UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Head coach Guy Gadowsky and the Penn State men's ice hockey team announced their 10-game non-conference schedule for the 2022-23 season earlier Wednesday morning. The schedule features three Atlantic Hockey opponents, one WCHA foe and an independent team.
The Nittany Lions open their 2022-23 campaign at home with a series against the Canisius Golden Griffins at Pegula Ice Arena on October 7-8. Penn State is 4-1-0 all-time against Canisius after the two teams split a non-conference series last year in Hockey Valley.
The following week Penn State has a home-and-home series against Mercyhurst as the two teams meet for the first time in over five years. The Nittany Lions are 2-1-0 against the Lakers all-time with the teams splitting the last series at Pegula Ice Arena in November 2017. Penn State will host Mercyhurst on Thursday, October 13 before traveling to the Mercyhurst Ice Center for the first time in program history for the series finale the following night.
Penn State then welcomes the University of St. Thomas to Pegula Ice Arena on October 20-21 closing out a home-and-home series which began last season in St. Paul. The Nittany Lions swept the Tommies back in November.
PSU will once again play a Tuesday-Wednesday series prior to Thanksgiving as the Nittany Lions host the Alaska Nanooks for the first time in three years on November 22-23 in a series originally slated for the 2020-21 season. Penn State is just 1-2-0 all-time against UA. The teams split the last series in October 2019 with each team earning a shutout as Penn State took the opener 7-0 and the Nanooks returned the favor the following night with a 4-0 victory.
The Nittany Lions conclude their 2022-23 non-conference slate with a New Year's clash against Rochester Institute of Technology as the two schools meet for the first time in over nine years. Penn State will visit the Gene Polisseni Center for the first time on Friday, December 30 before concluding the season series in Hockey Valley on December 31. The Nittany Lions are 1-0-1 all-time against RIT.
Penn State leads all Big Ten teams with a 0.720 winning percentage in non-conference games and 67 victories against non-Big Ten teams since the league was formed nine years ago.
Times for these games as well as television and streaming information will be released in the coming months along with the full Big Ten schedule.
