atmosphere is tremendous, it's so much fun." Head coach Guy Gadowsky said. "We're really excited for next season and playing some new teams. Aside from our Big Ten schedule, we'll begin a four-year series with Notre Dame when they coming to Pegula Ice Arena this season. We're also excited to play in four NHL venues again this season in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York and Minnesota."
Of Penn State's 36 total regular season games, 18 will be played at Pegula Ice Arena, which played to over 100 percent average capacity the past two seasons. Nine of those home games will be Big Ten contests. The Nittany Lions played in front of literally the most packed house in NCAA Division I men's hockey in 2014-15 en route to a 13-2-3 record, which was second best in the nation.
The Nittany Lions will again visit Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center (Sunday, Nov. 29 vs. Vermont) and Pittsburgh's CONSOL Energy Center (Monday-Tuesday, Dec. 28-29* Three Rivers Classic) for a fourth straight year.
Penn State will make an appearance at Madison Square Garden for a second straight season on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 to face the Michigan Wolverines in the Big Ten Hoops & Hockey doubleheader. The Lions will also make their second appearance at St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center for the Big Ten Tournament (Thursday-Saturday, March 17-19).
A new addition to the schedule will be Penn State hosting their first non-regular-season contest, The International Game, against the University of Windsor on Sunday, Oct. 4. Tickets to that game, which were not included in the regular-season ticket package, will be made available to season ticket holders first as a benefit to those members. More information will be distributed in July about PSU's 19th home event.
Penn State's season opener is slated for Saturday, Oct. 10 at Canisius as the two teams meet for the first time in Division I hockey. The Griffins finished second in Atlantic Hockey last season and have won at least 17 games in each of the past three seasons.
Another first-time meeting takes place the following week in the home opener as the Fighting Irish travel to Pegula Ice Arena Friday-Saturday, Oct. 16-17 for the first of four annual meetings. Notre Dame features the first of two Hockey East opponents for the season.
Notre Dame's appearance opens a six-game home stand that is followed by visits from AIC (Friday-Saturday, Oct. 23-24) and St. Lawrence (Thursday-Friday, Oct. 29-30). The Nittany Lions' NCAA Division I era began against the AIC Yellow Jackets with a pair of overtime games split between the two squads, while St. Lawrence will be PSU's third first-time opponent.
The Lions' fourth first-time foe will be Niagara (Friday, Nov. 6) for a road game in Western New York. Penn State returns home for a series with Sacred Heart (Friday-Saturday, Nov. 13-14). PSU is 2-0-0 all-time against the Pioneers.
The Nittany Lions head to The Last Frontier for a second straight season to play Alaska Anchorage (Friday-Saturday, Nov. 20-21) inside Sullivan Arena. Last year, Penn State went to Alaska's Brice Goal Rush, tying the UAA Seawolves, 3-3, before falling to the UAF Nanooks, 4-3.
Penn State meets Vermont for the fourth straight season at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Sunday, Nov. 29. Last season, PSU's three-goal comeback earned an exciting 3-2 win in front of a partisan Blue & White crowd over the Catamounts to improve to 2-1-0 against Vermont.
PSU closes out the fall semester at Pegula Ice Arena with three home games against Michigan State (Friday-Saturday, Dec. 4-5) and Princeton (Friday, Dec. 11). The MSU series will be Penn State's first home conference contests in the opening semester while the meeting with Princeton is the first in program history against Gadowsky's former team.
Following finals and the holiday break, the Nittany Lions take part in the fourth annual Three Rivers Classic at CONSOL Energy Center, opening the tournament with Keystone State rival Robert Morris on Tuesday, Dec. 29. The four-team event concludes Wednesday, Dec. 30 against either UMass Lowell or Clarkson. PSU seeks its first Three Rivers Classic title. RMU and the Lions have met five times with the Colonials holding a 3-2-0 record.
The 2016 portion of the schedule features all Big Ten opponents beginning with four home games against Minnesota (Friday-Saturday, Jan. 8-9) and Wisconsin (Friday- Saturday, Jan. 15-16). Last season, Penn State defeated Minnesota for the first time, while sweeping the Badgers in all four meetings.
