Oct. 20, 2016
| ||||||||||||||||||||
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's hockey team (1-4-1) begins a three-series road trip this weekend in Storrs, Conn., against the UConn Huskies (3-2-0). Puck drop is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Oct. 22, at 2 p.m. inside the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum.
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow along with live stats and live video courtesy of UConnHuskies.com. The live stats are free, but fans will have to pay for the video feed.
LAST TIME OUT: BOSTON UNIVERSITY
The Penn State women's hockey team hosted Boston University for its 2016-17 home opener inside the Pegula Ice Arena, Oct. 14-15. In the series, PSU and BU played to a 3-3 tie in the opener before BU topped PSU, 7-2, in the finale.
On the weekend, Laura Bowman and Brooke Madsen paced the Nittany Lion offense with three points apiece. Bowman recorded one goal and two assists, while Madsen tallied three assists.
In the opener, Bowman and Amy Petersen each recorded one goal and one assist each. Also for the Nittany Lion offense, Bella Sutton scored her first goal of the season, Irene Kiroplis netted her first career assist and Madsen tallied a pair of assists. Bowman's goal Friday was the 49th of her career. The series finale featured Aly Hardy and Abby Welch each netting their first career goal.
Friday's game marked the first overtime contest for the Nittany Lions in 2016-17 and it was the sixth-straight game the Nittany Lions scored a power play goal, which is a program-best streak.
SCOUTING UCONN
The Connecticut Huskies enter the weekend series with an overall record of 3-2-0. Last weekend, the Huskies split a series at RPI. RPI won the series opener, 3-0, and then UConn responded with a 4-1 win to close out the series. UConn opened the year with a pair of victories at Union on Sept. 30 (5-1) and Oct. 1 (2-1).
Three Huskies netted three points each as Leah Lum (2-1-3), Theresa Knutson (1-2-3) and Briana Colangelo (0-3-3) led the Husky offense during the RPI series. In net for UConn last weekend, Morgan Fisher captured the win behind a 21-save performance and Annie Belanger recorded 38 saves in the loss.
On the year, Knutson and Colangelo lead the Husky offense with six points apiece. Knutson has netted three goals and three assists, while Colangelo has tallied one goal and five assists.
In net for the Huskies, Belanger has started and played in four games, allowed seven goals, made 114 saves, tallied a goals against average of 1.77 and recorded a .942 save percentage.
On the young season, the Huskies are one of the better penalty kill teams in the nation. UConn has only allowed two power play goals on 28 attempts in 2016-17.
CHA HONORS
Following the Union series, a pair of Nittany Lions received weekly honors from the College Hockey America conference. Brooke Madsen was named the Rookie of the Week for the first time, while Amy Petersen was tabbed the Player of the Week for the second time in her career.
Madsen tied a program-best three assists in Penn State's 8-1 win over the Union Dutchwomen on Oct. 7. She finished the game with a +5 rating, which is tied for a program-best mark. With her three assists on Oct. 7, Madsen opened up her Nittany Lion career with a three-game point streak (1-4-5).
Petersen tallied five points (3-2-5) in the Union series, which included a career-best four points (3-1-4) in the series opener.
In the series opener, Petersen recorded the fourth hat trick in program history over a span of 10:31 to open the game. Her natural hat trick started with the fastest goal in program history to start a game (29 seconds). Petersen also became the first Nittany Lion in program history to score two power play goals in a single game. She then closed out the series with one assist on Oct. 8.
POWER PLAY SUCCESS
The Nittany Lions opened the 2016-17 season with at least one power play goal in each of the first five games. Dating back to last season, Penn State set a program-best six games with at least one power play goal.
As a team, the Nittany Lions have scored six power play goals, which is tied for sixth in the nation. The Nittany Lions also rank 11th in power play percentage with a mark of .167.
HAT TRICK (X2)
The Penn State women's hockey team recorded a pair of hat tricks in its 8-1 win at Union on Oct. 7. In the game, Amy Petersen scored her first career hat trick, while Laura Bowman netted her second career hat trick. In program history, the Nittany Lions have recorded five hat tricks.
In the 2016-17 season, Penn State is one of three teams to record multiple hat tricks (Boston University - 2 and Minnesota-Duluth - 2).
