No. 18 Men's Hockey Welcomes St. Thomas to Kickoff Homecoming WeekendNo. 18 Men's Hockey Welcomes St. Thomas to Kickoff Homecoming Weekend

No. 18 Men's Hockey Welcomes St. Thomas to Kickoff Homecoming Weekend


UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The 18th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions continue their non-conference schedule as they welcome the St. Thomas Tommies to Hockey Valley to open Homecoming Weekend with a Thursday-Friday series at Pegula Ice Arena.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Thursday, October 20 | Friday, October 21
Place: Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.
Time: THU: 7:00 p.m. | FRI: 7:00 p.m.
Tickets: Thursday | Friday
Streaming Video: Thursday | Friday
Listen: Thursday | Friday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • This weekend marks the third and fourth meetings in the all-time series and the second-straight season the teams will meet after Penn State left St. Paul last November with a pair of victories, 5-1 and 4-1.
  • The Tommies went 3-32-1 last season with two wins over Ferris State and one against Lake Superior State during their inaugural Division I campaign. St. Thomas went 3-22-1 in the CCHA and saw its season end in the CCHA quarterfinals against Minnesota State after dropping both games, 3-2 and 8-2.
  • Junior Tyler Paquette scored three goals during the two-game sweep last season including his second career multi-goal game in the opener. Senior Kevin Wall also tallied a pair of goals each coming in the second game while adding an assist for three points against the Tommies. Senior Ben Copeland had two assists in each game against St. Thomas last year.
  • Junior goaltender Liam Souliere started the second game allowing just one goal on 13 shots.
  • The Tommies had just 27 shots in the two-game series last November including just 13 in the series finale tying the record for the fewest shots allowed by Penn State in a single game in program history.

SCOUTING ST. THOMAS

  • St. Thomas is 1-3-0 in its first four games of the 2022-2023 season and enter the week coming off a bye. The Tommies have been outscored 13-6 this season with opponents nearly doubling the number of shots on goal St. Thomas has taken (117-68). The Tommies rank tied for 52nd nationally with their 1.5 goals per game while their shots per game average of 16.5 is just 0.5 better than Stonehill for last in Division I. Penn State leads the nation in both shots per game and goals per game this season at 44.3 and 5.5, respectively.
  • The Tommies return three of their top-5 scorers from last season led by Luke Manning who paced St. Thomas with eight goals and 15 points. Matthew Jennings also returns after tying for the team lead with 10 assists and ranking second with 14 points.
  • St. Thomas is paced by 12 freshmen on its 2022-23 roster. Out of those 12, ten position playing freshmen have combined for four goals and five assists for nine points. As a whole St. Thomas has just 16 points through the first four games this season with the freshmen accounting for 56 percent of the total offense so far.
  • Ryan O'Neill and Lucas Wahlin lead the Tommies with one goal and two assists for three points while classmate Josh Eernisse scored the overtime winner to secure the 3-2 victory over Alaska in the team's last game back on October 8.
  • A pair of freshmen have also accounted for all the action in net this season after St. Thomas lost both of its primary goaltenders from last season in Peter Thome and Jacob Berger to graduation. Thome registered an .878 save percentage and allowed 4.33 goals per game in 29 appearances between the pipes last season. Ethan Roberts and Aaron Trotter have manned the crease in St. Thomas' first four games this season. Trotter is 1-2-0 with an .886 save percentage and 3.04 goals-against average while Roberts is 0-1-0 allowing 4.01 goals per game with an .895 save percentage.
  • St. Thomas has struggled on special teams to start the year going just 1-for-17 on the man advantage to rank 48th nationally at 6.3 percent. The Tommies are 16-for-22 (72.7 percent) on the PK this season ranking middle of the pack nationally in the early going.
  • Head coach Rico Blasi ranks eighth among active coaches with 402 victories as he enters his 22nd season of coaching and second at St. Thomas. Blasi was the bench boss at Miami (OH) from 1999-2019.

WE LOVE RED LAMP

  • Penn State's 22 goals this season are the second most in the nation just one shy of Western Michigan's 23, however, the Broncos have played one more game than the Nittany Lions.
  • Penn State is averaging 5.50 goals per game over the first four games this season a mark that tops the nation while its 44.3 shots per game are also the most in the country.
  • On the contrary Penn State is allowing just 2.80 goals per game and 28.0 shots per game to rank middle of the pack across Division I.

CONTROLLING THE DOT

  • Penn State is currently leading the Big Ten and ranks second in the nation winning 59.5 percent (154-for-259) of its draws. Bemidji State leads the way at 62 percent but has played two less games than the Nittany Lions.
  • Connor MacEachern leads Penn State at 65.6 percent (42-for-64) a mark good for second in the Big Ten and seventh in the nation among centermen averaging at least five faceoffs per game.
  • Danny Dzhaniyev and Ture Linden are also above 60 percent through the first five games this season at 65 percent and 64.2 percent, respectively. Linden's 52 faceoff wins are the second most in the Big Ten and rank 11th nationally.

