UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The tenth-ranked Penn State men's ice hockey team looks to remain unbeaten this season as they welcome the Niagara University Purple Eagles to Pegula Ice Arena for a pair of non-conference matchups on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, October 19 | Saturday, October 20
Place: Pegula Ice Arena
Time: Friday at 7 p.m. | Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Tickets: Friday | Saturday
Watch: Friday BTN-Plus ($) | Saturday FREE on LionVision
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats (Both games)
Game Notes: Penn State
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- Penn State remains home to battle Niagara in a pair of non-conference matchups on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.
- This weekend marks the fourth and fifth meetings in the all-time series where the Nittany Lions hold the 2-0-1 advantage. Penn State has outscored Niagara 11-3 allowing just 1.00 goals per game against the Purple Eagles in the series including a pair of 5-1 victories two years ago.
- Junior Denis Smirnov is the only current member of the Nittany Lions to have scored a goal against Niagara with two goals and four assists in two career games. Only Kevin Kerr, Brandon Biro and Nate Sucese have also registered points against the Purple Eagles with four assists between them.
- Both Chris Funkey and Peyton Jones earned a start between the pipes two years ago when Niagara visited Pegula Ice Arena registering 24 and 20 saves, respectively, to each earn a victory.
SCOUTING NIAGARA
- Niagara finished the 2017-18 season with an 11-22-3 overall record and a 10-15-3 mark in Atlantic Hockey play. The Purple Eagles were swept by AIC in the first round of the Atlantic Hockey Tournament.
- Niagara returns eight of its top 10 scorers from last season, but are without the services of leading scorer Derian Plouffe who was lost to graduation. Plouffe led the team with 17 goals and 35 points. Only senior Tanner Lomsnes returns as a double-digit goal scorer after registering 13 goals last season.
- The Purple Eagles do return starting net-minder Brian Wilson who started 30 games as a freshman last season going 9-19-2 with a .900 save percentage and a 2.72 goals against average. Wilson started both games last weekend against AIC going 1-1-0 with a 2.47 goals against average and a .894 save percentage.
- Niagara split with AIC to open its 2018-19 campaign last weekend winning 4-3 in overtime before dropping a 3-1 decision to close the series.
- The Purple Eagles went 2-for-8 with the man-advantage last weekend while killing 5-of-6 penalties of their own. Last season Niagara finished with a 16.8 percent powerplay and an 82.4 percent penalty kill.
- Freshman Dylan Mills led the team last weekend with four points on one goal and three assists during his first two collegiate games to earn Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week. Classmate Ludwig Stenlund was the only Purple Eagle to register multiple goals as he scored twice including the overtime winner last Friday.
PERFECT 10
- Penn State jumped six spots to No. 10 in the rankings after its season opening sweep over then-No. 17 Clarkson last week. This marks the first time since the 2017-18 preseason rankings that the Nittany Lions have been ranked inside the top-10 of the USCHO.com poll.
- Penn State has been ranked in the top-10 for 15 weeks over the past two-plus seasons with 13 of those weeks coming during the historic 2016-17 season. The Nittany Lions are 10-8-1 all-time while being ranked inside the top-10, but are 10-4-1 in such games against teams not named Minnesota.
- All-in-all the Big Ten has six teams ranked this week including five in the top-11. Ohio State and Notre Dame hold down the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively, while Minnesota (No. 6), Michigan (No. 11) and Wisconsin (No. 15) join the Nittany Lions in the rankings.
B1G SECOND STAR OF THE WEEK
- Junior Brandon Biro was named the Big Ten's Second Star of the week after scoring twice while adding two assists for four points last weekend against Clarkson.
- The weekly honor is just the second in Biro's career as he was once named the Third Star of the week last season.
- Including the International Game against Brock, Biro has scored at least one goal in each contest (four total) including two game-winning goals so far this season.
- The junior registered one goal and one assist in each game last weekend giving him 13 multi-point games for his career.
