Sept. 25, 2017
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The reigning Big Ten Tournament Champion Penn State men's ice hockey team will enter the 2017-18 campaign with a USCHO.com preseason ranking of No. 10 as released earlier Monday afternoon.
The Nittany Lions finished last season No. 8 in the final USCHO.com poll and were as high as No. 1 during the 2016-17 season. This marks the first-time ever that Penn State has been ranked in the preseason poll after beginning each of the last five seasons unranked. This also marks the 23rd straight poll where Penn State has been ranked.
PSU earned 530 points in the preseason poll after turning in a 25-12-2 record last season. Five of the seven Big Ten teams begin the season ranked inside the top 20 with Minnesota (No. 3) and new affiliate member Notre Dame (No. 8) leading the way. Wisconsin (No. 12) and Ohio State (No. 19) follow Penn State while Michigan is receiving votes.
Denver earned the No. 1 preseason ranking with 48 first place votes and 998 points after finishing 2016-17 with a 33-7-4 record and its eighth national championship. Boston University comes in at No. 2 followed by Minnesota, Harvard and UMass Lowell to round out the top five.
Penn State begins the 2017-18 season with an exhibition game against Ottawa at 3 p.m. this Sunday before traveling to Clarkson (Oct. 6) and St. Lawrence (Oct. 7) for opening weekend.