YOU'RE MY WONDERWALL

  • Senior Kevin Wall has lit the lamp in each of Penn State's four games this season tying his career-long goal streak. Wall's four goals are tied for the Big Ten lead and rank second nationally just one behind Omaha's Jack Randl. Wall has added a trio of assists for seven points, a mark good for third in the B1G and tied sixth in the nation.

GET HOT, STAY HOT

  • Sophomore Ben Schoen was named B1G Hockey First Star of the Week after collecting four points on one goal and three assists during a sweep over Mercyhurst. The sophomore tied his career-high with three points on one goal and two assists Thursday night before adding an assist on the eventual game-winning tally on Friday in Erie.
  • Schoen has registered at least one point in each game this season after ending the 2021-22 campaign with points in three-straight for a career-best seven-game point-streak. He also now has assists in seven-straight games, which is also a career-best, and just one game shy of Trevor Hamilton's program record eight-game assist-streak during the 2016-17 season. Penn State's point-streak record is 11 games and was set by Evan Barratt in 2018.
  • Schoen's six points this season are currently tied for fourth in the Big Ten while his five assists are tied for second in the conference and seventh in the nation.

LUCKY NUMBER :07

  • Senor Ture Linden lit the lamp just seven seconds into the first period last Thursday marking the fastest goal to open a game in Penn State history, a full six seconds faster than Casey Bailey's goal at UConn on January 5, 2013.
  • Linden has at least one point in each game as a Nittany Lion with three multi-point efforts to his name. The senior's four-game point streak is just one shy of his career-long five-game streak he achieved back in March at RPI.
  • Ture leads the team and is tied for the Big Ten lead with eight points through his first four games in Hockey Valley, a mark that's tied for second nationally. His six assists also lead the team and rank second in the Big Ten and tied for third nationally.
  • Linden's line with Kevin Wall and Ryan Kirwan has accounted for nine goals and 12 assists for 21 points in four games this season with a plus/minus of plus-24. The 21 points account for 37 percent of Penn State total offense while the nine goals are 40.9 percent of the goal scoring.
  • Wall currently leads the nation at plus-9 while Kirwan is tied for second at plus-8 and Linden and teammate Jimmy Dowd Jr. rank tied for fourth at plus-7.

GET AHEAD, STAY AHEAD

  • Penn State has scored first in each of its four games this season after doing so 21 times a season ago going 16-4-1 when lighting the lamp first in 2021-22.
  • Penn State has opened the season 4-0-0 for just the second time in its brief 11-year history and the first time since a 6-0-0 start to begin the 2018-19 season. The Nittany Lions finished that campaign with its second-most wins all-time at 22-15-2 and advanced to the B1G Championship game before falling to Notre Dame 3-2. Penn State was the last team out of the NCAA Tournament that year finishing 16th in the Pairwise.
  • The Nittany Lions are just two wins away from 100 at Pegula Ice Arena. The Nittany Lions enter the weekend 98-54-14 all-time at Pegula.

IN GUY WE TRUST

  • Now in his 11th season in Hockey Valley, head coach Guy Gadowsky is 176-152-24 behind the Penn State bench.
  • The 2014-15 Big Ten Coach of the Year registered his 300th career victory in 2019-20 and sits just one shy of 350 ranking 37th among Division I coaches all-time and is currently 13th among active NCAA Division I coaches with 349 wins.

HOMECOMING PARADE FRIDAY PARKING ADVISORY

  • Due to the Homecoming Parade beginning at 6 p.m., fans should expect heavier traffic and road closures Friday evening. Curtin Road will close at 5:30 p.m. and portions of Porter Road may not open until after 6 p.m. University Drive will have delays and should try to be avoided. Hockey premium parking permit holders are to be in their lots by 5:30 p.m. or must park in the Stadium West or Jordan East lot.

PARKING INFORMATION

  • Like last season, 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 the game: Stadium West, Jordan East and Porter North.
  • There is no charge for those patrons will a valid Penn State parking permit.
  • Prepaid parking is available through the ParkMobile App for $5.50 through midnight the night before the event or for $10 on the day of the event. Season parking packages are also available for $100 through October 6.
  • For Men's Hockey games that overlap with Bryce Jordan Center events, day-of-event payment may be as high as $30 for those without a permit or prepayment. There are also $1 per hour parking options available at the East Deck for most games.
  • 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 parking staff (cash only).

NEXT UP

  • Penn State opens Big Ten play on the road for the fourth time in the past six seasons when they travel to Madison next weekend to battle the Badgers.
  • This marks the fourth time the Nittany Lions have opened Big Ten play against Wisconsin and the third time in Madison. Penn State has won the last four games between the teams as part of a Big Ten opening series including convincing 6-1 and 4-2 wins at Pegula on Halloween Weekend 2019.

For more information on the 2022-23 season presented by the Penn State Bookstore: 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.