No. 5 Men's Hockey Set for Home-and-Home New Year’s Tilt with No. 20 RITNo. 5 Men's Hockey Set for Home-and-Home New Year’s Tilt with No. 20 RIT
Mark Selders

No. 5 Men's Hockey Set for Home-and-Home New Year’s Tilt with No. 20 RIT


UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The 5th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions return from a three-week holiday break with a New Year's home-and-home series against 20th-ranked Rochester Institute of Technology.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, December 30 | Saturday, December 31
Place: FRI: Gene Polisseni Center | Rochester, N.Y. – SAT: Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.
Time: FRI: 5:05 p.m. | SAT: 5:30 p.m.
Tickets: Saturday
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Friday | Saturday
Game Notes: Penn State | RIT

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • Penn State closes non-conference play with a home-and-home series with RIT marking just the third and fourth meetings all-time between the two programs and the first in 10 seasons dating back to October 25, 2013, when the two teams battled to a 3-3 tie in just the second game ever inside Pegula Ice Arena. Penn State won the only other meeting between the two teams, the second win in program history, back on October 20, 2012, at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester. Friday night's contest will mark the first meeting between the two teams on RIT's campus at the Gene Polisseni Center.
  • The Nittany Lions look to go unbeaten in non-conference play for the first time ever as they currently stand at 8-0-0 after going 9-1-0 in non-conference games last season for the best mark in program history.
  • Since joining the Big Ten prior to the 2013-14 season Penn State is 75-26-9 all-time in regular season non-conference games, the best mark in the conference. Penn State's 75 victories and .743 winning percentage in such games is the best in the Big Ten ahead of Michigan's 69 wins and .690 winning percentage.
  • The Nittany Lions are 45-15-2 all-time against Atlantic Hockey opponents including a perfect 4-0-0 mark this year with sweeps of Canisius and Mercyhurst. Penn State is averaging 4.35 goals per game all-time against Atlantic schools.
  • Penn State is 6-2-0 this season in games decided by one goal with five of the last eight games being decided by a single goal.
  • Penn State remains undefeated in the opening game of a series as the Nittany Lions improved to 10-0-0 in such games with a 5-2 victory over Notre Dame three weeks ago. Penn State is just 5-5-0 in the second game of the series this season. The loss last Saturday was just the second road loss all season for the Nittany Lions as they are now 5-2-0 away from Pegula Ice Arena.

SCOUTING RIT

  • The Tigers enter the weekend following a four-week break, one week longer than Penn State, after a 10-4 victory at Canisius on December 3. RIT is 12-4-0 this season and ranked No. 20 in both polls while leading Atlantic Hockey with 30 points, three points clear of AIC and with three games in hand.
  • The Tigers received their first USCHO ranking this season since finishing No. 20 in the final 2016 poll after winning their second-straight Atlantic Hockey Championship.
  • Until this season, no RIT Division I-era team had won 12 of its first 16 games. The Tigers also strung together eight-consecutive wins from Oct. 21 (W, 4-2 at Air Force) to Nov. 25 (W, 5-3 vs. Princeton) – tying the second-longest winning streak during the Division I era. RIT won its first eight home games of the season for its longest Division I-era home winning streak, eclipsing the seven-game streak during the 2008-09 season.
  • RIT has scored 61 goals – the most through 14 games during the Division I era and 10 more than the 51 scored in the same span in 2020-21. The Tigers finished the semester fifth nationally averaging 3.81 goals per game, which is 1.39 goals better than the 2.42 they averaged all of last season.
  • RIT ended the first semester ranked second nationally with a .311 (19-for-61) power play percentage and fifth with 19 power play goals. The Tigers were also ninth with a .850 (68-80) penalty kill percentage. All three marks led Atlantic Hockey.
  • RIT entered break ranked eighth nationally and first in Atlantic Hockey in scoring margin, out-scoring its opponents by an average of 1.19 goal per game. Out-scored by an average of 0.61 goals last season, the Tigers' scoring margin has improved by 1.80 goals per game this season.
  • Sophomore forward Carter Wilkie entered the break fifth nationally with 1.38 points per game and tied for fifth with 22 points. The Atlantic Hockey November Player of the Month as well as a two-time Player of the Week, Wilkie scored a career-high four points on two goals and two assists in the Tigers' 10-4 win at Canisius (Dec. 3).
  • Sophomore goaltender Tommy Scarfone entered the break third nationally in wins with an 11-2-0 record, winning 10 straight starts from Oct. 7-Nov. 25. Named the Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week on two occasions, he has totaled at least 30 saves in six games, including a season-high 37 in the 3-1 victory over Sacred Heart (Nov. 11) and 36 in the 4-2 win at Air Force (Oct. 21). He entered the break second in Atlantic Hockey with a .918 save percentage and fourth with a 2.53 goals-against average.
  • RIT senior defenseman Gianfranco Cassaro and junior defenseman Aiden Hansen-Bukata are the highest scoring defensive pairing in the nation this season. Cassaro entered the break tied for 14th nationally with 1.25 points per game and first among all defenseman with 20 points as well as eight goals. The Atlantic Hockey October Player of the Month and three-time Player of the Week scored a career-high four points on a goal and three assists during the Tigers' 10-4 win at Canisius (Dec. 3).

