COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 4 Penn State will be making its fourth-consecutive Big Ten Semifinal appearance on Sunday when they battle top-seeded Ohio State at 3:30 p.m. from Value City Arena at the Schottenstein Center.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Sunday, March 17
Place: Value City Arena
Time: 3:30 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network
Streaming Video: BTN2Go/Fox Sports App
Watch: Sunday
Listen: Sunday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State | Ohio State | Big Ten
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- Penn State advances to its fourth-straight Big Ten Tournament semifinal and its fifth in the six-year history of the hockey conference. The only season Penn State didn't advance past the opening round of the tournament was in 2015 when this same Ohio State team defeated the Nittany Lions 3-1 in Detroit. The Buckeyes have advanced to the Big Ten semifinals in all six seasons of the conference.
- Penn State enters its 15th Big Ten Tournament game marking the most all-time as the Nittany Lions have also won the most tournament games all-time with a 9-5 record just ahead of Ohio State's 8-5 mark in the conference tournament.
- The Nittany Lions are 7-2-0 in their last nine Big Ten Tournament games dating back to the 2016-17 season including sending home a pair of college hockey blue-bloods twice during that stretch with a 3-0 record against Minnesota and a 3-1 record against Wisconsin over that span.
- This marks just the second meeting between Penn State and Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament, but the 27th meeting all-time with the Buckeyes holding the 15-9-2 edge including the 3-1-0 series victory this past season.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
- The Buckeyes earned its first Big Ten Tournament regular season crown finishing the year 20-9-5 overall and 13-7-4-3 in conference action, but have won only once in its last six games and enter the weekend coming off a 15-day break.
- Ohio State ranks second all-time in Big Ten Tournament history, behind Penn State, with eight wins in 13 games played as they look to advance to its third Big Ten Championship game in six seasons. The Buckeyes are 0-2 in their previous two.
- Mason Jobst leads the team with 36 points including a team-high 17 goals, eight of which have come on the power-play this season. The Buckeyes rank fifth in the Big Ten with the man-advantage this season converting 33-of-150 chances (22 percent), which is good for 16th in the nation.
- Jobst also ranks second in Big Ten Tournament history, behind Folkes, with 12 points on five goals and seven assists in eight career tournament games.
- Tanner Laczynski, who missed the first six games of February due to an injury, returned for the last two series of the regular season and ranks second on the team with 30 points on 10 goals and a team-best 20 assists. Ronnie Hein ranks second on the team with 11 goals.
- Ohio State has been splitting time between the pipes between Tommy Nappier and Sean Romeo led by Nappier's Big Ten best .937 save percentage and 1.78 goals against average, which rank second and fourth in the nation, respectively. Nappier is 12-2-3 on the year in 17 starts.
- The Buckeyes lead the Big Ten and rank 13th in the nation allowing just 2.24 goals per game while their offense ranks third in the Big Ten and 15th in the nation at 3.15 goals per game.
RECORD SETTING OFFENSE
- Penn State as a team has set numerous offensive records this year bettering its previous top offensive year of 2016-17 in the process. The Nittany Lions have set new records for goals (170), assists (290) and points (460) leading the nation in all three categories as well as goals per game (4.59) and shots per game (40.9).
- Penn State is also just 3 power-play goals shy of tying its single-season record for man-advantage tallies at 35.
A TRUE FOLKES-HERO
- Junior Liam Folkes leads all current Nittany Lions with seven goals in nine career Big Ten Tournament games while adding eight assists for 15 points. Folkes is currently riding a career-best five-game point-streak and four-game assist streak.
- Folkes scored the Golden Goal in overtime last Sunday to lead Penn State to a 4-3 victory over Wisconsin. The goal was his fifth Big Ten Tournament goal against the Badgers and in four career tournament games against Wisconsin the junior has scored five goals while adding six assists for 11 points to go along with his two overtime game-winning goals.
- The overtime winner also marked his ninth point of the weekend, which is a new Big Ten Tournament record for most points in a single-tournament. His six assists last weekend are also just one shy of the single-tournament assist record of seven held by Michigan's JT Compher.
- Following his impressive weekend, Folkes was named the NCAA Second Star of the week becoming the third different Nittany Lion this season to garner national recognition. Folkes also moved his way into a tie for eighth on the Penn State all-time points list with 77 for his career, his 36 career goals are also good for eighth on the all-time goals list.
