Jan. 21, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After not playing at the Pegula Ice Arena since Nov. 7, 2015, the Penn State women's hockey team returns home for an eight-game homestand starting Friday, Jan. 22 against Robert Morris. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday.
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow along with live stats and live video for free courtesy of GoPSUsports.com.
WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
The first 200 fans in attendance Friday night will receive a Penn State women's hockey drawstring bag.
Saturday's game is a Family 4-Pack game. For $30, fans can purchase four tickets, four hot dogs and four soft drinks. Following Saturday's game, the Nittany Lions are hosting a post-game skate with the team.
BAG POLICY
Fans are reminded that bags may be subject to search upon entrance to the Pegula Ice Arena.
LAST SERIES RECAP
The Nittany Lions ended their 12-game road trip with a series split at RIT.
In the opener, the Tigers shut out the Nittany Lions by a score of 3-0 and then Penn State responded with a 3-2 overtime win in the finale.
On Saturday, Penn State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on goals from Shannon Yoxheimer and Bella Sutton in the opening period.
For Yoxheimer that was her team-leading 37th career goal and Sutton netted her seventh career power play goal.
RIT chipped away at the Nittany Lion lead with goals in the second and third periods forcing the game into overtime.
With 1:12 gone in the extra frame, Laura Bowman netted her team-leading 10th goal of the season to give the Nittany Lions a 3-2 victory.
SCOUTING THE COLONIALS (12-8-4, 4-3-3 CHA)
The Robert Morris Colonials enter the weekend series against the Nittany Lions with an overall record of 12-8-4 and 4-3-3 in the CHA. Robert Morris heads to Hockey Valley after being swept on the road at No. 4 Quinnipiac (3-2, 2-0). The Penn State series marks the first CHA series for the Colonials in 2016. With 10 games played, RMU has 11 points -- three points shy of second-place Syracuse.
Sophomore forward Brittany Howard currently leads the conference with 30 points (11g, 19a) and 1.25 points per game and joining Howard near the top of the point leaders in the CHA is junior defender Mikaela Lowater. Lowater ranks seventh in the CHA with 19 points on nine goals and 10 assists. Lowater also ranks first in the conference with six power play goals.
The Colonials have three of the top scoring defenders in the conference with Lowater leading the way 19 points (9a, 10g) followed by Kirsten Welsh with 15 points (4g, 11a) and Maggie Lague with 14 points (1g, 13a).
As a team, Robert Morris ranks first in the conference with 73 goals in 24 games played (3.04 goals per game) and defensively, Robert Morris is tied with Penn State for the conference lead with 56 goals allowed in 24 games played (2.33 goals per game).
Robert Morris also has the top power play and penalty kill in the conference. Robert Morris has gone 27-for-109 on the power play (24.8%) this season and only allowed 11 goals on 106 penalty kill attempts (89.6%). Robert Morris has also scored two short-handed goals in 2015-16.
Junior goaltender Jessica Dodds ranks in the top-three in the CHA in goals against average, save percentage and winning percentage. On the year, Dodds has a GAA of 1.98 (third), a save percentage of .932 (second) and a winning percentage of .614 (second).
SCHOOL RECORDS IN SIGHT
Last season, Laura Bowman set the single-season school record with 16 goals. Currently the junior has tallied ten goals in 2015-16.
Against RIT on Jan. 16, Bowman netted her 36th career goal, which was also her ninth career power play goal. She ranks second behind Yoxheimer in career goals (37) and they both are tied for the program lead in power play goals (nine).
MINNETONKA CONNECTION
Juniors Laura Bowman and Amy Petersen lead the team with ten goals and ten assists, respectively. Petersen has tallied an assist on six Bowman goals this season.
Petersen has netted two goals this season on assists from Bowman.
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Victoria Samuelsson is tied for ninth in the CHA in freshman scoring with nine points (1g, 8a)and Hannah England ranks 15th with five points (2g, 3a).
NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND
The Nittany Lions have only allowed 12 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 is tied for second all-time (Bowman). Shannon Yoxheimer holds the Penn State record (nine).
DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE
Penn State has allowed 56 goals on the year, which is tied for second in the CHA with Robert Morris. Mercyhurst leads the league with 52 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 seventh in save percentage (.943) and she ranks ninth in goals against average (1.65) in the NCAA this season.
SUTTON EXCELS ON THE POWER PLAY
Bella Sutton has netted two power play goals this season, which gives her seven in her career. The sophomore is tied for third all-time at Penn State in power play goals. Bowman and Yoxheimer hold the program record with nine apiece.
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 6.9 penalty minutes per game, which ranks second in the CHA (Syracuse - 6.6).
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 97 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
The Nittany Lions continue their eight-game homestand next weekend as they welcome RIT to the Pegula Ice Arena for a two-game series Jan. 29-30.