UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State looks to keep its momentum and close out the first semester of the 2020-21 season strong against No. 20 Arizona State on Friday and Sunday.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, December 11 | Sunday, December 13
Place: Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.
Time: FRI: 6 p.m. / SUN: 2 p.m.
TV: BTN+
Streaming Video: Friday | Sunday
Listen: Friday | Sunday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State
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. LINK TO BUY.
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- This week marks just the seventh and eighth meetings all-time between the 59th and 60th NCAA Division I programs and the first in over two years. Penn State leads the series 5-1-0 outscoring the Sun Devils 35-15 for an average of 5.83 goals per game.
- The last time the two teams met the Nittany Lions won a barn burner in the opener 6-5 before ASU secured its first-ever win against Penn State in overtime the following night on a goal from Johnny Walker.
- Only five current Nittany Lions took the ice in that series two years ago led by senior Alex Limoges who scored twice, including the game-winner, in the first game while adding a pair of assists in game two. Limoges has four career games against ASU joining senior Sam Sternschein who has added one goal and three assists in his four games played against the Sun Devils.
SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE
- The Sun Devils enter the series winners in three of their last four and ranked 20th in the latest uscho.com poll after starting the season 0-3-1, however, all-time leading scorer Johnny Walker has been sidelined with a lower-body injury and will most likely miss his seventh and eighth straight games. Walker leads all active NCAA Division I players with 60 career goals and is just four points shy of 100 for his career.
- ASU returns most of its scoring from last season's team but are led by freshman Matthew Kopperud with 11 points on six goals and five assists. Kopperud is tied for second nationally with his 11 points while his six goals ties for the nationally lead with Wisconsin's Cole Caufield. Sophomore Jax Murray has added four goals of his own while freshman Ryan O'Reilly and junior Demetrios Koumontzis each have three.
- Arizona State is tied for 30th nationally allowing 3.50 goals per game among of the 41 teams who have played at least one game so far this season while they rank 18th in the nation averaging 2.88 themselves.
- Without Walker, the Sun Devils are near the bottom of the nation on the powerplay converting just 2-of-26 chances for a 7.7 percent efficiency rate. Of Walker's 60 goals over his first three seasons in the desert, 22, or more than a third, have come with the man-advantage.
- Between the pipes Freshman Cole Brady has split time with Evan Debrouwer as both goaltenders have made four starts and have identical .906 save percentages. Debrouwer has had slightly better luck in the win column posting a 2-2-0 record and has a slightly better goals-against average at 3.30.
- ASU is nearing the end of a 12-game, 35-day road trip as they travel to Ohio State next weekendto close out the first semester of play following the trip to Hockey Valley. The Sun Devils agreed to play a full Big Ten schedule entirely on the road this season in order to get games in as an independent. Each Big Ten team has agreed to give the Sun Devils one return trip at some point in the future.
NINE TIMES!
- Penn State had scored just 10 goals in its first five games of the season entering Thursday night before erupting for nine goals in a 9-5 victory over No. 7 Michigan.
- The nine goals tie the third most in a single-game in program history and tie the most-ever scored against a conference opponent. Penn State defeated No. 5 Notre Dame 9-1 nearly two years to the day on December 8, 2018.
- The Nittany Lions have now scored seven or more goals 24 times, including 16 times in the past three-plus seasons, and are a perfect 24-0-0 when doing so. Penn State has scored seven or more goals three times against ASU.
- Penn State also hit its magic number of five for the first time this season on Thursday night after going 11-0-0 last year when doing so. The Nittany Lions are now 78-1-2 all-time when scoring five or more goals with the lone loss coming during the 2018-19 season at Wisconsin.
SATURDAY NIGHT'S ALRIGHT FOR... NOTHING
- With a Friday-Sunday series lined up this week Penn State will have played a game on each day of the week so far this season except for Saturday.
- Historically Saturday has been the most successful day for Penn State. Over the past four seasons the Nittany Lions are 38-21-6 in games played on Saturday including a 10-4-1 record last season. Penn State went 6-1-1 in Saturday night contests during the second half of the 2019-20 season.
- Over the past four seasons, Penn State has won the Big Ten Tournament on a Saturday, won it's first-ever NCAA Tournament game on a Saturday and last season came-from-behind to defeat Minnesota, 3-2 on a Saturday in a game that became a defacto Big Ten regular-season championship game.
WHAT ABOUT BOB?
- Junior Bobby Hampton introduced himself to Hockey Valley last week against Michigan scoring a pair of goals, his first two as a Nittany Lion, including the eventual game-winning goal on Thursday.
- A transfer from Northeastern, Hampton had to redshirt the entire 2019-20 season due to the NCAA transfer rules. The goal was a combination of grit and hard work and was Hampton's first goal in over two years dating back to November 1, 2018, a span of 763 days.
FULLY CHARGED
- After going just 1-for-16 on the powerplay over the first five games of the season, Penn State regained its man-advantage swagger on Thursday going 4-for-6 on the powerplay including a pair of PPG's in the first 20 seconds of the man-advantage.
- Limoges netted his 10th career powerplay tally in the game moving into a tie with David Goodwin '17 for seventh on the Penn State all-time powerplay goals list. The senior leads the team with three powerplay point this season.
NIGHT FULL OF FIRSTS
- Along with Hampton's first goals as a NIttany Lion and Penn State's first win of the 2020-21 season on Thursday night a trio of freshmen also collected their first collegiate goals as Chase McLane, Jared Westcott and Jimmy Dowd Jr. each lit the lamp.
- All three players also added assists to collect their first-ever multi-point efforts while Westcott registered a career-best three points on one goal and two assists in the victory.
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 have seen action so far this season.
- Autio earned the starting nod both nights last week as Guy Gadowsky opted to use the same goaltender in each game for the first time this season. Thursday night marked Autio's first-career Big Ten victory.
NEXT UP
- It is currently unknown when Penn State will take the ice for its next contest as the second half of the 2020-21 Big Ten men's ice hockey schedule is yet to be released by the conference office. We know it will be sometime in January, but unfortunately that is all we know at this time.
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.