Oct. 24, 2016
USCHO.com Poll | USA Today Poll | PairWise Rankings (Updated Nightly)
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's ice hockey team broke into the USCHO.com top-20 poll for the first time this season as they debut at No. 19 entering the week.
The Nittany Lions (3-1-1) received 129 votes, 101 more than the previous week, becoming the only unranked team to make the leap into the top-20. They were seven votes clear of No. 20 Bemidji State (122).
Penn State also continues to receive votes in the USA Today Poll where they narrowly missed the top-15 this week collecting 37 votes.
This marks the 18th week over the last two-plus seasons that the Lions have been nationally ranked. This is also the first national ranking for PSU since coming in at No. 19 on the March 14, 2016 poll where they received 137 votes from the 50-voter panel.
This ranking comes on the heels of a 1-0-1 weekend against No. 3 Notre Dame on the road, culminating with a 3-2 overtime win on Saturday night. The Irish slid to No. 7 in this week's poll.
The Lions are currently riding a mini 3-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1) and are 2-1-1 against previous USCHO.com top-20 teams this season. PSU split with St. Lawrence (now No. 18) during opening weekend before this weekend's success against Notre Dame.
Sophomore Andrew Sturtz (Buffalo, N.Y.) scored the game-winning goal in overtime as freshman classmates Peyton Jones (Langhorne, Pa.) and Denis Smirnov (Moscow, Russia) assisted on the goal. The tally, his fourth of the campaign, puts Sturtz in a tie for the team lead with freshman Nate Sucese (Fairport, N.Y.).
In the Pairwise Rankings, Penn State comes in at No. 6 out of the 60 NCAA Division I teams. The Pairwise attempts to mimic the process by which the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee chooses its national tournament. After the six automatic bids for conference champions are accounted for, the next 10 teams according to the Pairwise make the NCAA Tournament.
Penn State returns home this weekend as they host Canisius College in a pair of 7 p.m. affairs on Friday and Saturday evening. Both games will be available for streaming on GoPSUnow.
PSU's All-Time USCHO.com Rankings
Dec. 15, 2014: No. 20
Feb. 9, 2015: No. 19
Nov. 23, 2015: No. 20
Nov. 30, 2015: No. 19
Dec. 7, 2015: No. 16
Dec. 14, 2015: No. 14
Jan. 4, 2016: No. 14
Jan. 11, 2016: No. 15
Jan. 18, 2016: No. 14
Jan. 25, 2016: No. 15
Feb. 1, 2016: No. 16
Feb. 8, 2016: No.16
Feb. 15, 2016: No. 15
Feb. 22, 2016: No. 15
Feb. 29, 2016: No. 14
Mar. 7, 2016: No. 14
Mar. 14, 2016: No. 19