UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's ice hockey team travels to the Land of 10,000 Lakes for a Big Ten series against No. 7 Minnesota on Friday and Saturday evening to begin a stretch of four games over six days prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, November 19 | Saturday, November 20
Place: 3M Arena at Mariucci | Minneapolis, Minn.
Time: Fri: 8:00 p.m. (ET) | Sat: 9:00 p.m. (ET)
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State | Minnesota
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- This weekend marks the 34th and 35th meetings all-time with Minnesota holding the slim 17-15-1 edge, however, dating back to Penn State's 4-3 victory in double overtime of the 2017 Big Ten Tournament semifinals, the Nittany Lions are 12-4-1 in the last 17 meetings with two of those losses coming last November to open the 2020-21 campaign at Mariucci.
- This weekend, Penn State and Minnesota are meeting on the exact same dates at the exact same location just one year later of those first two games of the 2020-21 season where the Gophers secured 4-1 and 3-2 victories. Penn State is just 5-11-0 all-time at Mariucci Arena.
- Junior Kevin Wall leads all current Nittany Lions with four goals and two assists for six points in six career games against the Gophers including an active three-game goal-streak against Minnesota. Wall has scored at least one point in all but one game against the Gophers in his career including goals in four of six career games.
- In six career games against his former team, senior Clayton Phillips has three points, all of which came in his first two games back in Mariucci as an opposing player during the 2019-20 season. Phillips even potted the game-winning tally to complete Penn State's first-ever sweep of the Gophers at 3M Arena on November 15-16, 2019.
- Junior Connor McMenamin has added one goal and one assist in five games against the Gophers while sophomore Christian Sarlo tallied his first collegiate goal last season against Minnesota.
SCOUTING MINNESOTA
- The Gophers return three of their top-5 scorers from last season's Big Ten Tournament championship team, but are without the services of leading scorer Sampo Ranta who paced Minnesota with 19 goals and 31 points in 2020-21 as he signed his entry-level NHL contract back in April.
- The Gophers do return first-team All-American and Mike Richter Award winning goaltender in Jack LaFontaine who is coming off his first shutout of the year and sixth career clean sheet in last Saturday's 2-0 win over Ohio State. LaFontaine's numbers are down so far this year as he ranks seventh in the Big Ten with a 2.61 goals-against average and an .898 save percentage, both marks are middle of the pack nationally.
- Blake McLaughlin leads the Gophers with 13 points on three goals and 10 assists to rank tied for fifth in the Big Ten in points while his 10 assists rank third in the conference and tied for 13th nationally.
- Bryce Brodzinski leads the Gophers and ranks seventh in the Big Ten with six goals while Matthew Knies and Sammy Walker have each added five to tie for eighth in the conference.
- Minnesota's active leading scorer with 93 career points (39 goals, 54 assists) in 117 games, senior captain Sammy Walker needs seven points to become the 85th and newest member of Minnesota's 100-Point Club (first since Rem Pitlick in 2018-19).
- The Gophers rank fourth in the Big Ten and 17th in the nation averaging 3.33 goals per game through their first 12 games this season.
- Minnesota went 7-for-7 on the penalty kill in last weekend's series with Ohio State but still rank just sixth in the Big Ten and 30th nationally killing off 81.2 percent (26-for-32) of penalties this season.
- The Gopher powerplay has been more successful at 24.1 percent (7-for-29) ranking second in the Big Ten and 15th nationally.
COPE IS DOPE
- Senior Ben Copeland is hitting his stride registering all eight of his points over the last seven games, with at least one point in six of those seven games.
- Copeland's eight points are good for third on the team. The Edina, Minnesota native recorded goals in back-to-back games last weekend against Michigan for just the second time in his career and the first time since his freshman campaign at Colorado College. Copeland has scored all three of his goals this season in the past five games.
- Copeland leads Penn State with four powerplay points on two goals and two assists.
FRESHMAN SLUMP
- Through the first seven games of the season, Penn State was 6-1-0 and an impressive 5-0-0 when a freshman scored a goal. The rookie class was also tied with the junior class for the most points by class with 20 to pace the Nittany Lions.
- Now four games into Big Ten play the five-member freshman class has combined for just a single point, an assist by Ryan Kirwan last Friday against Michigan, and Penn State is 0-4-0. To end this losing streak, the Nittany Lions need to regain the scoring depth they showed during non-conference play at the beginning of the year.
- All six of the Nittany Lion goals and 12 of the 17 total points registered by Penn State in conference play have come from upperclassmen.
DRIVE FOR FIVE
- Penn State hit its magic number of five goals in a win over North Dakota improving to 86-1-2 all-time when scoring five or more goals. Penn State was 4-0-0 in such games during 2020-21 after going11-0-0 when scoring five or more goals in 2019-20.
- The Nittany Lions have now won 28-straight games when scoring five or more goals, including four so far this season, with the last and only loss coming at Wisconsin on December 1, 2018, an 8-5 defeat.
- However, since that victory over UND, Penn State is being outscored 20-6 in its last four games failing to score more than two goals in a game on each occasion.
NEXT UP
- Penn State remains in the Land of 10,000 Lakes for two games at St. Thomas on Tuesday and Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving.
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.