UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Nittany Lions will face a familiar foe when the 2021 Big Ten Tournament kicks off on Sunday afternoon with their fifth-straight match-up against the 19th-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The winner of the quarterfinal match-up will battle top-seeded Wisconsin in the first semifinal game on Monday at 4:30 p.m.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Sunday, March 14
Place: Compton Family Ice Arena | South Bend, Indiana
Time: 12 p.m.
TV: Big Ten Network
Streaming Video: Fox Sports App
Listen: Sunday
Live Statistics: Sunday
Game Notes: Penn State
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- This marks the 23rd meeting all-time between the two programs with Notre Dame holding the 13-6-3 advantage including an 8-3-1 mark at Compton Family Ice Arena. The Irish won the season series this year three games to one following last weekend's sweep.
- 12 of the 22 games in the series have been decided by a goal or less with 17 of the 22 decided by two or less goals and seven games needing overtime. Last weekend's 7-1 setback in the series finale marked the largest margin of victory by a team since Penn State's 9-1 win back on December 8, 2018. The seven goals scored by the Irish also match their most-ever against Penn State dating back to the first-ever matchup between the two teams on October 16, 2015, a 7-4 victory by Notre Dame.
- Alex Limoges leads all current Nittany Lions with five goals and two assists for seven points in 16 games including the overtime game winner in the opening game of the season series back in January. Sam Sternschein has added three goals in 15 games while Aarne Talvitie, Tyler Gratton and Mason Snell have each added a pair in seven and five games, respectively.
- The 34-day layoff between games that Penn State faced leading into last weekend is tied for the longest in-season stretch without a game for the Nittany Lions since an identical 34 days between contests during the 2016-17 holiday season.
- This marks the third time in the past five seasons that the Nittany Lions will open the Big Ten Tournament against the team it ended the regular season against. If you count last season when Penn State was set to battle Minnesota in the Big Ten Semifinals, it would make it four of the past five seasons. Penn State is 2-0 in the previous two instances.
- This also marks the third time in the last three tournaments that were completed where Penn State and Notre Dame have met with the Irish securing the previous two victories, a 3-2 semifinal win in 2018 and a 3-2 championship victory in 2019. The Nittany Lions are now just 2-8-0 in their last 10 games inside Compton Family Ice Arena.
SCOUTING NOTRE DAME…AGAIN
- Notre Dame swept both Michigan State and Penn State to conclude the regular-season and are ranked No. 19 in the latest uscho.com poll. The Irish are 6-3-1 in their last ten games.
- The Irish are 9-2-1 on the road this season, and now just 5-10-1 at home and 3-8-1 in Big Ten games at Compton Family Ice Arena and were 0-6-1 in their last seven conference games on home ice prior to last weekend's sweep of the Nittany Lions.
- Junior Alex Steeves leads an Irish offense that ranks fourth in the Big Ten averaging 2.89 goals per game with 31 points on 15 goals and 16 assists. His 31 points are good for the fourth most in the Big Ten and sixth nationally while his 15 goals rank third in the Big Ten and tied for fifth in the nation. Steeves is currently riding a six-game point streak and has nine goals and 10 assists for 18 points in his last 13 games.
- Freshman Landon Slaggert has added eight goals while brother Graham and senior Colin Theisen have each added seven. Graham Slaggert has a team-best 18 assists and ranks second on the team with 25 points.
- Senior Dylan St. Cyr has raised his save percentage nearly 30 points since the end of January while going 6-2-1 with a league leading .949 save percentage and 1.69 goals-against average over his last nine games. His six wins are the most in the Big Ten since January St. Cyr was brilliant two weeks ago against the Spartans collecting back-to-back shutouts stopping all 56 shots he saw. St. Cyr currently ranks fourth in the Big Ten with his .925 save percentage and 2.30 goals-against average.
- The Notre Dame powerplay improved slightly over the past month up heading into last weekend's series, but sputtered against the Nittany Lions who went a perfect 4-for-4 on the PK including killing off the entirety of a five-minute major which began with a full two minutes of 5-on-3. The Irish are now converting at just 17.1 percent (12-for-70), good for sixth in the Big Ten and 35th nationally.
ONE YEAR LATER
- One year to the day that Penn State was scheduled to play Minnesota in the 2020 Big Ten Tournament semifinals they will begin its quest for the 2021 championship crown against Notre Dame.
- Penn State has advanced to five-straight tournament semifinal games and six overall in the first seven years of the conference marking the second most semifinal appearances in league history behind only Ohio State who has appeared in all seven semifinal rounds.
- With 16 games played in the Big Ten Tournament, The Nittany Lions are tied with Ohio State for the most since the league's inception prior to the 2013-14 season with each team having identical 10-6 records, the most wins in tournament history. PSU is 8-3 in its last 11 Big Ten Tournament games dating back to the 2016-17 season including sending home a pair of college hockey bluebloods twice during that stretch with a 3-0 record against Minnesota and a 3-1 record against Wisconsin.
- Senior Alex Limoges ranks second all-time in tournament history with 12 points on six goals and six assists in eight games. Limoges has registered at least one point in six of his eight Big Ten Tournament games with five multi-point games. Limoges' six goals in five games during the 2018-19 Big Ten Tournament were a single-tournament record while his nine points was second to Liam Folkes '20 as both players landed on the All-Tournament Team. Folkes graduated last May as the Big Ten's all-time tournament leader in goals, assists and points with a 8-8-16 stat line in 11 career postseason games.
- Penn State enters this season's Big Ten Tournament a little less experienced than a year ago having lost 102 games of experience either to graduation or early signings. The 11 players Penn State lost last offseason combined for 25 goals and 34 assists for 59 points while going 8-3-0 in 11 Big Ten Tournament games during a three-year stretch from 2017-2019.
- Also lost to graduation was the 2017 B1G Tournament MVP and the winningest goaltender in the history of the Big Ten Tournament, Peyton Jones who played every minute of those 11 games posting an 8-3-0 record with a .930 save percentage and a 2.39 goals-against average.
- This year's version of the Nittany Lions has just 38 games of experience and have totaled nine goals and 15 assists for 24 points with half of those points and two-thirds of the goals coming off the stick of Limoges.
- Penn State is 4-0 all-time in overtime games during the Big Ten Tournament including having played in the three longest games in tournament history.
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.