UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State opens its 2020-21 home slate against the seventh-ranked Michigan Wolverines during a mid-week Big Ten Conference series on Wednesday and Thursday evening.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Wednesday, December 2 | Thursday, December 3
Place: Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.
Time: 6:00 p.m.
TV: Wed: ESPNU | Thu: BTN+
Streaming Video: Wednesday | Thursday
Listen: Wednesday | Thursday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State | Michigan
PEGULA ICE ARENA FAN CUTOUTS
- The Penn State Hockey season is going to be like no other. It's not going to be the same without the strength of all our fans cheering from the stands. As we prepare for the 2020 season, Penn State fans still have the opportunity to make their mark in Pegula Ice Arena by purchasing a fan cutout!
- The cutouts are $45 and will be added to Pegula Ice Arena as purchased throughout the season. To make sure yours is in place by our home series against Arizona State you must purchase by Friday, December 4. LINK TO BUY.
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- This week marks the 32nd and 33rd meetings in the all-time series with Michigan holding the 17-13-1 edge including a 7-4-1 mark since the start of the 2017-18 season.
- The Wolverines won the season series last year with a 2-1-1-1 record taking 8-of-12 possible Big Ten points. The Nittany Lions hold the 7-5-1 mark at Pegula Ice Arena.
- Penn State enters the week unranked in the USCHO.com poll for the first time in the last 66 polls, the longest streak in program history spanning over three calendar years. The last time the Nittany Lions played a game while unranked was on December 1-2, 2017 at Ohio State. Penn State won that series with a shootout win followed by a 4-0 shutout to secure 5-of-6 Big Ten points.
- Penn State is 5-2-1 all-time in home openers including four-straight home opening victories. The Nittany Lions are 4-3-0 all-time in Big Ten home openers.
- Senior Alex Limoges has fared well against Michigan in his time at Penn State having scored four goals while adding six assists for 10 points in 12 career games to lead all Nittany Lions. Only two other current Nittany Lions have scored against Michigan as senior Sam Sternschein and junior Aarne Talvitie have one goal each in 15 combined games. Sternschein's goal was an overtime winner in a wild 7-6 victory in Hockey Valley two years ago.
SCOUTING MICHIGAN
- The Wolverines enter the series ranked seventh in the nation but coming off a sweep at the hands of Notre Dame over the weekend. With a 2-2-0-1-0 record and five conference points, Michigan is currently fourth in the Big Ten standings.
- Michigan lost its top-three scorers from last season's team to graduation but have replenished with a plethora of first-round NHL draft talent to join 2019 first-round selection's Johnny Beecher and Cam York. Overall, Michigan has seven draft picks on its roster with several players who will go high in the draft come next June.
- Defenseman Owen Power has the possibility to be selected first overall in the 2021 draft. He has already showcased numerous high-end skills in the first six games of the season with one goal and three assists for four points and you can't teach size, the Ontario stands at 6-5 weighing 214 pounds and just turned 18 a mere 10 days ago.
- Michigan is led on offense by three freshmen as future first-rounder Kent Johnson paces the trio with eight points on one goal and seven assists. 2020 second-round pick Thomas Bordeleau has added seven points on two goals and five assists while Matty Beniers has two goals and three assists. Senior Michael Pastujov leads the Wolverines with three goals.
- The Wolverines do return reigning Big Ten Goaltender of the Year in Strauss Mann. Mann posted a .939 save percentage and 1.85 goals-against average last year to lead the Big Ten and rank third and fifth in the nation, respectively. Mann currently ranks sixth in the nation with a .939 save percentage among goaltenders with multiple starts while his 1.33 goals-against average is good for third.
- Michigan's power-play leads the Big Ten and ranks tied for third in the nation at 30 percent (6-for-20) as the s
BREAK THE WALL DOWN
- Sophomore Kevin Wall had just seven points on a pair of goals and five assists in 26 games last season but he has already bettered his 2019-20 goal output in the first four games of 2020-21 having scored a goal in the first three games of the season.
- Having scored the final goal of the 2019-20 season and the first goal of the 2020-21 season Wall pushed his career-best goal and point streak to four games, but was kept off the scoresheet in the series finale at Wisconsin to snap the streak.
- Wall leads the team with his three goals and four points this season while his goal total is tied for fourth in the Big Ten and tied for fifth nationally.
ADJUST YOUR AUTIO LEVELS
- With the graduation of Peyton Jones, Penn State has an opening in net for the first time in four years and both junior Oskar Autio and freshman Liam Souliere started a pair of games last week each splitting both series.
- Having never started a Big Ten contest against either Minnesota or Wisconsin in his previous two years, Autio will have a little more familiarity with his opponent this week as the only prior Big Ten starts of his career before this season have come against the Wolverines.
- Autio has three total appearances against Michigan in his career with a pair of starts and has posted a 0-1-1 record with a .907 save percentage and a 3.50 goals-against average.
BIG TIME TIMMY JIM
- Graduate transfer Tim Doherty secured his first Nittany Lion goal on Monday evening at Wisconsin. Doherty's 78 career points are good for 19th among active players and fourth in the Big Ten while his 35 career goals place him 12th nationally and fourth among Big Ten student-athletes.
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!
- Senior Alex Limoges was named Penn State's 2020-21 captain and earned his second-straight preseason First-Team All-B1G nod after earning honorable mention accolades at the conclusion of the 2019-20 season.
- Limoges leads all active Big Ten players in points with 106 for his career to rank third nationally. His 42 career goals are the second-most among active players in the Big Ten, only behind Michigan State's Mitchell Lewandowski with 44, and also tied for third nationally.
- Limoges became the eighth Nittany Lion in program history to reach the 100-point mark for his career last season and after a three-point series against Wisconsin has moved passed Andrew Sturtz into sixth on the Penn State all-time points list. His 42 goals are good for eighth all-time.
HOME SWEET HOME
- The Nittany Lions return home to Pegula Ice Arena after four-straight road games to open the season. It was just the second-time in program history that Penn State played four-straight road games at the start of the year with the only other time coming to begin the 2017-18 season.
- Penn State is 80-42-14 all-time at Pegula Ice Arena including an 11-5-3 record last season and a program-best 15 home victories during the 2018-19 season.
NEXT UP
- Penn State remains home to close out the first semester of play with a non-conference series against the Arizona State Sundevils.
For more information on the 2020-21 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.