UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's ice hockey team welcomes the Niagara Purple Eagles to Pegula Ice Arena to kickoff Homecoming Weekend with a pair of 7 p.m. contests on Thursday and Friday evening.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Thursday, October 21 | Friday, October 22
Place: Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.
Tickets: Thursday | Friday
Time: Thu: 7:00 p.m. | Fri: 7:00 p.m.
Streaming Video - B1G+ ($): Thursday | Friday
Listen: Thursday | Friday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- This weekend marks the eighth and ninth meetings all-time between the two schools with Penn State having never lost to the Purple Eagles holding the 6-0-1 advantage.
- The two programs last met during the 2019-20 season with Penn State earning the series sweep at Pegula Ice Arena with scores of 3-2 and 2-0. During the second game of the series, then sophomore Oskar Autio registered his second-consecutive shutout and second career victory in the process.
- Niagara has never scored more than two goals against Penn State in the seven previous matchups as the Nittany Lions are outscoring the Purple Eagles 28-8 in the series. Penn State has won six-straight meetings after the first-ever meeting on November 6, 2015 ended in a 1-1 tie at Dwyer Ice Arena.
- Only nine current Nittany Lions have laced up their skates against Niagara led by senior Paul DeNaples with a pair of assists in four games against the Purple Eagles. Junior Connor McMenamin tallied the game-winning goal in each of the two games played during the 2019-20 season while senior Adam Pilewicz recorded his first collegiate goal against Niagara during an 8-2 victory on October 19, 2018.
- After splitting with Canisius a few weeks ago, Penn State is now 38-15-2 all-time against Atlantic Hockey opponents. The loss snapped a streak of 13-straight victories for Penn State against Atlantic teams dating back to the 2017-18 season. The Nittany Lions dropped a pair of games that season to Atlantic foes with losses to AIC and Mercyhurst over a three-week span.
FRIDAY PARKING AND TRAFFIC ADVISORY WITH HOMECOMING PARADE
- With the 7:00 p.m. hockey game and 6:00 p.m. Homecoming Parade on Friday please be advised of the following parking & traffic changes.
- Curtin Road will close at 5:30 p.m. for the Homecoming Parade. Premium parking lots, for those with a Shields or Wagner parking pass, will be available for parking from 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. All premium parkers must travel north on University Drive and make the left turn onto Curtin Road.
- Premium parking passes arriving after 5:30 p.m. will have their parking pass accepted in the general hockey parking lots in Stadium West and Jordan East. With the parade crossing University Drive at Curtin Road, fans wishing to park in Stadium West should travel via Park Avenue, the 1-99/322 interchange, or Fox Hollow Road.
- To accommodate our early parkers, doors for Friday's game will open early at 5:00 p.m.
- Due to the high volume of traffic, as seen in previous seasons with the parade, we encourage fans to arrive before 5:30 p.m. or after 6:00 p.m. for easiest access to parking lots.
- Prepaid parking in Stadium West or Jordan East for non-premium pass holders is available in advance of Friday night's game for $5.50 until midnight on Thursday via the ParkMobile App or the cost will be $10 day of game.
SCOUTING NIAGARA
- The Purple Eagles lost seven of their top-10 scorers from a team that finished the 2020-21 season 7-12-3. Niagara was swept by North Dakota two weeks ago to open the season losing 6-2 and 4-0.
- Walker Sommer returns for his senior season after leading the team with eight goals and 15 points last season. Ryan Naumovski also returns after a 13-point season in 2020-21 and he scored one of the two Purple Eagle goals against North Dakota.
- Chad Veltri returns between the pipes for Niagara after posting a 5-7-2 record last season with a .914 save percentage and a 2.61 goals-against average.
- Niagara averaged just 19 shots per game in its two-game series against North Dakota. The Purple Eagles allowed four powerplay goals to the Fighting Hawks on seven opportunities while only scoring one man-advantage goal of their own on eight chances.
- Niagara averaged 2.59 goals per game during the 2020-21 season while allowing 3.18, however, albeit a small sample size, they are averaging just 1.00 goals per game while allowing 5.00 through two games this season.
HOCKEY VALLEY FIVE-O
- Penn State hit its magic number of five goals during the series finale against Canisius two weeks ago improving to 84-1-2 all-time when scoring five or more goals. Penn State was 4-0-0 in such games during 2020-21 after going 11-0-0 when scoring five or more goals in 2019-20.
- The Nittany Lions have won 26-straight games when scoring five or more goals, including two so far this season, with the last and only loss coming at Wisconsin on December 1, 2018, an 8-5 defeat.
