Feb. 28, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 4 seed Penn State women's hockey team (9-14-11, 6-7-7 CHA) takes on the No. 5 seed Lindenwood Lions (10-19-1, 8-12-0 CHA) in the quarterfinal round of the 2018 College Hockey America (CHA) Tournament on Thursday, March 1. Puck drop is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the HarborCenter in Buffalo, New York.
FOLLOW ALONG
The game will be streamed via stretchinternet.com, but fans must have an account to access the video. Fans can also follow along with live stats on http://sidearmstats.com/cha/whockey/.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets are on sale at the KeyBank Center box office and will be available upon arrival. Tickets will again be $10 for adults and $5 for students per day.
LAST TIME OUT: LINDENWOOD
Last weekend, Penn State and Lindenwood split the series in the regular season finale at the Pegula Ice Arena.
Despite outshooting Lindenwood, 43-12, in the opener, the Nittany Lions fell 1-0. The series finale saw Penn State capture a 6-0 victory over Lindenwood.
In Penn State's 6-0 win, Natalie Heising tallied the seventh hat trick in program history, and became the second Nittany Lion freshman to record a hat trick.
Along with Heising, Amanda McLeod, Meike Meilleur, and Sophie Slattery each scored a goal, while defenseman Katie McMillan chipped in a career-best three-assist game.
In net on the weekend, senior Hannah Ehresmann started both contests and tallied a shutout victory in the series finale.
Also in net, freshman Chantal Burke took over prior to the start of the second period in the opener and closed out the game for her third career appearance.
LOOKING AT LINDENWOOD
The Lindenwood Lions finished the regular season with an overall record of 10-19-1 and a CHA record of 8-12-0.
Offensively, six Lions have tallied at least 14 points on the year. For the Lions, Taylor Girard leads the team in goals (13) and points (24), while Courtney Ganske leads the team in assists (18).
In net this season for Lindenwood, Jolene deBruyn has started 25 of 30 games. On the year, deBruyn has a record of 9-14-1, has three solo shutouts to her name, has a save percentage of .926, has a goals-against average of 2.52, and has made 768 saves.
SERIES HISTORY VS. LINDENWOOD
Penn State leads the all-time series against Lindenwood, 12-11-3.
Last weekend, Lindenwood topped Penn State, 1-0, before the Nittany Lions captured a 6-0 victory in the series finale.
The two teams split each series during the regular season in 2017-18.
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
With the 2017-18 regular season complete, the duo of Natalie Heising and Katie Rankin made their impact felt among the freshmen in the College Hockey America conference.
Among freshmen in the CHA, Heising is first in shots (125), goals (17), points (26), power play goals (10), power play points (15), and is tied for first in power play assists (five).
Heising is also tied for fourth in assists (nine) and ranks fifth in faceoff wins (148).
Along with Heising, Rankin is first in faceoff wins (450), tied for second in assists (10), third in shots (89), tied for third in points (17), and eighth in goals (seven).
CHA TOURNAMENT FORMAT
With the 2017-18 regular season in the books, Penn State enters the CHA Tournament as the No. 4 seed. Robert Morris clinched its second-straight CHA regular season title and is the No. 1 seed.
Mercyhurst is the No. 2 seed, Syracuse is No. 3, while Lindenwood is No. 5 and RIT is the No. 6 seed.
Syracuse and RIT will meet at 2 p.m. on Thursday.
PLAYING EXTRA TIME
The Nittany Lions have played 15 overtime contests this season, which ties the NCAA record set by Boston U. (2009-10).
Penn State is 1-3-11 in overtime contests this year.
The Nittany Lions finished the regular season one tie shy of tying the NCAA record for ties in a season (12 - Boston U. - 2009-10).
EIGHT OVER FIVE
Heading into the CHA Tournament, freshman Natalie Heising has scored eight goals over a five-game span.
In the regular season finale against Lindenwood, Heising recorded the seventh hat trick in program history and she became the second Nittany Lion freshman to tally a hat trick.
NEXT UP
The winner of No. 4 seed Penn State and No. 5 seed Lindenwood will either play No. 1 seed Robert Morris or No. 2 seed Mercyhurst on Friday, March 2. The lowest remaining seed following Thursday's games will play No. 1 seed Robert Morris on Friday, March 2, at 12:30 p.m., while the highest remaining seed will take on No. 2 seed Mercyhurst at 4 p.m.