UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 16 Penn State men's ice hockey team opens the 2018-19 campaign with a weekend series against No. 17 Clarkson inside Pegula Ice Arena on Thursday, October 11 and Friday, October 12. Puck drops at 7 p.m. both nights.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Thursday, October 11 | Friday, October 12
Place: Pegula Ice Arena
Time: Thursday at 7 p.m. | Friday at 7 p.m.
Tickets: Thursday | Friday
Watch: Thursday FREE on LionVision | Friday FREE on LionVision
Listen: Thursday | Friday
Live Statistics: Live Stats (Both games)
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- Penn State opens the 2018-19 regular season against Clarkson for the second-straight year, this time in a two-game series at Pegula Ice Arena.
- This marks just the second time in the brief seven-year history of the program that Penn State has opened the season against a ranked opponent with the Golden Knights entering the weekend at No. 17 in the latest USCHO.com poll. Penn State knocked off No. 16 St. Lawrence, 4-2, to open the 2016-17 season before falling the following night by a 6-3 score.
- Clarkson defeated the Nittany Lions 2-1 last season at Cheel Arena to even the all-time series at one game apiece. Penn State secured a 5-1 victory in Pittsburgh during the 2015 Three Rivers Classic on December 29.
- Penn State is 3-2-1 all-time in season openers with last season's loss snapping a four-game unbeaten streak to start the season.
- The Nittany Lions are 2-0-1 all-time in season opening contests at Pegula Ice Arena defeating Army in 2013 and St. Lawrence in 2016 while earning a tie against UConn in 2014.
- Junior Brandon Biro registered the lone goal on the power-play for Penn State during last season's loss at Clarkson.
SCOUTING CLARKSON
- Clarkson returns 18 players from its 2017-18 team that went 23-11-6 reaching the NCAA East Regional semifinals where they were defeated by Providence, 1-0. The Golden Knights open the 2017-18 season ranked No. 17 in the latest USCHO.com Poll.
- Clarkson had only four players register double-digit goals last season and its top two leading goal scorers decided to leave school early to sign NHL contracts. Leading scorer Sheldon Rempal (23-23-46) forwent his final two seasons to sign an entry level contract with the LA Kings while Josh Dickinson (15-11-26) left after only one season to sign on with the Colorado Avalanche. Both players begin the 2018-19 season in the American Hockey League.
- The Golden Knights do return juniors Nico Sturm and Devin Brosseau who finished second and third on the team in scoring with 37 and 33 points, respectively. Sturm was third on the team with 14 goals while Brosseau added 11.
- The Golden Knights have added ten new faces to their 2018-19 roster including eight freshman and a pair of transfers. Out of those ten new faces seven are forwards who will be looking to pick up the goal scoring lost with the departure of Rempal and Dickinson.
- Returning between the pipes is 2018 Mike Richter Award Finalist, Jake Kielly who was one of just 12 goalies nationwide to register 20 wins last season compiling at 22-11-6 record. His 1.82 goals against average and .929 save percentage were also top-10 in the country ranking fourth and seventh, respectively. Clarkson has also brought in Tampa Bay draft pick Kris Oldham from Nebraska-Omaha as a transfer.
- Clarkson began last season unranked, but soared as high as No. 1 after an 18-3-1 start including a 10-0-0 mark in ECAC play. The Golden Knights struggled down the stretch after the No. 1 ranking going just 5-8-4 to close out the season losing to Princeton in the ECAC Championship game and Providence in the NCAA Regionals.
- Clarkson ranked 19th in the nation last season averaging 3.05 goals per game while ranking second allowing just 1.88 goals per game.
BEST OF THE BEST
- This weekend's series marks the first season opening series for Penn State where both teams are ranked inside the top-20 nationally.
- The series also features the No. 3 scoring offense last season in the Nittany Lions (3.83 goals scored per game) against the No. 2 scoring defense last season in the Golden Knights (1.88 goals allowed per game).
DOMINATING THE DRAW
- Clarkson finished third in the nation one season ago in face-off percentage winning 54.5 percent of its draws while Penn State ranked 44th with a 48.2 percent winning margin.
- The Nittany Lions added graduate transfer Ludvig Larsson to their roster this season and during Saturday's exhibition contest he already proved himself winning 16-of-19 face-offs helping Penn State to a 38-29 edge on the draw against Brock. Larsson finished 14th in the nation a season ago with a 58.3 winning percentage, which would have ranked second in the Big Ten.
- Larsson will be up against some tough competition this weekend with Clarkson's Nico Sturm who led the entire nation last season winning 61.7 percent of his draws throughout the year. The Golden Knights also boast Marly Quince who also ranked top-20 in the nation last season winning 58.1 percent of his face-offs.
- Penn State's best faceoff man last season was Evan Barratt who won 51.6 percent of his draws. Barratt was the only consistent faceoff taker last season to win over 50 percent of his draws. Chase Berger finished the season at 49.1 percent while Nikita Pavlychev landed at 49 percent.
HOME IS WHERE YOU MAKE IT
- Penn State will not have to travel outside the Keystone State until Thanksgiving weekend with a trip to Ohio State. The Nittany Lions also don't have to leave the friendly confines of Pegula Ice Arena until a November 10th matchup at Robert Morris on the back end of a home-and-home series.
- The following weekend the Nittany Lions are back home to begin Big Ten play against Michigan as they open the season playing 10 of their first 11 games at home.
- The eight-straight home games to open the season are the most in program history and the second longest home-streak since playing ten-straight at Pegula Ice Arena to close out the first semester of play during the 2016-17 season. Penn State went an astonishing 10-0-0 during that stretch as part of a program record 13-game unbeaten streak and 11-game winning-streak.
NEXT UP
Penn State remains home for a weekend series with Niagara on Friday, October 19 and Saturday, October 20. The Nittany Lions are 2-0-1 all-time against the Purple Eagles.
The 2018-19 men's ice hockey season is presented by the Penn State Bookstore: the official Bookstore of Penn State Athletics.