No. 12 M. Hockey to Host Alaska-Anchorage

Nov. 10, 2016

WEEKEND PREVIEW
7-1-1 (0-0-0-0 B1G)	1-7-0 (0-4-0 WCHA)
Friday at 7:00 p.m. | Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
PEGULA ICE ARENA | UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.

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INSIDE THE NUMBERS
PSU		UAA
7-1-1	Overall Record	1-7-0
0-0-0-0	Conference Record	0-4-0
38	Goals Scored	8
18	Goals Allowed	27
4.2	Goals Scored/gm.	1.0
2.0	Goals Allowed/gm.	3.38
412	Shots	159
45.8	Shots/gm.	19.9
64	Assists	14
11-61	Power Plays	2-41
.180	Power-Play Pct.	.049
41-44	Penalty Kills	41-49
.932	Penalty-Kill Pct.	.837
208	Saves	226
1	Shutouts	1

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" The No. 12 Penn State University men's ice hockey team is back in action this weekend as they welcome in Alaska-Anchorage for a pair of 7 p.m. affairs on Friday and Saturday evening.

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

• Penn State welcomes Alaska-Anchorage to Hockey Valley for the first time after taking the long trek to the Last Frontier the past two seasons to battle the Seawolves.
• The Nittany Lions hold the 1-0-2 all-time advantage over UAA after a 3-3 tie during the 2014 Brice Alaska Goal Rush and a 5-2 victory and 1-1 draw last season in Anchorage.

LAST TIME THEY MET

• Penn State won the opening game of a two-game series last November taking the first game 5-2 before earning a 1-1 tie in the finale.
• Sophomore Andrew Sturtz scored twice in the victory while Luke Juha '16 potted the equalizer in the third period during the 1-1 draw.

MILESTONE WATCH

• Senior David Goodwin is currently riding a four-game point streak (1-5-6) and is sitting at 99 career points.
• Goodwin, who is already the program's all-time leading scorer, would become the first Nittany Lion to reach the 100-point milestone.
• After scoring his first goal of the season this past weekend against Niagara, the Captain's 99 points currently tie him for seventh among active Division-I players.

SCOUTING ALASKA
This marks the third straight season these two teams have faced off against one another, but the first meetings to take place in Hockey Valley.

• Alaska-Anchorage finished last season 11-20-3 and did not make the post season in the WCHA. The Seawolves are off to a slow start again this season coming into the weekend with a 1-7-0 record and a 0-4-0 mark in conference games.
• UAA ranks last in the conference in scoring offense averaging just one goal per game while they are allowing 3.38 goals per contest to rank 7th out of the 10 teams in the WCHA.
• The Seawolves power-play is also last in the conference coming into the weekend they have only converted 2-of-41 opportunities (4.9%) on the year. However, their penalty-kill has been one of the bright spots so far this season ranking fourth in the WCHA at 83.7 percent (41-for-49).
• With only eight goals on the season, UAA is being outscored by 19 as they have allowed 27 goals.
• Only two players have registered multiple goals so far through the Seawolves' eight games as Matt Anholt and Brad Duwe have each found the back of the net twice.
• Anholt along with Jonah Renouf and Aleksi Ainali all tie for the team lead in points with three apiece while Ainali paces the squad with three assists.
• Anholt was second on the team last year with 22 points on seven goals and 15 assists. Tad Kozun also returns in 2016-17 after leading the team last season with 13 goals while adding seven assists for 20 points, but has been kept off the scoresheet so far this season.
• Olivier Mantha returns between the pipes for the Seawolves after appearing in 27 games last season compiling an 8-16-2 record with a .905 save percentage and a 2.83 goals against average. He has appeared in seven games so far this season and has a 1-5-0 record with a .901 save percentage and a 3.01 goals against average.