CONTINUING THE CLIMB

  • Penn State is up to a season-high No. 5 ranking in both polls. The No. 5 ranking in the USCHO.com poll is the highest the Nittany Lions have been ranked in over four years dating back to November 12, 2018.

CONTROLLING THE DOT

  • Penn State leads the Big Ten and ranks fourth in the nation winning 55.6 percent (714-for-1284).
  • Senior Ture Linden leads Penn State with a 60.8 percent faceoff win percentage (231-for-380) to rank second in the Big Ten and ninth in the nation for true centermen averaging more than 10 faceoffs per game. Linden's 231 faceoff wins are good for second in the Big Ten behind the national best 250 of Ohio State's Jake Wise and are good for fifth in the nation.

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

  • Junior Liam Souliere secured his 13th win of the season against Notre Dame prior to the holiday break as he is now tied with Eamon McAdam for the fifth-most in a single-season in Penn State history. His 13 victories are also good for tops in the Big Ten and just one shy of Quinnipiac's Yaniv Perets for the national lead. Souliere now has 21 wins for his career which place him even with Oskar Autio '22 for the third-most all-time.
  • Souliere is currently second in the Big Ten in goals-against average at 2.23, good for 19th in the nation while his .919 save percentage is good for third in the Big Ten while ranking tied for 23rd in the nation.
  • Souliere becomes just the fourth different Nittany Lion net-minder to record double-digit wins in a season.

BLOCK PARTY

  • Junior Christian Berger registered nine blocked shots against Ohio State to begin the month as he leads the Big Ten lead with 39 for the season, a mark good for seventh in the nation. Berger was second on the team behind Paul DeNaples last season with 56 blocks after leading the team as a freshman in 2020-21 with 32.

BEST OFFENSE IS A GREAT DEFENSE

  • Penn State enters the weekend with the lowest goals-against average in the Big Ten allowing just 2.50 goals per contest to tie Minnesota and Ohio State as all three teams have surrendered just 50 goals in the first 20 games of the season to rank 16th in the nation. The Nittany Lions have allowed more than three goals in a game just five times this season.
  • Penn State is also 6-2-0 this season in games decided by one goal or less after going just 3-7-1 in such games last season.
  • Offensively the Nittany Lions have scored 73 goals, the fifth most in the nation, while averaging 3.7 goals per contest to rank tied for seventh in the nation. Both marks are tied for third in the Big Ten behind both Michigan and Minnesota.

PARKING INFORMATION

  • Due to the New Year's holiday, the general parking lots for hockey on Saturday, December 31 – Stadium West and Jordan East – will not be staffed for cash sales for the men's hockey game vs RIT at 5:30 p.m. Fans are encouraged to purchase their game parking via ParkMobile prior to 11:59 p.m. the night before the game to avoid the game day price increase and pay only $5.50. Should fans choose to buy parking the day of the game, they can do so using ParkMobile for $10 or pay at the pay stations within the lots.
  • Premium parking in the Shields and Wagner lots will not be affected and will still require a permit to access these lots.
  • 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.
  • 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 next weekend off before returning to Big Ten play with a trip to East Lansing to play No. 11 Michigan State.

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.