UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The 7th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions take a break from Big Ten Conference action as they host the Alaska Nanooks for a Tuesday-Wednesday affair prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Tuesday, November 22 | Wednesday, November 23
Place: Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.
Time: TUE: 7 p.m. | WED: 5 p.m.
Tickets: Tuesday | Wednesday
Streaming Video: Tuesday | Wednesday
Listen: Tuesday | Wednesday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- This week marks just the fourth and fifth meetings all time between the two programs and the first series in over three years dating back to October 17-18, 2019. The two teams split that series each earning a shutout victory over the other with Penn State taking game one 7-0 and Alaska bouncing back for a 4-0 win of its own the following night. The Nanooks lead the all-time series 2-1-0 as they also captured a 4-3 win in Alaska on October 18, 2014. This series was originally scheduled for the 2020-21 season.
- Senior Tyler Gratton opened the scoring with his first collegiate goal for his first point against Alaska as part of that 7-0 victory three seasons ago as six current Nittany Lions made appearances in the lineup that weekend with five registering points in the 7-0 win as Paul DeNaples also added a goal and senior's Kevin Wall, Connor MacEachern and Connor McMenamin each had one assist.
- For the Nanooks only four current players made the trip to Hockey Valley three seasons ago.
- Alaska is where head coach Guy Gadowsky got his start in Division I coaching and where he accumulated 68 of his 356 career victories from 1999-2004. In his career against his former teams (Alaska and Princeton), Gadowsky has a 3-3-1 record (3-1-0 at Pegula Ice Arena).
- Alaska has struggled to find the back of the net this season with just 26 goals in 12 games as the Nanooks average just 2.17 goals per game this season to rank 50th in the nation. However, the Nanooks have only allowed 28 goals at a 2.33 clip per game to rank 11th in the nation.
- Offensively the Nittany Lions have scored 55 goals to tie for the third most in the nation while averaging 3.93 goals per contest to place them fourth in the nation.
- Both teams fare much better in the opening game of the series as Alaska is 4-1-1 in series openers versus just 1-4-1 in the second game of a series. Penn State is undefeated in the opening game of a series this year with a perfect 7-0-0 record while going 4-3-0 in series finales including three-straight losses.
SCOUTING ALASKA
- The Nanooks enter the week 5-5-2 on the year and are coming off a win and tie against RPI this past weekend. Alaska has only been swept once this season against Michigan Tech on October 13-14, 2-0 and 6-2, every other series they have played has resulted in at least one victory.
- This week's series concludes a stretch of eight-straight road games for Alaska as they will return to the Last Frontier for a rivalry series with Alaska-Anchorage on December 9-10.
- Alaska returned two of its top-5 scorers from last season and 6 of its top-10 including leading scorer Brady Risk who posted 24 points on 10 goals and 14 assists last season. Garrett Pyke is also back for the Nanooks after leading the team with 16 assists while adding four goals for 20 points. Pyke once again leads the Nanooks early this season with eight points on one goal and seven assists through 12 games. Minnesota transfer Jonny Sorenson leads the team with five goals while Harrison Israels and Matt Koethe have each added four goals.
- Holy Cross transfer Matt Radomsky has started all 12 games between the pipes for Alaska this season posting a 5-5-2 record with a 2.22 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage. Radomsky's GAA is tied for 20th nationally.
- The Nanook PK has been strong to start the season ranking 26th nationally at 82 percent, however, at just 12.8 percent the power play ranks 52nd out of 62 teams.
- Alaska has scored three or more goals in a game just four times this season including both games over the weekend against RPI.
SIZZLING SARLO
- Junior Christian Sarlo has found his groove of late registering six of his seven points this season over the past three weekends with three goals and three assists including his first multi-point game of the season on Saturday against Michigan State.
- His line with classmates Xander Lamppa and Tyler Paquette has played to the true identity of Penn State Hockey being hard on pucks and getting to the dirty areas and the trio has produced 19 points on eight goals and 11 assists in the eight conference games.
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 returns to Big Ten play and closes out its six-game homestand with a series against the Ohio State Buckeyes on December 2-3.
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.