SMIRNOV NAMED B1G SECOND STAR

• Freshman Denis Smirnov led all Big Ten players last weekend with six points off two goals and four assists and was named the conference's Second Star of the Week.
• The rookie currently leads the team in both points (15) and assists (10) while those marks are also good for tops in the conference and rank fifth and second nationally.
• Smirnov has now registered at least one point in all nine games this season which ties Taylor Holstrom for the longest career point streak which was achieved October 10, 2014 - November 15, 2014.

DUCK FOR COVER

• The Lions are currently leading the nation in shots per game as they are firing and eye-popping 45.78 shots per game, eight shots more than their closest competitor.
• Among those 45.78 shots per game, sophomore's Vince Pedrie and Andrew Sturtz are averaging 6.0 and 4.65, respectively. Those marks are good for first and fifth in the nation.
• Penn State's 4.22 goals per game and 38 total goals are both good for fourth in the nation.

TAKE ME TO FUNKEY TOWN

• Sophomore goaltender Chris Funkey started his first game between the pipes for the Nittany Lions on Thursday evening and collected 24 saves to earn his first career victory only allowing a single goal during the 5-1 win.
• Funkey has now appeared in six games over his first year-plus for the Blue and White and each time he hits the ice he continues to keep the puck out of the net. The sophomore has only allowed four goals in 185:34 minutes while registering a .944 save percentage and a 1.29 goals against average.

MR. JONES

• Freshman Peyton Jones strikes up a conversation when talking about one of the top goalies in the nation.
• The rookie is one of just five goalies to remain unbeaten on the year and one of just two goalies unbeaten with at least seven starts so far this season.
• Peyton's .923 save percentage and 1.95 goals against average place him 16th and 11th, respectively, in the nation.

STREAKING

• Penn State is currently riding a seven-game unbeaten streak which falls just behind Boston College's nine-game streak for the nation's best.
• The streak is also the second longest in program history trailing a nine-game unbeaten streak which started about this time last year and lasted through December 12, 2015, the Nittany Lions went 7-0-2 over that span.

ANOTHER PROGRAM BEST

• In this week's national polls, Penn State came in ranked the highest they have ever been. The Nittany Lions came in at No. 12 in both the uscho.com poll and the USA Today poll. Never had PSU been ranked higher than No. 14 on any previous poll.
• While it may be too early to take notice Penn State is also ranked No. 2 in the Pairwise.

ANDY IS FINE AND DANDY

• Sophomore Andrew Sturtz leads the team with eight goals after scoring three times this past weekend against Niagara.
• True to form his first goal of the weekend on Thursday night was another one for the highlight reel and it landed him yet another spot on the NCAA Ice Hockey Top Five Plays of the Week, this time at #2.
• The sophomore's eight total goals tie him with Nick Schilkey of Ohio State for the Big Ten lead which is tied for fifth in the nation.
• In just 46 games played so far in his career, Sturtz has tallied 26 goals which places him sixth on the all-time list at Penn State as he passed both Taylor Holstrom and Curtis Loik last weekend.

ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL

• Penn State has been exceptional on defense this season coming into the weekend ranked seventh in the nation in scoring defense allowing just 2.00 goals per game.
• A large part of this success is their penalty-kill which has only allowed three goals in 44 chances (93.2 percent) and ranks second in the nation.

RECAPPING NIAGARA

• Penn State registered their second consecutive weekend sweep with a pair of 5-1 victories over Niagara.
• Senior David Goodwin collected his first goal of the season for his 99th career point.
• Smirnov registered a pair of goals during the opening game and added four assists on the weekend for six total points.
• Sturtz scored once on Thursday and twice on Friday for a three-goal weekend and now leads the team with eight.
• Funkey and Jones were excellent in net each night as they both picked up a victory making 20+ saves and only allowing a single goal.

NEXT TIME OUT

• Penn State welcomes Arizona State to Pegula Ice arena for the first-ever match-ups between the two schools.
• This match-up features the 59th and 60th NCAA Division I schools to integrate ice hockey as Penn State did so before the 2012-13 season and the Sun Devils instituted the program last fall and are now competing in their first full season as a Division I member after a hybrid season in 2015-16.