SETTING THE BAR
- Not to be outdone, sophomore Alex Limoges lit the lamp five times this past weekend while adding a pair of assists for seven points. His five goals tie Michigan's Kyle Connor for the Big Ten Tournament single-tournament record.
- In the process, Limoges set a new Penn State single-season points record, which now stands at 48 passing Denis Smirnov's previous record of 47. The sophomore's 22 goals also tie Casey Bailey and Andrew Sturtz for the Penn State single-season goal record.
- Limoges is now just two points shy of Taro Hirose for the national lead while his 22 goals lead the Big Ten and tie for fourth in the nation.
- Limoges is currently riding a career-best four-game goal-streak while the Nittany Lions this season are 14-2-0 when the sophomore scores a goal. Limoges' 15 multi-point games this season are also the second-most in the nation just one shy of Hirose's 16.
WHEN A LINE BREAKS, NO IT DON'T BREAKEVEN
- For the better part of the entire year Folkes and Limoges have flanked Evan Barratt on the same line and in 30 games together they average 3.97 points per game, the best mark in the NCAA, with 51 goals and 68 assists for 119 points, however, Barratt has missed time due to the World Juniors and injury as well as missing last Saturday's contest due to a suspension.
- Without Barratt on Saturday, Folkes and Limoges didn't miss a beat registering six points on three goals and three assists and a combined plus-5 rating. For the series the duo scored eight goals while adding eight assists for 16 points and a plus-13 rating combining for 61 percent of the team's goals and 44 percent of the total offense over the weekend.
- Each player has also now eclipsed the 40-point threshold this season marking the first time in program history the Nittany Lions have had multiple 40-point scorers in the same season. Penn State had just three 40-point scorers in six seasons before doubling that total with three alone so far this season.
- Penn State is one of just three teams nationally to have multiple 40-point scorers joining UMass and Minnesota. The Nittany Lions lead the nation with five players at 30 or more points and 11 players with 20 or more points this season.
YEAAAAAAA BUDDY!
- Freshman defenseman Paul DeNaples leads the entire nation in plus/minus with a plus-31 rating following a plus-5 weekend against Wisconsin. DeNaples is right behind Erik Autio's single-season Penn State record of plus-33.
- On Tuesday the rest of the league took notice of DeNaples' solid freshman campaign as the rookie was named 1-of-3 finalists for the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Award marking the second-consecutive season a Nittany Lion blueliner has graced the top three. Trevor Hamilton was named B1G Defensive Player of the Year one season ago. DeNaples has been on the ice for 58 (34 Percent) of Penn State's goals so far this season.
PLAYOFF PEYTON
- The 2017 Big Ten Tournament Most Outstanding Player always seems to rise to the occasion when his team needs him the most posting a 7-2-0 career record in the Big Ten Tournament with a 2.46 goals against average and a .929 save percentage.
- Jones has registered 30 or more saves in all-but-one of his Big Ten Tournament games including a career-high 51 saves during the 2017 Championship game, a 2-1 double-overtime victory against the Badgers. The junior also notched a 44-save performance in last year's semifinal loss at Notre Dame, his third most in a single game all-time.
- Jones' save percentage and goals against average rank sixth and tenth all-time in tournament history while the junior leads the entire Big Ten in tournament wins with seven and total saves with 327. His logged time of 608:49 is also more than 130 minutes more than his closest competitor in former Buckeye Christian Frey at 438:31.
PLAYOFF PERFORMERS
- Along with Jones, many current Nittany Lions have had great success in the Big Ten Tournament with Folkes leading the way with a conference best seven goals and eight assists for 15 points in nine career B1G Tournament games.
- Limoges ranks fourth all-time with 10 tournament points on five goals and five assists while junior Brandon Biro is tied for fifth with three goals and six assists for nine points. Also in the top ten in tournament scoring is Evan Barratt and Nate Sucese each with seven points.
- Folkes is also just one of two players to have multiple Big Ten Tournament game-winning goals joining Ohio State's Mason Jobst.
NEXT UP
- The winner of this semifinal will advance to next weekend's Big Ten Championship game and face the winner of the first semifinal featuring Notre Dame and Minnesota scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m.