AMONG THE BEST OF THE BEST
Heading into the weekend, Laura Bowman is tied for second in the nation in points with 10 (6-4-10). Along with Bowman, freshman Brooke Madsen is tied for 12th with eight (1-7-8), Amy Petersen is tied for 23rd with seven (4-3-7) and Bella Sutton is tied for 30th with six (1-5-6).
In goals scored in the nation, a pair of Nittany Lions rank in the top-15 as Bowman is tied for third with six goals and Petersen is tied for 13th with four goals. In assists, Madsen is tied for third (seven), Bella Sutton is tied for 10th (five), while Bowman and Kelly Seward are tied for 22nd with four assists apiece. Among freshmen, Madsen leads the nation in assists (seven) and ranks second in points with eight (1-7-8).
As a team, the Nittany Lions are tied for ninth in the nation in goals per game with a mark of 3.00.
PRESEASON POLL
The Penn State women's hockey team was selected fourth in the College Hockey America (CHA) Preseason Coaches' Poll, as announced by the conference office Sept. 19.
2016-17 CAPTAINS
Laura Bowman was named the captain of the 2016-17 Nittany Lions, while Kelsey Crow and Amy Petersen were named alternate captains.
WELCOME BACK
The Nittany Lions return 13 members from the 2015-16 campaign. Last year, Penn State finished third in the CHA regular season standings, its best finish in program history.
The Nittany Lions return four of their top six scorers from last season in Amy Petersen (29 points), Laura Bowman (25 points), Victoria Samuelsson (13 points) and Bella Sutton (12 points).
In net, junior Hannah Ehresmann returns to PSU after playing in 15 games last season.
DYNAMIC DUO
Nittany Lion linemates Laura Bowman and Amy Petersen return to the Blue and White for their senior season in 2016-17. During their junior seasons, Bowman tallied 25 points (17g, 8a) and Petersen recorded a career-best 29 points (8g, 21a).
Last season, Petersen recorded an assist on 12 Bowman goals. Petersen closed out her junior year with 18 points over the final 16 games and Bowman ended the year with four-straight games with a goal.
2015-16 RECAP
The Nittany Lions finished the 2015-16 season with an overall record of 12-19-6 and a record of 6-8-6 in CHA play. Penn State finished third in CHA regular season standings, its best finish in program history.
Penn State tallied a record of 5-2-1 during the month of January last season.
In the first-ever meeting between the Nittany Lions and the Boston University Terriers, Penn State topped the No. 7/8 Terriers, 5-3, for its third win in program history over a ranked team.
In the all-time record books, Laura Bowman scored a single-season program-record 17 goals, she also tied a single-season program-best six power play goals scored and Amy Petersen recorded a single-season program-best 21 assists.
NEW FACES TO THE PROGRAM
The 2016-17 team features eight Nittany Lion freshmen. The Nittany Lion class of 2020 includes: Caileah Forrest, Brooke Madsen, Amanda McLeod, Katie McMillan, Daniela Paniccia, Kate Rydland, Olivia Villani and Abby Welch.
Along with the eight freshmen, two assistant coaches are slated to begin their first year on the bench for Penn State. Dean Jackson and Lisa Marshall joined the Nittany Lion coaching staff prior to the start of the 2016-17 season.
Jackson joined the Nittany Lions after serving as the head coach of the Elmira College women's hockey program for the past four seasons. Prior to Penn State, Marshall was an assistant coach for two seasons with the RIT Tigers.
THE 2016-17 SLATE
The Nittany Lions will play 34 games over the course of the 2016-17 regular season, which includes 16 home games inside the Pegula Ice Arena.
The 2016-17 schedule features the 2014 NCAA champion Clarkson Golden Knights (Sept. 30-Oct. 1), the second-ever series against Boston University (Oct. 14-15), a home series against Ohio State (Jan. 6-7) and the Nittany Lions close out the regular season at home against Syracuse (Feb. 24-25).
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions begin conference play at RIT, Oct. 27-28. The Oct. 27 game takes place at Ritter Arena at 6 p.m. and the Oct. 28 contest takes place at the Gene Polisseni Center at 2 p.m.