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Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics

No. 8/9 Men's Hockey Welcomes Notre Dame to Hockey Valley This Weekend


UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The eighth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions welcome Notre Dame to Pegula Ice Arena for a pair of Big Ten Conference games this weekend.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, January 31 | Saturday, February 1
Place: Pegula Ice Arena
Time: Friday at 6 p.m. | Saturday at 6 p.m.
Tickets: Friday | Saturday
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday ($)
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats (Both Games)
Game Notes: Penn State | Notre Dame

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • This weekend marks the 17th and 18th meetings between the two programs with Notre Dame holding the 9-5-2 advantage after a series split in South Bend back in December. The teams have split each of the past three series following a dominating 2017-18 season where the Irish went 4-0-1 in five games against the Nittany Lions.
  • Senior classmates Nikita Pavlychev and Nate Sucese lead all current Nittany Lions with four career goals against the Irish while senior's Denis Smirnov and Liam Folkes along with junior's Evan Barratt and Alex Limoges each have three. Senior Brandon Biro leads all Nittany Lions with 11 points in 14 games against Notre Dame on a pair of goals and nine assists while Folkes has added seven points.
  • Notre Dame has played spoiler to Penn State the last two seasons knocking them out of the Big Ten Tournament in the semifinals in 2018 and in the Big Ten Championship last season, both 3-2 setbacks.

HOCKEY VALLEY WHITE RUSH

  • Saturday's series finale will serve as the annual Wear White game with a twist this season as Penn State will wear specialty all-white 'White Rush' uniforms based off the Penn State football road uniform and each fan in attendance will receive a commemorative Rally Towel.
  • Following the conclusion of the game, all 29 Hockey Valley White Rush jerseys will be auctioned off online via the Charity Auction page on GoPSUsports.com. The auction will run from Friday, January 31st at 5:00PM through Wednesday, February 12th at 8:00PM. Proceeds from the jersey auction will benefit Hockey Coaches Care and Penn State Dance Marathon (THON).

SCOUTING NOTRE DAME

  • The Irish enter the weekend coming off a 5-2 victory over Wisconsin, but have won just three times since the middle of November having gone 3-10-3 in their last 16 games. However, ND is currently fourth in the B1G standings with 23 points just five points out of the first place spot shared by Penn State and Michigan State.
  • The Irish are still paced by senior goaltender Cale Morris and even though he hasn't put up the earth-shattering numbers as years past, he still has a .910 save percentage and a 2.69 goals against average, which has only improved in Big Ten play to the tune of a .917 save percentage and a 2.38 goals against average. In his career against Penn State, Morris is 8-3-1 with a .937 save percentage and a 2.67 goals against average with a pair of shutouts. However, in the last six regular-season games against the Nittany Lions, Morris is 3-3-0 with a .912 save percentage and a 3.44 goals against average.
  • Offensively Notre Dame is paced by sophomore Alex Steeves with nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points while both Mike O'Leary and Cam Morrison have chipped in with 19 points each.
  • The Irish have struggled on defense this season ranking fifth in the Big Ten and 36th nationally allowing 2.88 goals per game after leading the conference and ranking 12th in the nation last season allowing just 2.27 goals per game.
  • Notre Dame scored four of its nine goals last weekend on the power-play going 4-for-12 against the Badgers improving its man-advantage to 20.8 percent (16-for-77) on the year, a mark good for third in the Big Ten and 20th nationally. However, its PK went just 4-for-7 against Wisconsin and have allowed at least one power-play tally in seven-straight games. On the year the Irish rank last in the Big Ten and 57th nationally killing off just 74 percent (57-for-77) of opponent man-advantage opportunities.

SPECIALTY UNITS

  • Penn State has been excellent this season on special teams and is one of just two teams nationally to have two top-10 units joining Minnesota State. The Nittany Lion penalty kill leads the Big Ten and ranks ninth in the nation at 86.2 percent (81-for-94). Over the last nine games, Penn State is 29-for-31 on the PK.
  • Penn State's power-play also leads the Big Ten and ranks third in the nation converting 28 percent of the time (30-for-107). Last weekend, the Nittany Lions were held without a power-play tally in a series for the first time this season as MSU took just two penalties in over 120 minutes of action.
  • In Big Ten play, Penn State is 15-for-47 (31.9 percent) with the man-advantage with at least one power-play goal in 10 of 16 conference games.

