Nov. 2, 2016
| WEEKEND PREVIEW | |
| 5-1-1 (0-0-0-0 B1G) | 0-5-2 (0-1-1 AHC) |
| Thursday at 7:00 p.m. | Friday at 7:00 p.m. | |
| PEGULA ICE ARENA | UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. | |
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| INSIDE THE NUMBERS | ||
| PSU | NIA | |
| 5-1-1 | Overall Record | 0-5-2 |
| 0-0-0-0 | Conference Record | 0-1-1 |
| 28 | Goals Scored | 17 |
| 16 | Goals Allowed | 40 |
| 4.0 | Goals Scored/gm. | 2.4 |
| 2.3 | Goals Allowed/gm. | 5.7 |
| 305 | Shots | 183 |
| 43.6 | Shots/gm. | 26.1 |
| 48 | Assists | 30 |
| 9-51 | Power Plays | 7-43 |
| .176 | Power-Play Pct. | .163 |
| 33-35 | Penalty Kills | 38-47 |
| .943 | Penalty-Kill Pct. | .809 |
| 164 | Saves | 228 |
| 1 | Shutouts | 0 |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's ice hockey team welcomes Niagara University to Pegula Ice Arena this week for a pair of non-conference games on Thursday and Friday evening with a puck drop slated for 7 p.m. each night.
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
This marks Niagara University's first trip to Hockey Valley as the two teams collide for just the 2nd and 3rd times, respectively.
LAST TIME THEY MET
The Nittany Lions travelled to Niagara Falls last season and skated away with a disappointing 1-1 tie.
- Senior Dylan Richard tallied a late third period goal at 16:59 to force an overtime period.
- Joe O'Brien made 39 stops in net over the full 65 minutes to preserve the tie for the Purple Eagles.
SCOUTING NIAGARA
This marks the second straight season that the Nittany Lions and Purple Eagles have met after a 1-1 tie in Niagara Falls last season.
- Niagara finished last season tied for last in Atlantic Hockey after going 6-25-6 overall and just 5-18-5 in conference play. The Purple Eagles were subsequently bounced in the first round of the Atlantic Hockey playoffs by Canisius in three games.
- Niagara is coming off a sweep at the hands of Ohio State as the Buckeyes outscored the Purple Eagles 16-4 over the weekend, including a 10-2 man-handling on Friday evening.
- Niagara returns eight of their top ten scorers from a year ago including their top three with forwards Derian Plouffe and Nick Farmer and defenseman Niko Kovachis.
- The Purple Eagles also return experience between the pipes as all three goalies who saw significant time in net last season are back on the 2016-17 roster. Each net-minder has appeared in three games this season with Teichroeb leading the way with five appearances and an 0-3-1 record. Joe O'Brien is having the best statistical start to the season posting a 4.32 goals against average and an .882 save percentage in 111 minutes.
- Kris Spriggs is leading the team in both points with six and assists with four while Derek Brown and Johnny Curran pace the offense with three goals each.
- Niagara is being outscored 40-17 through the first eight games of the season and is averaging 26.1 shots on goal.
- The Purple Eagles special teams are suspect as they rank 42nd nationally on the PK stopping just 80.9 percent (38-47) of chances while their power-play has converted just 7-of-43 chances (16.3 percent).
MILESTONE WATCH
- With four points this past weekend after a pair of multi-point games, senior David Goodwin sits at 97 career points just three shy of the magic number 100.
- Goodwin, who is already the program's all-time leading scorer, would become the first Nittany Lion to reach the 100-point milestone. His 97 career points are good for eighth among active Division I players.
- The Captain's 64 assists are also a Penn State career mark.
AHEAD OF THE GAME
- Penn State has jumped out early in games this season scoring first four times while outscoring opponents 10-6 in the opening 20 minutes. The Nittany Lions are 3-0-1 when scoring first.
- PSU has also trailed for just 66 of 426 minutes played this season only trailing into the third period once during their lone setback of the season to St. Lawrence.
FACING OFF
- The Lions are currently 16th in the nation on the draw winning 53 percent of their face-offs.
- Led by Chase Berger at 61.4 percent, Penn State has won 62.6 percent of their face-offs over the last three games compared to just 46.9 percent in previous four.
MR. JONES
- We all want something beautiful, and the way freshman goaltender Peyton Jones has performed in net over the first month of the season has been just that.
- Jones has remained unbeaten with a 5-0-1 record becoming the first Penn State net-minder to go without a loss over the first month of the season. Matthew Skoff began the 2014-15 season 5-1-2 with his lone setback coming at the hands of Alaska-Fairbanks during the Brice Alaska Goal Rush.
