Nov. 19, 2015
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's hockey team continues its 12-game road trip with a pair of early week non-conference games at St. Lawrence, Nov. 23-24, in Canton, N.Y. This is the first meeting between the Nittany Lions and Saints since early Dec. 2012.
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can find the links for live streaming and live stats on GoPSUsports.com.
SCOUTING THE SAINTS (6-6-1, 3-1-0 ECAC)
Prior to the Penn State series, St. Lawrence will play Princeton on Nov. 20 and Quinnipiac on Nov. 21.
Penn State and St. Lawrence have played two common opponents in the early stages of the 2015-16 hockey season.
The Saints topped Syracuse, 3-2, on Oct. 24 in their lone CHA game before the Penn State series. St. Lawrence also defeated Union College, 2-1, earlier this month (Nov. 1).
Heading into the weekend, three Saints have tallied at least 10 points.
Kennedy Marchment leads the offensive attack with 13 points (5g, 8a), followed by Amanda Boulier with 12 points (4g, 8a) and Hannah Miller with 11 points (4g, 7a).
In net, three goaltenders have split time for the Saints.
Sonjia Shelly has tallied majority of time in net for St. Lawrence, as she has played 484:55 minutes. On the year, Shelly has made 222 saves while allowing 20 goals.
St. Lawrence has been outscored, 17-8, in the first 20 minute of play, but in the second period, the Saints have outscored their opposition, 18-10.
On the power play, St. Lawrence has gone 6-for-32, while its opponents have tallied a mark of 8-for-36.
The Saints are averaging 2.77 goals per game, which ranks 13th in the nation.
LAST SERIES RECAP
Penn State picked up three points in the CHA following a win and a tie at Robert Morris last weekend.
In the opener, Robert Morris took the lead twice, but the Nittany Lions battled back each time to tie the contest back up.
Behind 29 saves from Celine Whitlinger and goals from Hannah Bramm and Laura Bowman, the Nittany Lions tied Robert Morris, 2-2.
The two-game series came to a close with the Nittany Lions defeating the Colonials, 5-1, behind Micayla Catanzariti's first-ever hat trick as a Nittany Lion.
Catanzariti's hat trick was the third-ever in Nittany Lion program history.
The five goals on Nov. 14 marked the 11th time in program history that the Nittany Lions tallied five goals in a game.
On the weekend, Whitlinger made 65 saves in net for the Nittany Lions. Whitlinger tallied a goals against average of 1.44, posted a save percentage of .956, while only allowing three goals.
Laura Bowman scored once in each game, which included her team-leading sixth goal of the season in Saturday's contest.
Also, Hannah Bramm netted a goal and an assist on the weekend against Robert Morris.
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Victoria Samuelsson is tied for eighth in the CHA in freshman scoring with six points (6a).
Also, Hannah England is tied for 13th in CHA freshman scoring with three points (1g, 2a).
NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND
The Nittany Lions have only allowed six goals in the first twenty minutes of play, which ranks second in the CHA.
PLAYING SMART
Penn State is currently averaging 6.4 penalty minutes per game, which is tied for the CHA lead.
WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER
Hannah Hoenshell is tied for the CHA lead in game-winning goals (three). In her career, Hoenshell has scored six game-winning goals, which ranks second all-time. Shannon Yoxheimer holds the Penn State record (nine).
DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE
Penn State has only allowed 29 goals on the year, which is tied for the CHA lead with Mercyhurst.
BACK-TO-BACK
For the first time in program history, the Nittany Lions tallied back-to-back shutouts against a Division I team. Penn State swept Union by a score of 3-0 in each game.
NCAA RANKINGS
Heading into the series, Celine Whitlinger is fifth in save percentage (.949) and she ranks seventh in goals against average (1.47).
SUTTON EXCELS ON THE POWER PLAY
Bella Sutton tallied her sixth career power play goal against No. 7/8 Boston University. The sophomore is tied for third all-time at Penn State in power play goals.
ALL-TIME SAVES RECORD
Celine Whitlinger captured the all-time Penn State women's hockey saves record Friday, Oct. 30, at Lindenwood. Nicole Paniccia held the previous Nittany Lion all-time saves record with 1,801.
NITTANY LION ATTACK
The Nittany Lions have tallied at least five goals in a game twice this season. The two five-goal outings are the 10th and 11th in program history.
100 GAMES
Two Nittany Lions have eclipsed the century mark in games played this season.
In the season-opener against Minnesota, Jill Holdcroft became the seventh Nittany Lion to skate in 100 career games and Micayla Catanzariti became the eighth Nittany Lion to post 100 games played on Oct. 31.
Laura Bowman, Sarah Nielsen and Amy Petersen are on track to become the next Nittany Lions to skate in 100 games. The trio of Minnesotans have played in 87 games each.
STARTING OUT FAST
On Oct. 9, 2015, against No. 7/8 BU, Laura Bowman scored 43 seconds into the game, which is three seconds shy of tying the program record for the fastest goal to start a game. The record, held by Bowman, was set on Oct. 26, 2013, against New Hampshire.
CHA HONORS
Celine Whitlinger has been named the CHA Goaltender of the Week twice in the 2015-16 season. Whitlinger tallied 41 saves against the top-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers for the first plaudit and made 65 saves in a weekend series against Robert Morris for the second award.
For her performance against the Union Dutchwomen, Victoria Samuelsson was named the CHA Rookie of the Week. In the series, Samuelsson dished out two assists Saturday night and added one more in Sunday's game.
For the third time as a Nittany Lion, Whitlinger was named the CHA Goaltender for the Month for October. In the month of October, Whitlinger made 158 saves, tallied a goals against average of 1.66 and posted a save percentage of .940.
NEXT TIME OUT
The Nittany Lions return to action on Dec. 4 against Syracuse in Syracuse, N.Y., for a two-game CHA series. Following the Syracuse series, Penn State closes out the 2015 calendar year at Princeton on Dec. 11-12.