DOMINATING THE DRAW
- Penn State ranked just 44th winning just 48.2 percent of its faceoffs during the 2017-18 season. However, after two weeks of play, the Nittany Lions currently rank 16th in the nation at .534 percent good for third in the Big Ten.
- Part of the success last weekend was due in large part to graduate transfer Ludvig Larsson who won 26-of-36 faceoffs. His early season 72.2 percent winning margin is currently good for fourth in the Big Ten and 16th in the nation.
- On the other side, Niagara only won 38.9 percent of its draws last weekend vs. AIC to rank 50th out of the 54 teams who have already began competition for the 2018-19 season. Ludwig Stenlund is the strongest Purple Eagle on the draw winning 57.1 percent of his attempts (16-for-28).
THE PERFECT FIT
- Larsson also had a seamless transition into Penn State's top offensive production line last week as he was slotted between junior classmates Brandon Biro and Nate Sucese.
- Biro and Sucese had instant chemistry last season playing 33 games alongside each other after just five during the 2016-17. Some might say Larsson goes together with this duo like lamb and tuna fish or perhaps spaghetti and meatball if you're more comfortable with that analogy.
- The Sucese - Larsson - Biro line combined for 10 of the team's 25 points last weekend while earning a combined plus-9 rating on the ice.
BLOCK PARTY
- Penn State dominated in the shot blocking department last week collecting 27 blocks each night. The 27 blocks are the most in a game since the Nittany Lions had 32 against Minnesota on February 21, 2015.
- Penn State's 54 blocks in two games are the most in the nation by a team with only two games played. Junior Kris Myllari leads the nation with 13 blocked shots.
- Myllari registered a career-high eight blocked shots during Friday's 5-1 victory after opening the weekend with five.
- Penn State had five players with at least three blocks on Thursday night and followed that up with four on Friday night.
DON'T GET SHORT WITH ME
- Junior Nate Sucese registered the third shorthanded goal of his career last Thursday putting him in a tie with Dylan Richard '17 for the fourth most all-time at Penn State.
- Sucese is now just one shorty shy of tying Tommy Olczyk '16 and Eric Scheid '16 for second while Andrew Sturtz leads the way with nine.
- Following a four-point weekend, Sucese has moved into a tie with David Glen '16 for eighth on the all-time points list with 69 while his 32 goals are now good for solo seventh breaking a tie with Richard.
- Penn State is one of 14 teams already this season to have at least one shorthanded goal. Colorado College leads the way with three in four games. Maine is the only other school with multiple shorty's with two to its credit.
HAPPY VALLEY F1VE-O
- Penn State scored at least five goals for the first time this season last Friday during a 5-1 victory over Clarkson. Last season the Nittany Lions scored five or more goals 14 times posting a 13-0-1 mark in such games.
- All-time Penn State has now scored five or more goals in 55 games posting a 53-0-2 record. The Nittany Lions are averaging 4.50 goals per game after their first weekend of play tying for the Big Ten lead while ranking tied for seventh in the nation.
CAPTAIN BERGER
- Following a three-point weekend, senior captain Chase Berger became only the third player in program history to reach 90 points as he now sits at 92, just eight points shy of 100.
- Berger registered the 38th goal of his career on Friday night moving him into a tie with Eric Scheid '16 for the fourth most in program history just six behind David Goodwin '17 for third all-time. The senior's 54 career assists already rank second all-time behind Goodwin.
- Berger also moved past David Glen '16 for fourth all-time in career shots on goal with 357 to his name over the past three-plus seasons. Berger needs 98 more shots this season to pass Casey Bailey for the program standard.
MR. JONES
- Junior goaltender Peyton Jones made the 72nd start of his career last Friday night and needs just one more start to tie Matt Skoff '16 for the program record for starts by a goalie with 73.
- Jones is also now just 212 saves behind Skoff's Penn State record of 2,114 recorded from 2012-16.
NEXT UP
- Penn State remains home for a single contest next Friday evening against Princeton with puck drop slated for 7 p.m.
The 2018-19 men's ice hockey season is presented by the Penn State Bookstore: the official Bookstore of Penn State Athletics.