- Jones currently ranks 17th nationally with a 2.11 goals against average and 22nd with a .920 save percentage.
SEVENTH HEAVEN
- A pair of Nittany Lion newcomers have announced their presence with authority so far this season as both freshman forward Denis Smirnov and junior defenseman Trevor Hamilton are riding 7-game point streaks, registering at least one point in each game so far while donning the Blue and White.
- Hamilton's seven-game point streak also sets a new record for point streak by a defenseman and is just two games off Taylor Holstrom's all-time record of nine games from October 10 - November 15, 2014.
- Smirnov leads the team with nine points after a three-point weekend against Canisius where he notched a pair of goals and added one assist.
- Hamilton is tied for the team lead with senior David Goodwin who both have seven assists. Hamilton has also added one goal to tie Berger for second on the team with eight points.
- Hamilton's eight points is also tied for second in the nation for defenseman scoring while leading the entire Big Ten. His five power-play points is also tied for the league lead while Smirnov is tied for third nationally and second in the B1G in rookie scoring with his nine points.
NATION'S BEST KEPT SECRET
- After a few weeks of not being noticed, Penn State cracked into the national polls after winning a series against then No. 3 Notre Dame complete with a 3-2 overtime victory in the finale. The Lions debuted at No. 19 in the uscho.com poll last week.
- This week Penn State moved up 5 spots, the most of any team, and currently sits at No. 14. The Lions also made their debut in the USA Today/USA Hockey magazine poll at No. 15. This marks the first time since March 7, 2016 they've been recognized in both major polls.
- Penn State also remained at No. 6 in the PairWise rankings which is the best indicator of which 16 teams will make the NCAA tournament. Only Ohio State (No. 3) ranks higher out of the Big Ten schools.
GETTING OUT OF THE BLOCKS FAST
- Something Penn State hockey has become accustomed to over the last few years is a fast start to the season. They began the 2015-16 season 4-2-1 over the opening month of action and a year prior went 5-1-2 in October
- However, their 5-1-1 record and No. 14 ranking through the first month of the 2016-17 season marks a new program best for fastest start to a season.
- Penn State is also currently riding a 5-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1) a mark good for fifth best in the nation.
PENN STATE FEATURED ON TOP PLAYS
- For the third time over the first four weeks of the regular season the Nittany Lions have had a play on NCAA Ice Hockey's Top-5 Plays of the Week.
- Again, it was a play featuring sophomore Andrew Sturtz, who used some great stick work and fast hands to register a short-handed goal during Saturday's 4-2 victory.
- The play came in a #3 this week. Penn State has previously had plays at #1 and #5 during week one and week three, respectively.
- Sturtz now has two short-handed tallies on the season which leads the Big Ten and places him in a five-way tie for best in the nation.
RECAPPING CANISIUS
- Penn State collected their first weekend sweep against the Canisius Golden Griffins this past weekend winning 4-1 on Friday evening before securing a 4-2 victory on Saturday.
- Senior David Goodwin showed off his vision collecting two assists in each game giving him a total of 22 career multi-point games. Goodwin's first assist on Saturday set up Smirnov's game-winning goal.
- Smirnov also collected multiple points on the weekend scoring twice while registering one assist. His multi-point effort on Friday night was the second of his career.
- Jones stopped 40-of-43 shots registering a .930 save percentage and a 1.50 goals against average over the two games.
- Freshman Brandon Biro netted his first collegiate goal to open the scoring on Friday night.
FIRE AT WILL
- Penn State nearly set a new single-game best on Friday night against Canisius as they registered their second-highest shot total in their young history racking up 65 shots against Canisius en route to a 4-1 victory.
- The Lions got off 31 shots in the first period to set a new record for most in a single period, and were just two shots behind their single-game high of 67 which they reached last season against Sacred Heart. The Lions amassed 25 shots in the second period of that sacred Heart game on November 14, 2016 which was their previous period high.
- PSU is currently leading the nation with their 43.57 shots per game average, a full 5-plus shots clear of their nearest competitor.
THE WAY OF GRAY
- Penn State will don their gray alternate uniforms for the first time this season in the series finale on Friday against the Purple Eagles.
NEXT TIME OUT
- Penn State welcomes Alaska-Anchorage to Pegula Ice Arena for the first time for a pair of games next Friday and Saturday.
- This marks fourth and fifth games of the overall series with Penn State holding the 1-0-2 all-time record against the Seawolves.