Feb. 25, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's hockey team returns home to the Pegula Ice Arena to host RIT in the College Hockey America (CHA) First Round this weekend Feb. 26-28. The CHA First Round series is a best-of-three series slated for Friday at 6:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and if necessary, Sunday at 2 p.m.
FOLLOW ALONG
Live stats will be provided via GoPSUsports.com for no charge. Eversport.tv will be broadcasting every game of the 2016 CHA First Round. The cost for a day pass on Eversport will be $10.99. A tournament pass can also be purchased for $35.00.
TICKET INFORMATION
All tickets are priced at $5 and are available for purchase by calling 1-800-NITTANY, visiting the BJC ticket office (M - F 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.) or visiting http://www.gopsusports.com/tickets/psu-tickets.html. All online orders are accompanied by a $2.25 service fee per ticket. There is no service fee for phone orders or in-person orders. All online tickets will be printed at home. Gates will open one hour prior to puck drop.
Penn State students can attend the series for free with their valid PSU ID. Penn State students should enter at Gate B with their valid PSU ID.
LAST YEAR IN THE CHA FIRST ROUND
In 2015, Penn State advanced to the CHA Tournament semifinal game for the first time in program history. Penn State, the No. 4 seed, swept fifth-seeded Lindenwood (1-0, 3-1) inside the Pegula Ice Arena.
Celine Whitlinger was outstanding in net during the 2015 CHA First Round, allowing just one goal and stopping 47 shots for a .979 save percentage over the two games. She recorded her third shutout of the season on Friday, a 1-0 defensive duel, becoming the first Nittany Lion in program history to record three solo shutouts in a season.
Shannon Yoxheimer scored both game-winners against the Lady Lions, and her six game-winning goals this season is tied for fifth in the nation. On Saturday, Bella Sutton, the CHA Rookie of the Week, propelled Penn State to a 3-1 win to clinch the semifinal spot, scoring two goals and assisting on the game-winner.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS (8-25-1, 4-15-1)
RIT enters the CHA First Round as the No. 6 seed as the Tigers finished the 2015-16 regular season with an overall record of 8-25-1 and a record of 4-15-1 in College Hockey America action.
The Tigers split a pair of road games at Robert Morris last weekend. Robert Morris won the opener, 2-0, and RIT topped Robert Morris, 3-2, in overtime Saturday.
RIT is the two-time defending College Hockey America Tournament champions, as the Tigers claimed the title as the No. 6 seed last season.
In net for the Tigers, senior goaltender Jetta Rackleff has made 468 saves, tallied a save percentage of .936, posted a goals against average of 2.25 and allowed 32 goals.
Jess Paton and Carly Payerl lead the Tiger offense with 19 points (8g, 11a) and 18 points (10g, 8a), respectively.
Reagan Rust is one of the top freshmen in the CHA as she ranks seventh in freshman scoring with 17 points (5g, 12a). Also in the CHA rankings, Rust is tied for 15th with her 12 assists and she is also tied for ninth in power play points with seven (2g, 5a).
As a team, RIT ranks last in the CHA in scoring offense (49 goals - 1.44 goals per game), last in scoring defense (103 goals - 3.03 goals per game).
The Tigers have only converted on 14 of 152 power play attempts (9.2%) this season and have allowed goals on 29 penalty kill attempts (123/152 - 80.9%) in 2015-16.
RIT is tied for the conference lead with four short-handed goals this season (Robert Morris). Jess Paton ranks second in the conference with two short-handed goals during her senior year.
LAST SERIES RECAP
Penn State closed out the 2015-16 regular season at Mercyhurst. In the regular season series finale, the Nittany Lions fell 3-1 and tied 2-2 against the Lakers in the regular season finale.
With the game tied at one heading into the third period, the Lakers tallied a pair of goals to secure a 3-1 victory.
In the opener, Amy Petersen netted her sixth goal of the season and first of the series in the loss.
In net for the Nittany Lions, senior netminder Celine Whitlinger recorded a 31-save performance and allowed two goals.
Both teams had five power play attempts with the Nittany Lions tallying the lone power play goal of the game.
In the finale, Petersen netted her seventh goal of the season and Laura Bowman recorded her team-leading 14th goal of the season in the 2-2 tie.
Sophomore Hannah Ehresmann made 32 saves for the Nittany Lions on Saturday afternoon.
SCHOOL RECORDS IN SIGHT
Last season, Laura Bowman set the single-season school record with 16 goals. Currently the junior has tallied 14 goals in 2015-16.
Against Mercyhurst on Feb. 20, Bowman netted her 40th career goal. She ranks second behind Shannon Yoxheimer in career goals (41) and owns the program record with 11 power play goals.
MINNETONKA CONNECTION
Juniors Laura Bowman and Amy Petersen lead the team with 14 goals and 17 assists, respectively. Petersen has tallied an assist on nine Bowman goals this season. Petersen has netted three goals this season on assists from Bowman.
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Victoria Samuelsson ranks tied for eighth in the CHA in freshman scoring with 13 points (1g, 12a) and Hannah England ranks tied for 15th with seven points (2g, 5a).
13 IN 13 FOR 9
Heading into the series against RIT, junior Amy Petersen has netted 13 points (4g, 9a) over the past 13 games, which included six points over a four-game span.
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.
Penn State also recorded its first back-to-back overtime wins in program history. Penn State topped RIT 3-2 in OT on Jan. 16 and bested Robert Morris 3-2 in overtime on Jan. 22.
NCAA RANKINGS
Celine Whitlinger is fifth in save percentage (.945) and she ranks eighth in goals against average (1.55) 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 (Jill Holdcroft). Laura Bowman holds the program record with 11 power play goals.
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.
100 GAMES
Six 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 each skated in their 100th game against RIT on Jan. 29.
Kelly Seward is the 12th Nittany Lion to skate in 100 games. Seward, a junior, posted 100 games played on Feb. 6 against Syracuse.
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.
CHA HONORS
Four Nittany Lions have garnered weekly or monthly CHA honors this season.
Ehresmann was named the CHA Goalie of the Week after tallying 74 saves in the series against the No. 10 Princeton Tigers Dec. 11-12. Ehresmann made 38 saves in Friday's game and recorded 36 saves in the series finale.
Petersen was named the CHA Player of Week for the first time in her career after the Robert Morris series Jan. 22-23. In the series, Petersen tallied a team-leading four points on one goal and three assists. In Friday's 3-2 overtime win, Petersen dished out two assists and in Saturday's 2-2 tie, Petersen scored her fourth goal of the season and dished out her team-leading 13th assist of the 2015-16 season.
Samuelsson has been named the CHA Rookie of the Week twice this season. In the Union series, Samuelsson dished out two assists Saturday night and added one more in Sunday's game. Samuelsson was also named the CHA Rookie of the Week following the Robert Morris series Jan. 22-23. In the series, Samuelsson tallied her ninth assist of the season.
Whitlinger has been named the CHA Goalie of the Week three times 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. Whitlinger recorded her sixth career shutout in a 3-0 win over Lindenwood for her third weekly honor of the season. 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.
NEXT TIME OUT
The winner of this series will advance to the CHA Semifinals to take on Syracuse on March 4 at the HarborCenter in Buffalo, N.Y.