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MHKY Set To Face Denver in NCAA Tournament on Saturday

March 22, 2018

WEEKEND PREVIEW


18-14-5
(9-10-5-2 B1G)		22-9-8
(12-6-6 NCHC)
Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
PPL CENTER | ALLENTOWN, PA.

NCAA MIDWEST REGIONAL

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 PENN STATE DENVER

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INSIDE THE NUMBERS
PSU
DEN

18-14-5Overall Record22-9-8
9-10-5-2Conference Record12-6-6
137Goals Scored129
115Goals Allowed80
3.70Goals Scored/gm.3.31
3.11Goals Allowed/gm.2.05
1498Shots1368
40.5Shots/gm.35.1
236Assists221
30-137Power Plays37-167
.219Power-Play Pct..222
104-127Penalty Kills105-124
.819Penalty-Kill Pct..847
1051Saves1040
2Shutouts5

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The 12th-ranked and No. 3 seed Penn State Nittany Lions earned their second-consecutive NCAA Tournament berth and will battle 3rd-ranked and No. 2 seed Denver at the PPL Center at 7 p.m. on Saturday evening in a rematch of the 2017 Midwest Regional Final.

HOW TO WATCH

  • The game will air live on ESPN3 and will be available for live streaming on the WatchESPN App.
  • The winner will face the winner of the opening game of the regional featuring No.1 seed Ohio State vs. No. 4 Princeton at 3:30 p.m. which airs on ESPNU
  • The Midwest Regional Final will air live on ESPNU at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday with online streaming through the WatchESPN App.

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • Penn State returns to the NCAA Tournament for the second-consecutive year making its second Tournament appearance in the six year history of the program.
  • Penn State is 1-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament as they dispatched Union last season 10-3 before falling to Denver in the Midwest Regional Final by a score of 6-3.
  • This marks just the second meeting between the two programs with both taking place in the NCAA Tournament.
  • All three players who registered a goal last season against the Pioneers were freshman as Denis Smirnov, Nikita Pavlychev and James Gobetz each tallied in the defeat.
  • Troy Terry registered a hat-trick against the Nittany Lions in last season's meeting while Henrik Borgstrom collected three assists and Jarid Lukosevicius scored twice including the game-winning goal.
  • Penn State has had 11 hat-tricks scored against them in its history and are 3-8-0 all-time when an opposing player nets three goals in a single contest.

SCOUTING DENVER

  • The defending National Champions lost their first game in a best-of-three NCHC quarterfinal playoff series, but have won four-straight to capture the 2018 NCHC Tournament Championship. Denver currently ranks third in the latest USCHO.com poll and are 22-9-8 on the year.
  • The Pioneers possess one of the top lines in all of college hockey featuring Henrik Borgstrom, Troy Terry and Jarid Lukosevicius who have registered a combined 126 points this season, which is 36 percent of the Denver scoring.
  • Borgstrom leads the team with 50 points ranking fifth in the nation as he has scored 22 goals while adding 28 assists. He is one of just 16 players across the nation to hit the 20-goal mark so far this season. Borgstrom leads all current sophomores in the NCAA with 93 career points in just 75 games while his 1.24 points per game average for his career leads all active Division I players. The sophomore is 19 points clear of Tanner Laczynski and Marc Michaelis as the next closest sophomores with 75 points each. Denis Smirnov ranks fourth among sophomores with 74 career points.
  • Terry has added 13 goals and 31 assists for 44 points on the year. His assist and point totals rank tied for sixth and tied for 13th in the nation, respectively.
  • Lukosevicius ranks second on the team with 19 goals including 10 powerplay tallies to rank tied for sixth in the nation.
  • Second line center Dylan Gambrell has added 13 goals and 29 assists for 42 points to make Denver one of just three teams in the nation with three 40-plus point scorers joining Northeastern and Northern Michigan.
  • Denver has the third best scoring defense allowing just 2.05 goals per game this season while scoring 3.31 goals per contest to rank ninth in the nation offensively.
  • 2017 Mike Richter Award winner Tanner Jaillett is a main reason why the defense is so stingy as he ranks fifth in the nation with a 1.85 goals against average while his .929 save percentage is good for seventh in the nation.
  • Denver's man-advantage is slightly better than Penn State ranking 13th nationally converting 37-of-167 chances (22.2 percent). The PK has also been stellar for the Pioneers allowing just 19 goals during 124 man-down situation killing off 84.7 percent of penalties to rank eighth in the nation.

21 JUMP STREET

  • Should he start on Saturday evening, sophomore Peyton Jones will tie his career record for consecutive starts with 21-in-a-row.
  • Jones has started 70 of a possible 76 games since stepping foot on campus last year, compiling a 40-22-6 record with his 40 wins being a new Penn State standard set earlier this season. Jones needs just four more starts to set the Penn State record for career starts and just eight more appearances to set the Nittany Lion appearance record, both are currently held by Matt Skoff '16.
  • Over his last six starts, Jones is 5-1-0 with a 2.68 goals against average and a .924 save percentage.
  • Jones has also set a new Penn State single-season goaltending record with four assists to lead the entire nation this season. His six career helpers are also a Penn State record for a goaltender.

SENSATIONAL SOPHOMORES

  • After leading the nation last season as freshmen with 64 goals and 93 assists for 157 points, the Penn State sophomore class hasn't missed a beat in 2017-18.
  • Penn State's sophomore class ranks first in the nation again with 68 goals and 159 points this season led by four players with 20-plus points including the career-high 31 by Brandon Biro.
  • Three of those sophomores, Smirnov, Nate Sucese and Liam Folkes have registered double-digit goals with 15, 14 and 12, respectively, while Biro and Nikita Pavlychev have added nine goals each.

