Men's Hockey Battles Canisius at Pegula Ice Arena This Weekend to Open 2022-23 SlateMen's Hockey Battles Canisius at Pegula Ice Arena This Weekend to Open 2022-23 Slate
Mark Selders

Men's Hockey Battles Canisius at Pegula Ice Arena This Weekend to Open 2022-23 Slate


UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Nittany Lions open the 2022-23 campaign this weekend with a non-conference home series against the Canisius Golden Griffins on Friday and Saturday night inside Pegula Ice Arena.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, October 7 | Saturday, October 8
Place: Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.
Time: Fri: 7:00 p.m. | Sat: 6:00 p.m.
Tickets: Friday | Saturday
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State | Canisius

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • This weekend marks just the sixth and seventh matchups all-time between the two programs with Penn State holding the 4-1-0 advantage with a 3-1-0 mark at Pegula Ice Arena. Penn State has outscored Canisius 20-10 over the previous five matchup's including a 19-6 mark in the four victories.
  • This marks the second time the two teams have opened the season against one another and the first time in Hockey Valley. The Nittany Lions traveled to Canisius for a single game to open the 2015-16 season, a 6-1 win in Buffalo.
  • This marks the second-straight season the two teams have met. The Golden Griffins earned a series split in Hockey Valley last season taking the opening game 4-1 before Penn State rebounded for a 5-2 victory the following night.
  • Senior Connor MacEachern scored twice in the 5-2 victory last season as four Nittany Lions secured multi-point games in the victory. Sophomore Ben Schoen and junior Christian Berger each had a pair of assists while sophomore Danny Dzhaniyev scored once while adding an assist.
  • Junior goaltender Liam Souliere started between the pipes in the game two victory stopping 36-of-38 shots he faced.
  • Graduate Student J.D. Pogue scored twice for the Griffs including a shorty late in the third that put the game on ice in their 4-1 win. He also added an assist as Canisius scored three third period goals en route to the upset.
  • Penn State is 41-15-2 all-time against teams from Atlantic Hockey and averages 4.28 goals per game in those contests.
  • The Nittany Lions are 6-3-1 all-time in season opening contests including an undefeated mark of 5-0-1 in season openers at Pegula Ice Arena with four-straight victories in such games. The only minor blemish is a 2-2 tie against UConn to open the 2014-15 season. Penn State is outscoring opponents 25-11 in season opening games at Pegula Ice Arena.

SCOUTING CANISIUS

  • Canisius returns four of its top-10 scorers from a season ago including second-team All-Atlantic Hockey selection Keaton Mastrodonato who paced the Griff with 26 points on 11 goals and 15 assists. Max Kouznetsov who led the team with 12 goals and ranked second with 23 points also returns.
  • The Griffs return Atlantic Hockey first-team goaltender Jacob Barczewski for his senior season. Barczewski ranked third in the league and 14th nationally last year with a .923 save percentage and enters the year as Atlantic Hockey's active leader in wins (28), saves (1,784) and games played (68). Those marks are also good for fifth, fourth and fifth, respectively, among all active goaltenders.
  • Canisius enters the 2022-23 season as the oldest team in college hockey with an average age of 23 years and 2 months. The Griffs have 12 seniors listed on their roster to begin the year, the most in college hockey.
  • Both teams struggled on special teams in 2021-22 as the Canisius powerplay ranked right below Penn State near the middle of the pack at 17.2 percent and 17.4 percent, respectively. The penalty kill was even worse with Canisius only slightly better than the Nittany Lions at 78.1 percent versus 75.2 percent as both teams ranked in bottom third nationally.
  • Both teams were in the top half of college hockey last season in the faceoff circle winning just over 50 percent of their draws.

HOT START

  • Penn State has been keen to quick starts over the 10-year history of the program as the Nittany Lions boast a 39-14-4 record in the month of October including an impressive 16-2-0 mark over the past four seasons (Note: the 2020-21 season began November 19). Penn State went 6-1-0 last October including a victory over No. 6 North Dakota in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game in Nashville.

CAN'T SCORE IF YOU PASS

  • Penn State returns each of its top-12 scorers from a season ago and ranks second in the nation behind only Minnesota State in points and goals returning with 293 and 109, respectively.
  • The Nittany Lions are returning 94 percent of their total offense and 93 percent of their goal scoring from the 2021-22 campaign, marks that rank second nationally behind Air Force as the Falcons are returning every player from last season's roster.
  • Penn State will add to those numbers with the addition of two of the highest scoring players out of the transfer portal in senior's Ture Linden and Ashton Calder who bring additional veteran leadership to Hockey Valley.

VETERAN PRESCENCE

  • Linden and Calder have combined for seven seasons of collegiate hockey entering the 2022-23 season.
  • Ture Linden out of RPI missed out on the entire 2020-21 season as the Engineers did not participate in any sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last season, Linden paced the ECAC and ranked tied for 11th in the nation with 20 goals and 23rd nationally in points with 39 while serving as RPI's captain. Linden has 29 goals and 39 assists for 68 points in 114 career games played.
  • Ashton Calder is making his third collegiate stop after three seasons at Lake Superior State and a fourth at North Dakota last year. Calder enters the 2022-23 campaign second on the career points list among active players with 100 while his 44 goals are good for third, his 56 assists rank eighth and his 141 career games are tied for third.
  • Linden is one of 30 players nationally to begin the season as a 25-year old while Calder turns 25 in February.