A road trip to Columbus against Ohio State (Friday-Saturday, Jan. 22-23) sets up a historic weekend of games for the Nittany Lion program. On Thursday, Jan. 28, the Lions will host Michigan before the series moves to The World's Most Famous Arena on Saturday, Jan. 30 as part of a doubleheader with the basketball programs.
Penn State plays host to the Wolverines inside Madison Square Garden as the two teams will meet for the 11th time following the Thursday contest. The Nittany Lions own a 6-3-0 all-time record against Michigan, winning six of the past eight meetings. Season ticket holders will receive priority in purchasing tickets to this game and more information will be distributed at a later date.
A four-game stretch on the road sees the Lions visit Mariucci Arena at Minnesota (Friday-Saturday, Feb. 5-6) and Munn Arena at Michigan State (Friday-Saturday, Feb. 12-13).
The Nittany Lions will host their final home games of the season Friday-Saturday, Feb. 19-20 against Ohio State at Pegula Ice Arena as well.
Following an off weekend, the regular season concludes at Wisconsin (Friday-Saturday, March 4-5) and at Michigan (Friday-Saturday, March 11-12).
The Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. will host the Big Ten Tournament for a second time Thursday, March 17 to Saturday, March 19. All six teams will compete in the single-elimination tournament.
St. Paul will be one of four host sites for the NCAA Regionals along with US Bank Arena in Cincinnati, the DCU Center in Worcester, Mass. and the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. The 2016 Frozen Four will take place at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Fla.
As announced May 13, Hockey Valley's season tickets are sold out to men's hockey games for the third straight season. Ninety-five percent of last year's season ticket holders renewed for the 2015-16 campaign, while the remaining tickets were snatched up by existing season ticket holders and those at the top of the waiting list. Those looking to join the season ticket waiting list for the 2016-17 campaign should call 1-800-NITTANY.
A limited number of single-game tickets will go on sale Aug. 12-13 for Nittany Lion Club members with any remaining tickets going on sale the next day to the public. Additional information regarding single-game sales will be released later this summer.
The Penn State student ticket sale will take place in September with details to be released at a later date.
Game times as well as television information will be announced at a later date as they become available. The schedule is subject to change, GoPSUsports.com will have the most up-to-date information.
The third-year Nittany Lions went 18-15-4 overall in 2014-15 and finished fourth in the Big Ten at 10-9-1-0, exceeding expectations by overcoming their preseason sixth-place finish. Gadowsky earned Big Ten Coach of the Year for the team's achievements, which included the program's first national ranking and leading the Big Ten for portions of the second semester.
Penn State will have the Big Ten's leading returning goal scorer from last year, rising junior David Goodwin (Des Peres, Mo.), following his 15-goal, 19-assist campaign. Returning with Goodwin is redshirt-senior forward Eric Scheid (Blaine, Minn.), who registered 14 goals and 15 assists last season, while rising junior Dylan Richard (Sherwood Park, Alberta) and fifth-year senior Tommy Olczyk (Long Grove, Ill.) tallied eight goals apiece.
Bolstering Penn State's offensive depth next season are David Glen (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta) and Curtis Loik (North Vancouver, British Columbia) with 23 and 18 goals, respectively.
The defensive corps sees senior Luke Juha (Mississauga, Ontario), sophomore Erik Autio (Espoo, Finland) and junior Connor Varley (Lansdale, Pa.) return to their roles as the team's leading scorers from the blue line. Each fired two goals, while Juha was one of the top point scorers among defensemen in the Big Ten with 14.
In net, senior Matthew Skoff (McKees Rocks, Pa.) and junior Eamon McAdam (Perkasie, Pa.) will return to backstop the Nittany Lions. Skoff is PSU's all-time leader in games played (59), wins (24), saves (1,609), save percentage (.911) and goals-against average (2.76). McAdam had a solid sophomore season going 5-4-1 with a team-best .910 save percentage and a 3.13 GAA.
Schedule is subject to change, games times and television information to be announced at a later date; * Three Rivers Classic now Dec. 28-29