B1G MAN ON DEFENSE

  • Senior Trevor Hamilton was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year earning the first-ever major conference award by a Penn State Student-Athlete. Head Coach Guy Gadowsky was named Big Ten Coach of the Year following the 2014-15 season.
  • Hamilton leads all Big Ten defensemen in points with 29 this season on six goals and 23 assists. His 29 points are also tied for 14th nationally among blue-liners while his 104 blocked shots lead the nation. The senior also led the nation last season when he set a single-season Penn State record with 107 blocked shots. Hamilton's 211 total blocks in his two years at Penn State is also a program record for a career.
  • Hamilton's 23 assists this season are the most in a single-season by a Penn State defenseman in the six-year history of the program.

HAPPY VALLEY FIVE-0

  • Penn State has scored at least five goals in four of its last five games and 14 times all season posting a 13-0-1 record when doing so.
  • All-time Penn State is now 52-0-2 when scoring at least five goals in a game and 51-94-15 when scoring less than five goals.
  • The Nittany Lions are second in the nation averaging 3.70 goals per game after setting a single-season record and leading the entire NCAA last season scoring 4.10 goals per contest. Penn State trails only the 3.87 goals per game of Minnesota State.
  • Penn State has also scored at least four goals in 19 of its 37 games this season posting a 16-1-2 record when doing so.

SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS

  • For the fourth consecutive season Penn State once again leads the entire nation in shots on goal averaging an eye-popping 40.49 shots per game, which is 5.41 clear of its nearest competitor.
  • Even with that high total it marks the lowest in three years since averaging 39.24 for the 2014-15 season. Last season the Nittany Lions set a single-season program record averaging 44.08 shots per game breaking its record from the year prior when they averaged 41.55 shots per game.
  • Penn State is just two shots shy of reaching 1,500 shots on goal for the third consecutive season. In 2016-17 Penn State set a single-season program record firing 1,719 shots on goal over its 39 games played.
  • Junior Andrew Sturtz leads the team with 138 shots on goal this season and became just the second Nittany Lion to reach 400 shots for his career as he ranks second all-time behind Casey Bailey with 400 career shots. His 138 shots is also the fifth most in a single-season in program history.
  • Along with Sturtz, Chase Berger (106), Nate Sucese (101) and Liam Folkes (101) have each recorded over 100 shots on goal this season with Denis Smirnov just one shy of the century mark at 99.

#ANDYVALLEY

  • Junior Andrew Sturtz has registered a career-high 40 points this season to rank tied for fifth in the Big Ten and 28th in the nation.
  • Sturtz became just the second Nittany Lion in program history, joining David Goodwin '17, to reach the 100-point milestone earlier this season and ranks tied for 26th in the nation among active players in career scoring with 104 points.
  • Sturtz is also one of just 15 current NCAA players to have scored at least 50 career goals as he ranks tied for ninth with 54, which is also a Penn State career record he set earlier this season.
  • Sturtz's 26 assists this season are also a career-high and rank fifth in the Big Ten and tied for 23rd nationally. He is just two assists shy of tying Denis Smirnov's single-season program record of 28 set last season. The junior's 50 career assists also tie for third in program history.

BEST BERGER IN TOWN

  • Along with classmate Andrew Sturtz, junior Chase Berger has been a top offensive weapon for Penn State ever since stepping foot on campus. The junior has registered at least 26 points in each of his three seasons in Happy Valley and ranks tied for fifth on the team with 27 points this season.
  • Berger is also third on the Penn State all-time scoring list with 89 points while his 37 goals are good for fifth and his 52 assists rank him second.
  • The junior led the team in faceoff win percentage during his freshman and sophomore campaigns including a blistering .578 to rank 21st nationally last season and currently ranks second on the team this season with a .491 winning percentage.

SCORING DEPTH

  • Penn State consistently rolls all four lines at every opponent they face and have plenty of depth to make each line dangerous. The Nittany Lions top three lines have produced two double-digit goal scorers each on a team that ranks third in the nation in goals scored with 137.
  • Currently on the second line sophomores Brandon Biro (3-2-5) and Nate Sucese (2-3-5) each have four game point streaks while on the third line freshman Alex Limoges has four goals and four assists in his last six games while classmate Evan Barratt has scored four goals and added one assist in his last five games. Then the top line features your leading scorer in Sturtz and oh by the way, Nikita Pavlychev has nine goals as the fourth line center.

TWO-WAY DEFENSE

  • A year after finishing third in the nation in defenseman scoring with 117 points on 32 goals and 85 assists, Penn State ranks tied for sixth nationally in that department this season with 19 goals and 81 assists for 100 points.
  • The Nittany Lions also rank second nationally in blocked shots with 370 averaging 10.00 per game and are just a single blocked shot behind RIT for the national lead while being 31 blocks clear of third place Nebraska-Omaha.
  • Since the turn of the New Year, Penn State leads the nation in blocks with 221 while averaging 13.00 per game, 3.33 more than RIT in second.

WE'VE GOT THE POWER'PLAY'

  • Penn State has scored at least one powerplay goal in six of its last seven games and rank 15th in the nation converting at 21.9 percent (30-for-137) with the man-advantage this season.
  • Penn State has also scored 12 times this season during 4-on-4 play to lead the nation by a wide margin as they are five clear of Colgate and Northeastern who have seven each.
  • Sophomore Brandon Biro leads the nation in 4-on-4 scoring with six points on three goals and three assists.