CENTURY MARK
- A pair of seniors will reach the 100-game milestone for their careers on Thursday evening as Paul DeNaples and Ben Copeland will skate in their 100th collegiate game should they be in the lineup. DeNaples has spent his entire career in the Blue & White while Copeland transferred in from Colorado College and will be competing in just his third game as a Nittany Lion.
- With a pair of assists so far this season, DeNaples has moved into a tie for eighth on the Penn State all-time assists list for defenseman with 23 for his career while his 28 points put him tenth among defensemen in program history, just one point shy of Nate Jensen for ninth.
HELLO, OLD FRIEND
- Assistant coach Juliano Pagliero is a 2009 graduate from Niagara and will be facing off against his Alma Mater for the first time in four years this weekend. As a coach, the former CHA Player of the Year is 8-2-0 all-time against Niagara.
- Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky and Niagara head coach Jason Lammers have a long history together as well as the two overlapped at both of Gadowsky's prior stops before coming to Hockey Valley.
- Lammers was part of Gadowsky's staff in his final year at Alaska during the 2003-04 season and he followed him to Princeton for the 2004-05 season before returning to his Alma Mater, SUNY-Geneseo, as head coach for the 2005-06 campaign. Lammers has been behind the Purple Eagles bench since 2017 compiling a record of 47-73-15.
GOOD GUY, BAD GUY
- Sophomore Christian Sarlo is tied for the team lead with two goals, both have been game-winning tallies which are tied for fourth in the nation, however, Sarlo's three penalties also tie for the team lead.
GOALTENDING TANDEM
- Following a 27-save performance against Canisius two weeks ago, senior goaltender Oskar Autio moved past PJ Musico and into fourth on the all-time saves list at Penn State as he continues to inch closer to 1,000 career saves.
- With just one more appearance he will tie Musico for fourth all-time at Penn State with 30 appearances. Autio's 13 victories rank fourth all-time at Penn State just five behind Eamon McAdam for third.
- Sophomore Liam Souliere made his first start between the pipes against Canisius on October 9 picking up his second collegiate victory with a 36-save performance. His 36 saves tied his career-high which he first achieved against Arizona State last December.
DANNY DANGLEZ
- Freshman forward Danny Dzhaniyev leads the team through the first four games of the season with five points on two goals and three assists. He has registered at least one point in three of his four games played with a pair of multi-point efforts along the way.
- The rookie's five points are tied for sixth in the Big Ten and 35th nationally.
DON'T GET SHORT WITH ME
- Junior Connor MacEachern sealed the 5-2 victory over Canisius with a short-handed, empty-net tally two weeks ago. After scoring earlier in the game this marked his first career multi-goal game and it also marked the first time in program history Penn State has allowed a shorthanded goal and scored a shorthanded goal in the same game.
BLOCK PARTY
- Penn State is averaging 16.5 blocks per game this season to lead the Big Ten paced by 22 and 26 blocks, respectively, in the games vs. Canisius two weeks ago.
- Sophomore Christian Berger paces Penn State with 10 blocks on the season to rank fourth in the Big Ten and tied for 15th in the nation. DeNaples ranks fifth in the Big Ten and tied for 25th nationally with nine blocks through four games.
- Connor McMenamin is tied for fifth among all forwards in the nation with seven blocks on the season including an impressive stretch during the series finale against Canisius where he had three-consecutive blocked shots during the penalty kill all without a stick.
GET AHEAD, STAY AHEAD
- Penn State has scored the opening goal in all three of its victories this season after going 7-4-0 when scoring first last season. Over the past five seasons, the Nittany Lions are now 70-17-9 when scoring first.
- Penn State has also held the lead entering the third period in each victory this season moving to 130-12-10 all-time when carrying a lead into the final period. On the flip side, the Nittany Lions are just 13-96-7 all-time when trailing entering the third period with just one win in each of the past six seasons when in that situation.
UNDERCLASSMEN PACING PLAY
- Through the first four games of the season, Penn State's underclassmen have led the way combining for more than half of Penn State's goals scored and over two-thirds of the total points.
- The sophomores have scored five goals while adding eight assists for 13 points while the freshman have three goals and nine assists for 12 points. The juniors and seniors have combined for six goals and six assists for 12 points.
NEXT UP
- Penn State hits the road for the first time this season with a trip to Nashville, Tennessee for the US Hockey Hall of Fame game against North Dakota at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday, October 30.
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.