UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 12 Penn State men's ice hockey team opens Big Ten play this weekend when they host the seventh-ranked Wisconsin Badgers for a pair of contests on Thursday and Friday evenings.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Thursday, October 31 | Friday, November 1
Place: Pegula Ice Arena
Time: Thursday at 7 p.m. | Friday at 6 p.m.
Tickets: Thursday | Friday
TV: Big Ten Network (Both Games)
Streaming Video: Thursday | Friday
Listen: Thursday | Friday
Live Statistics: Live Stats (Both Games)
Game Notes: Penn State | Wisconsin
TEDDY BEAR TOSS
- Friday night's contest will feature the annual Teddy Bear Toss to benefit THON and other underprivileged children. This will take place during the second intermission as all fans are encouraged to throw new or gently used Teddy Bears onto the ice.
- The Penn State Bookstore is currently selling the official Teddy Bear of the Teddy Bear Toss, which is available for $19.98 at the PSU Bookstore and also at the Hockey Valley Team Shop at Pegula Ice Arena during games.
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- This weekend marks the 33rd and 34th all-time meetings between Penn State and Wisconsin with the Nittany Lions holding the 17-12-3 series advantage. The Badgers are Penn State's most common opponent having met five more times than the next closest opponent.
- From the 2014-15 season through the 2016-17 season, Penn State owned the series winning 12-of-14 meetings, but since the start of the 2017-18 season things have been more even with a record of 4-4-3. Penn State is 9-5-1 all-time at home against Wisconsin.
- Senior Liam Folkes leads all current players with 17 points in 14 career games against the Badgers scoring 10 goals while adding seven assists. Classmates Nate Sucese and Denis Smirnov have each added eight goals and eight assists for 16 points in 16 career games against Wisconsin and junior Alex Limoges has also seen success against the Badgers with five goals and 10 assists for 15 points in 11 games.
- Both Folkes and Limoges dominated Wisconsin during the 2019 Big Ten Quarterfinals combining for eight goals and eight assists for 16 points in the three-game series.
- Both teams are near the top of the country in offense as Wisconsin is tied for second averaging 4.50 goals per game and Penn State ranks fourth at 4.40 goals per game. The Nittany Lions have also seen 13 players score at least one goal through the first five games this season ranking second in the nation behind North Dakota, Minnesota State and Denver who have each seen 14 players find the back of the net. The Badgers are tied for third with 12 players recording at least one goal so far this season.
SCOUTING WISCONSIN
- Wisconsin lost little and added a lot to a team that pushed Penn State to the brink last season during the Big Ten Quarterfinals. The No. 7 Badgers return 13 of their top-15 scorers from last season including leading scorer Sean Dhooghe who was the only Badger with double-digit goals scoring 15 while adding 11 assists for 26 points.
- The Badgers also boast one of the top recruiting classes in the nation having brought in 2019 NHL first-round draft picks Alex Turcotte (5th overall) and Cole Caufield (15th overall). Caufield leads the nation with seven goals through the first six games including multi-goal games in each of his first three NCAA games. Turcotte is third on the team in scoring with three goals and five assists for eight points but sat out last weekend's series against Clarkson due to an illness.
- Wisconsin is also paced by two of the top defensemen in the nation with junior Wyatt Kalynuk and sophomore K'Andre Miller. Kalynuk already has six helpers this season while Miller has scored a trio of goals from the blue-line.
- Overall, Wisconsin has 12 NHL draft picks on its roster tied for the most in the nation with Boston College and Boston University and is 4-2-0 so far this season including a weekend sweep against two-time reigning National Champion Minnesota-Duluth two weeks ago.
- The Badgers are tied for second in the nation averaging 4.50 goals per game aided by an 11-5 victory over Merrimack early in the season, however, Wisconsin ranks 44th in the nation allowing 3.33 goals per contest.
- Wisconsin has also excelled on special teams early in the season ranking eighth in the country on the power-play converting 25 percent of the time (7-for-28) while its penalty kill is tied for ninth having only allowed a pair of man-advantage goals on 22 chances (90.9 percent).
