Dec. 29, 2015
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's hockey team returns to the ice Saturday, Jan. 2, for a two-game series against Ohio State at the OSU Ice Rink in Columbus, Ohio. The Nittany Lions and Buckeyes take to the ice Saturday, Jan. 2, and Sunday, Jan. 3, with puck drop set for 2:07 p.m. each day. The Ohio State series marks the final non-conference series for the Nittany Lions in 2015-16.
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow along with live stats and live video via Ohiostatebuckeyes.com. Live stats are free to view, but fans will have to pay to access the live video.
SCOUTING THE BUCKEYES (6-12-0, 3-11-0 WCHA)
Ohio State enters the series following a pair of losses to Minnesota Duluth (4-2, 5-2) in the middle of December. The Buckeyes are currently riding a three-game losing streak heading into the Penn State series.
Offensively, the Buckeyes are led by Kendall Curtis (9g, 6a) and Claudia Kepler (7g, 5a). Lauren Boyle has yet to net a goal this season, but she leads the team with 10 assists. Five Buckeyes have posted 10 points or more this season.
Alex LaMere has played the majority of time in net for the Buckeyes. On the year, she has a record of 3-7-0, made 301 saves and allowed 38 goals in 640:00 minutes played.
Stacy Danczak has also shared time in net with LaMere, as she has played in 334:14 minutes, made 139 saves and allowed 27 goals.
As a team, the Buckeyes rank 18th in the nation in scoring offense with 2.33 goals per game and rank last in college hockey with 4.06 goals allowed per game. Ohio State also leads the nation with 11.1 penalty minutes per game.
LAST SERIES RECAP
Prior to the winter break, the Nittany Lions recorded a pair of losses against No. 10 Princeton.
In the series, Hannah Ehresmann made 74 saves, which included 38 saves in the opener and 36 saves in the finale. Her 38 saves in a single game is the third-best outing of her Nittany Lion career, while her 36 saves rank fourth-best.
In the finale, Penn State fell 3-2, with Hannah Bramm netting her first two-goal outing as a Nittany Lion. She is one two Nittany Lions to score two or more goals in a single game this season.
Throughout the series, the Nittany Lion defense halted the Princeton power play unit, as Penn State held Princeton to a mark of 0-for-11 on the power play.
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Victoria Samuelsson is tied for 10th in the CHA in freshman scoring with seven points (1g, 6a).
Also, Kelsey Crow and Hannah England are tied for 17th in CHA freshman scoring with three points apiece (1g, 2a).
NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND
The Nittany Lions have only allowed nine goals in the first twenty minutes of play, which ranks first in the CHA.
WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER
Hannah Hoenshell is tied for second in the CHA 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 allowed 47 goals on the year, which ranks second in the CHA. Mercyhurst leads the league with 46 goals allowed.
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
Celine Whitlinger is sixth in save percentage (.947) and she ranks ninth in goals against average (1.59).
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 fourth 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.
PLAYING SMART
Penn State is currently averaging 6.8 penalty minutes per game, which ranks second in the CHA (Syracuse - 5.9).
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 93 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 Goalie 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 Goalie 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.
Hannah Ehresmann received CHA Goalie of the Week honors after tallying 74 saves in the series against the No. 10 Princeton Tigers.
Ehresmann made a season-high 38 saves Friday night and Saturday she recorded 36 saves. Her 38 saves are the third-most in a single game in her Nittany Lion career, while her 36 saves rank fourth-best.
NEXT TIME OUT
Following a week break, the Nittany Lions return to CHA play against RIT in Rochester, N.Y., on Jan. 15.