AYE AYE CAPTAIN

  • Senior Paul DeNaples, who is using his extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic, returns as Penn State's captain making him just the second Nittany Lion in program history to don the 'C' for more than one season as he joins Tommy Olczyk.
  • DeNaples is currently tied for the Penn State plus/minus record as he enters the season with a plus-50 rating, a mark good for third among active players nationally. The senior also ranks eighth on the all-time scoring list for Nittany Lion defensemen with 34 points.
  • DeNaples hasn't missed a game during his previous four seasons and enters the 2022-23 campaign having played 133-straight as he looks to skate down Chase Berger's Iron Man streak of 154 consecutive games played. His 133 games are tied for the seventh most among active defenseman entering the season.

THE B1G GADOWSKY

  • Now in his 11th season in Hockey Valley, head coach Guy. Gadowsky is 172-152-24 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 five shy of 350 ranking 38th among Division I coaches all-time and is currently 13th among active NCAA Division I coaches with 345 wins.

HOME-SWEET-HOME

  • Pegula Ice Arena celebrates its 10th year in 2022-23 after opening its doors prior to the 2013-14 season. The Nittany Lions have an all-time record of 95-54-14 at Pegula Ice Arena over the years and over 900,000 fans have attended a game in Hockey Valley including a record 133,422 during the 2018-19 campaign.
  • Penn State will look to rebound on home ice this season after going just 8-9-1 at Pegula Ice Arena in 2021-22. It marked the first time since the first year of the building's existence that the Nittany Lions had a sub .500 record on home ice.

SOPHOMORE SURGE

  • Last season the Nittany Lion freshmen class combined for 30 goals and 87 points, 28 percent of the total offense and just one point shy of the junior class who paced Penn State with 88 points.
  • Penn State saw two of those freshmen, Ryan Kirwan and Ben Schoen, crack the top-10 for single-season points by a freshman in Penn State history with 26 and 22, respectively.
  • Kirwan's 13 goals were also the most by a Nittany Lions since Evan Barratt's 11 in 2017-18 and rank as the sixth most by a rookie in a single-season all-time.
  • Penn State went 14-4-1 last season when a freshman scored and look to continue that trend this season as each member of the now sophomore class looks to take the next step.

I CAN FEEL IT COMING IN THE SUUL-EE-AIR TONIGHT, HOLD ON

  • Junior Liam Souliere gave up two or less goals in eight of his 15 starts in 2021-22 including seven of his last 11 and went 6-1-1 when allowing two or less goals last season.
  • In his 10 starts during the second semester, Souliere had a 2.69 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.
  • Since assuming the starting role prior to the Michigan State series, Souliere ended the year with a .916 save percentage and a 2.48 goals-against average over the last six games.

2021-22 RECAP

  • Penn State had an up-and-down season in 2021-22, but still managed to peak at the end of the year advancing to a conference-best, seventh-straight Big Ten Tournament semifinal game. It marked the Nittany Lions' eighth semifinal appearance overall in the first nine years of the conference tying Minnesota for the most semifinal appearances in league history.
  • Facing elimination after an opening game loss in the quarterfinals, the Nittany Lions won back-to-back one-goal games at Ohio State to win the series and become the first road team to win a best-of-three quarterfinal series since the league adopted the three-weekend tournament format prior to the 2017-18 season.
  • Then-junior Kevin Wall set career-highs in each offensive category leading the team with 29 points and 16 goals earning Big Ten Honorable Mention accolades. Wall ranked sixth in the Big Ten with his 16 goals as that mark is tied for the ninth-most in a single-season in Penn State history and were the most goals scored by a single player since the 2018-19 season.
  • Connor MacEachern was voted the team's MVP by his peers following the conclusion of the 2021-22 campaign. MacEachern finished second on the team in points and goals this season with career-high totals of 28 and 14, respectively, while pacing the team with an average of 0.78 points per game. The junior's six powerplay tallies also led the team as well as tying the Penn State single-season record for man-advantage goals. MacEachern's 14 goals were tied for the ninth-most in the Big Ten while his six powerplay markers were tied for second in the conference and placed him 19th nationally.
  • Captain Paul DeNaples led the team in plus/minus at plus-12 while ranking sixth in the Big Ten in blocked shots with career-best 60.
  • Ryan Kirwan turned in one of the best single-seasons by a first-year player in Penn State hockey history. The rookie finished the year third on the team in points and goals with 26 and 13, respectively. His 26 points tied for the fifth-most by a freshman in a single-season at Penn State while his 13 goals tied Chase Berger '19 for the sixth-most in a single-season by a rookie and were the most goals scored by a freshman since Evan Barratt's 11 in 2017-18. Kirwan's 13 goals were tied for the sixth-most in the country by a freshman and ranked fourth among rookies in the Big Ten.
  • Dylan Lugris joined the team at the semester break scoring a highlight reel goal in his first collegiate game. After a slow semester from January on, Lugris came alive in the Big Ten Tournament scoring goals in three-straight games including the game-winning goal in the series clinching game against Ohio State in the quarterfinals.

PARKING INFORMATION

  • Lik 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 has a short week as they battle Mercyhurst in a home-and-home series next Thursday and Friday evening.

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.