B1G MAC

  • Freshman Connor McMenamin netted the overtime winner last Saturday giving him three game-winning goals this season, each coming in the month of January, to tie for the team lead.
  • The rookie is currently on a career-best three-game point streak and has really found his stride offensively after being placed on a line with senior Nikita Pavlychev. In six games as linemates since the start of January, lines featuring both McMenamin and Pavlychev together have combined for eight of the 19 goals the Nittany Lions have scored during those contests.

ROAD WARRIORS

  • The overtime victory at Michigan State last Saturday ran Penn State's road record to 7-4-0 this season tying the program record for most road victories. The Nittany Lions have had seven road victories twice before in 2015-16 and 2017-18. Last season, Penn State was just 6-7-1 in games away from Pegula Ice Arena.
  • The OT victory on the road also marked the first time in over three years that Penn State won a road OT game dating back to Andrew Sturtz's game-winner at Notre Dame on October 22, 2016.

EXTRA, EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT

  • Freshman Tyler Gratton potted an extra-attacker goal late during a 4-2 loss at Michigan State last Friday. The extra-attacker tally was the third this season for the Nittany Lions and at the time it was also the second-consecutive game where Penn State had scored with the extra-attacker on the ice.
  • It was just the second time in program history and the first since November 25 and December 1 of 2017 that the Nittany Lions had scored an extra attacker goal in back-to-back games.

BLUE-LINE BEAUTY

  • Junior Cole Hults was named the Big Ten Third Star of the Week for the second time this season following a 4-point weekend against Michigan State. The junior factored into all four goals scored by the Nittany Lions last weekend including the primary assist on each of the two goals during a 2-1 overtime victory on Saturday.
  • Hults currently leads the Big Ten with a +17 rating, a mark good for seventh nationally, while his 24 points are also the most among defensemen in the conference and tied for sixth overall while ranking sixth in the nation for blue-liners.
  • Hults, who hasn't missed a single-game in his career, has already set program records this season for points by a defenseman (72) and assists by a defenseman (58), a mark that is good for sixth overall at Penn State, while his 14 goals are the fourth-most all-time by a Nittany Lion defenseman.
  • The junior's 72 points are the most among active defensemen in the Big Ten and tied for the 11th most among active defensemen across the country. Hults is just four points shy of his single-season career-high achieved last season and sits only six points back of Vince Pedrie's single-season program record for points by a defensemen of 30 set during the 2016-17 season.

FEELIN' 100

  • Should he play in both games this weekend, junior Alex Limoges will become the second player this season to appear in 100 career games for the Nittany Lions.
  • Limoges is also approaching the 100 career points milestone as his 95 points lead all current juniors in the Big Ten and rank second nationally among third-year players and tied for 27th overall.
  • The junior is one of six Nittany Lions in the top-8 of career active point leaders in the Big Ten ranking tied for sixth. Sucese ranks second in the Big Ten with 132 career points just three shy of OSU's Tanner Laczynski, while Smirnov (113), Biro (109), Folkes (95) and Barratt (89) rank fourth through seventh, respectively, as each are in the top 37 of all active players nationally.
  • Limoges' 95 points are also tied for seventh all-time at Penn State while his 57 assists are also good for seventh all-time and his 38 goals are tied for eighth.

BONES JONES

  • Senior net-minder Peyton Jones secured his fifth game this season of 40-plus saves last Saturday and his third in his last four starts after having just four such games of 40-plus saves over his first three seasons combined. Jones is now 4-1-0 in games where he has 40+ saves this season and 7-2-0 all-time.
  • The senior is having a career year this season as his .923 save percentage and 2.56 goals against average are the best of his career and rank fourth in the Big Ten and good for 18th and 39th nationally. Jones' 15 victories this season lead the Big Ten and are good for fifth nationally while his 73 career wins are the most among active goaltenders in the nation.

NEXT UP

  • The Nittany Lions hit the road for Columbus in a crucial series against No. 11 Ohio State next Friday and Saturday. With six Big Ten points up for grabs and a logjam atop the Big Ten standings anything can happen down the stretch.

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.