Men's Hockey Begins 2021-22 Campaign with Sunday-Monday Set Against LIU

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's ice hockey team opens the 2021-22 season against the Long Island University Sharks with a pair of games slated for Sunday afternoon and Monday evening.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Sunday, October 3 | Monday, October 4
Place: Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.
Tickets: Sunday | Monday
Time: Sun: 3:00 p.m. | Mon: 7:00 p.m.
Streaming Video - B1G+ ($): Sunday | Monday
Listen: Sunday | Monday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

• This marks the first meetings all-time between the two programs as LIU begins just its second NCAA Division I season after becoming the 61st institution to support varsity hockey prior to the 2020-21 campaign.
• It has been 589 days since Penn State last played a game in front of more than just family and close friends, that coming during a 3-2 victory over Minnesota on February 22, 2020. Only 10 players on the current 25-man roster have experienced a true Pegula Ice Arena atmosphere.
• LIU becomes the 34th NCAA Division I opponent Penn State will face. In total the Nittany Lions will face four first-time opponents during the 2021-22 season with North Dakota, St. Thomas and Maine also making the schedule.
• Penn State is 5-3-1 all-time in season-opening contests including a 4-0-1 mark at Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions are averaging 3.56 goals per game in season opening affairs including a 4.4 clip at Pegula Ice Arena, outscoring their opponents 22-10.
• After beginning the 2020-21 season 2-1-0, LIU went just 1-9-0 over its final ten contests to end last season scoring more than two goals just twice and averaging 1.4 goals per game over that span.

SCOUTING THE SHARKS

• LIU returns eight of its top-10 scorers from a season ago including leading scorer Nolan Welsh and leading goal-scorer Zack Bross. Of the ten players who had at least one goal a season ago, eight return to the Sharks lineup in 2021-22.
• The Sharks lost starting goaltender Garrett Metcalf from last season but return Vincent Purpura who made four appearances with three starts in 2020-21 registering a 1-2-0 record with a .902 save percentage and a 3.40 goals-against average. Alaska-Anchorage transfers Kris Carlson and Brandon Perrone will also vie for the starting role, however, neither have played in a game since the 2019-20 season.
• LIU ranked 47th out of the 51 teams that competed during the 2020-21 season averaging 1.41 goals per game while ranking second to last in goals allowed at 4.23.
• The Sharks also ranked last in the nation in powerplay percentage converting just two of 42 chances (4.8 percent) while their PK also ranked at the bottom at 67.2 percent (43-for-64).

PARKING

• Parking for Penn State Men's Ice Hockey games at Pegula Ice Arena will be available at the following locations beginning two hours prior to the start of each game:
  • Stadium West, Jordan East, Porter North
    • No charge with a valid Penn State
    • $5.50 prepaid through ParkMobile (season package available for $5 per game): ParkMobile LINK
    • $10 day-of-event without a valid permit or prepayment
    • ParkMobile prepayment availability ends at 11:59 p.m. the night before each event. Events will not be selectable on the site after that time, and payment must then be made on site upon arrival to event parkingstaff (cash only).
    • $1 per hour parkingwill also be available at the East Deck for most games.

BREAK THE WALL DOWN

• Penn State's top returning point getter from 2020-21, Kevin Wall had career-highs with eight goals and 11 assists for 19 points. His eight goals paced the team while his 19 points were good for second on the team.
• Wall opened the season on a three-game goal-streak and had six multi-point efforts throughout the season.

MAC ATTACK

• Like Wall, Connor McMenamin also had a career-year as a sophomore registering 15 points on six goals and nine assists. McMenamin's 27 career points leads all returning Nittany Lions entering the season.
• McMenamin tied Penn State single-game records for points with five and assists with four during a 5-4 victory against Wisconsin on January 22.

SUNDAY-FUNDAY

• Penn State played at least one game on each day of the week during the 2020-21 season and were a perfect 3-0-0 in games played on Sunday, but 0-3-0 in Monday games.
• Excluding exhibition games, the Nittany Lions are 5-6-0 all-time in games played on Sunday and 1-6-0 on Mondays.

THE GREAT GADOWSKY

• Head Coach Guy Gadowsky registered his 150th career victory at Penn State in his 300th game as Nittany Lion head coach on January 9, 2021 at Ohio State. Gadowsky is now 155-132-23 all-time behind the Penn State bench.
• The 2014-15 Big Ten Coach of the Year registered his 300th career victory in 2019-20 and currently ranks 74th all-time throughout all divisions with 328 victories. Among Division I coaches all-time, Gadowsky ranks 42nd with his 328 wins and is currently 14th among active NCAA Division I coaches.

FREE HOCKEY!

• In 2020-21 Penn State played six overtime games going 4-2-0, but lost its last two after having won each of the first four to open the season
• A pair of series against Arizona State in December and Notre Dame in January saw both games go into extra time.
• Penn State is now 19-11-22 all-time in overtime contests including a 5-2-2 mark in three-on-three overtime games. The Nittany Lions are just 4-8 in games that advance all the way to a shootout.

NEXT UP

• The Nittany Lions remain home with a quick turnaround as they finish off this opening stretch of four games in seven days with a Friday-Saturday series against Canisius at Pegula Ice Arena.

For more information on the 2021-22 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.