- Sophomore Daniel Lebedeff returns between the pipes for Wisconsin after winning the starting goaltender job during the 2018-19 season. Lebedeff has started all six games this season posting a 3.15 goals against average and an .890 save percentage.
A GRITTY WIN
- High-octane offensive hockey usually favors Penn State, but last Friday the Nittany Lions gutted out a 2-1 victory over Robert Morris marking the first time since a 2-1 win over Wisconsin in the 2017 Big Ten Championship game that PSU won a game when scoring two goals or less.
- Penn State is 2-0-0 this season in one-goal contests after posting a 6-5-2 record in such games during the 2018-19 season. Six of the last 12 games between Penn State and Wisconsin starting with the 2017 Big Ten Championship game have been decided by one goal or less with the other six having a 3.83 average goal differential.
A TALE OF THREE PERIODS
- Penn State has jumped out to early leads in four of its first five games while outscoring opponents 8-1 over the opening 20 minutes of play so far this season. The Nittany Lions have also closed strong offensively with 10 third period goals. PSU is 4-0-0 when scoring first this season.
- Last season the second period was the strongest for the Nittany Lions with 71 goals and a +16 goal differential, however, this season Penn State has only scored four second period goals compared to 14 for the Badgers during the middle frame.
- Wisconsin is doubling up its opponents in the second period so far this season with a 14-7 scoring edge, but are being outscored 6-5 in the first period.
AT THE TOP OF THEIR GAME
- Senior Brandon Biro became the sixth member of the 100-point club at Penn State following his game-winning third period goal last Friday against RMU. The goal was his fourth of the season tying for the team lead.
- Biro is the second Nittany Lion this season to hit the century mark after Denis Smirnov accomplished that same feat against Alaska the week prior.
- With the trio of Biro, Smirnov and Nate Sucese, who reached 100 points late last season, Penn State is the only Division I institution with multiple 100-point scorers entering the weekend. Sucese ranks third nationally among active players with 113 points while Smirnov and Biro rank fourth and fifth with 101 and 100, respectively.
- Sucese is also second in the nation among active players with 52 career goals. His 11 points and nine assists so far this season rank second nationally.
- Sucese also crept up the Penn State all-time scoring list moving into third all-time with his 113 points just five behind Chase Berger '19 (118) and 15 behind David Goodwin '17 (128). The senior also moved into second all-time on the Penn State goals list with 52 and is currently just two shy of Andrew Sturtz's program record.
MR. JONES
- Senior goaltender Peyton Jones has begun the season very strong for the Nittany Lions winning all four of the games he has started between the pipes improving his career record to 62-35-8. His 62 wins are the most in the nation among active goaltenders.
- Jones' .942 save percentage so far this season is good for first in the Big Ten and sixth in the nation while his 1.75 goals against average ranks second and 12th, respectively.
TOUGH COMPETITION
- This marks the first contests for Penn State this season against a ranked opponent and the Nittany Lions are 36-57-7 all-time against ranked opponents including a 19-23-4 record in such games on home ice.
- Over the past three seasons, however the Nittany Lions are above .500 at 27-26-6 including a 15-11-3 mark at Pegula Ice Arena.
- This weekend's games against Wisconsin mark the 10th and 11th games in the all-time series where both teams have been ranked. Penn State is 5-2-2 in the previous nine such games.
SPECIAL TEAMS SUCCESS
- Penn State has scored six power-play goals on 25 attempts so far this season for a 24 percent conversion rate to rank fourth in the Big Ten and 9th in the nation.
- The Nittany Lion PK has also seen early season success allowing just two man-advantage goals on 24 opponent opportunities ranking first in the Big Ten and 8th in the nation. PSU allowed a goal on its first penalty of the season and since then have killed off 22-of-23 including 15-straight.
NEXT UP
- Penn State remains home for another Big Ten Conference series when the Michigan State Spartans come to town on November 8-9 for a pair of contests.
For more information on the 2019-20 season presented by the Penn State Bookstore: the Official Bookstore of Penn State Athletics, visit the men's hockey page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.