No. 5 Men's Hockey Closes First Semester With B1G Series at No. 19 Notre DameNo. 5 Men's Hockey Closes First Semester With B1G Series at No. 19 Notre Dame

No. 5 Men's Hockey Closes First Semester With B1G Series at No. 19 Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The 5th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions conclude the opening semester of play with a Big Ten battle against No. 19 Notre Dame in South Bend before taking three weeks off for the holidays.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, December 9 | Saturday, December 10
Place: Compton Family Ice Arena | South Bend, Ind.
Time: FRI: 7 p.m. | SAT: 6 p.m.
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State | Notre Dame

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • This weekend marks the 28th and 29th meetings in the all-time series with Notre Dame holding the commanding 17-7-3 record including a 10-4-1 mark at Compton Family Ice Arena where Penn State hasn't won a regular season game in three years having lost five-straight being outscored 25-5 over those five contests. Mixed into that is a 6-3 victory for Penn State during the 2021 Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals which was held in South Bend.
  • The Nittany Lions are just 5-16-2 against the Irish since they joined the Big Ten prior to the 2017-18 season with just three wins at Compton Family Ice Arena. Penn State is averaging just 2.33 goals per game against the Irish in South Bend and have been shut out on three occasions. In total, the Nittany Lions have only been shutout eight times since the start of the 2017-18 season with three of those at the hands of the Irish at Compton. Notre Dame is 5-1-1 this season on home ice as opposed to just 2-6-1 away from Compton.
  • Notre Dame won the season series last year with a clean sweep of Penn State taking 11 of 12 possible points earning three regulation wins and one overtime triumph. The Nittany Lions are just 2-9-1 in the last 12 regular season contests against the Irish.
  • Penn State is 6-2-0 this season in games decided by one goal with five of the last six games being decided by a single goal, 13 of the previous 27 meetings all-time between Penn State and Notre Dame have been decided by one goal or less.
  • Junior Liam Souliere has not fared particularly well against Notre Dame in his career in two appearances with one start he has a 7.30 goals-against average and a .769 save percentage.
  • Senior Connor McMenamin leads all current Nittany Lions with eight points on two goals and six assists in 13 career games against the Irish while Connor MacEachern has added seven points on one goal and six assists also in 13 games. Junior Chase McLane has scored twice while adding two helpers for four points in nine games against the Irish. Senior Tyler Gratton has three goals in 11 games against Notre Dame to lead all current Nittany Lions.
  • Penn State remains undefeated in the opening game of a series as the Nittany Lions improved to 9-0-0 in such games with a 2-1 victory over Ohio State last Friday. Penn State is just 5-4-0 in the second game of the series with four-straight losses in Big Ten series finales.
  • Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson is the active leader in career victories with 565 to rank 10th all-time in Division I men's hockey. Penn State's Guy Gadowsky ranks 13th among active coaches and 36th all-time with 359 wins.

SCOUTING NOTRE DAME

  • The Irish enter the weekend coming off a bye and are 7-7-2 on the year and ranked No. 19 in both national polls. Notre Dame is just 3-4-1 in conference play this season and haven't played a home game in about a month dating back to a 3-2 win against Michigan on November 12.
  • Notre Dame is averaging just 2.38 goals per game to rank last in the Big Ten and 47th nationally. The Irish have failed to score more than two goals in 10 of their first 16 games this season. Five of their seven victories have come when they have scored three or more goals while they have a 2-7-1 record when scoring two or fewer goals. Notre Dame has been shut out twice so far this season while recording three shutouts of their own.
  • ND is paced by senior goaltender Ryan Bischel whose .924 save percentage is tied for the Big Ten lead with Michigan State's Dylan St. Cyr just .001 ahead of Liam Souliere, good for 13th in the nation while his 2.59 goals-against average is good for fifth in the conference.
  • Offensively, Notre Dame has 19 players with at least one goal, however, only six Irish skaters have three or more goals compared to 13 for the Nittany Lions. Nick Leivermann leads the team with five goals while Ryder Rolston paces the Irish with 11 points on four goals and seven assists.
  • Not even with the man-advantage have the Irish found success filling the net as they rank last in the Big Ten and 52nd nationally converting just 12.5 percent (7-for-56) of its powerplay chances. Notre Dame is 0-for-15 with the man-advantage over its last four games after scoring a powerplay goal in both contests during a series split against Michigan in South Bend four weeks ago.
  • The Irish are just 2-7-2 this season when opponents score first and Penn State has done so in 14 of 18 games played so far with a 12-2-0 record when doing so. Both teams are undefeated when leading after the second period with Penn State going 10-0-0 and Notre Dame 6-0-0 in such games.

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 second in the nation winning 56.7 percent (660-for-1165) of its draws only behind Minnesota State at 59.2 percent.
  • Last weekend against Ohio State the Nittany Lions were dominant winning 64 percent (98-for-153) over the two games including an eyepopping 71.4 percent (55-for-77) in Friday night's 2-1 victory.
  • Senior Ture Linden went 19-for-21 (90.5 percent) in the draw during Friday night's victory. Linden leads Penn State with a 61.4 percent faceoff win percentage (207-for-337) to rank second in the Big Ten and eighth in the nation for true centermen averaging more than 10 faceoffs per game. Linden's 207 faceoff wins are good for second in the Big Ten behind the 219 of Ohio State's Jake Wise and are good for sixth in the nation.
  • Senior Connor MacEachern ranks right behind Linden in the Big Ten winning 60.9 percent (181-for-297), good for 11th in the nation.

BLUE-LINE BEAUTY

  • Penn State junior defenseman Jimmy Dowd Jr. is coming off a three-point weekend against Ohio State where he tallied the game-winning goal late in the third period on Friday night while adding one assist in each game. Dowd's 13 points this season are tied for the third most on the team and are tied for 5th in the Big Ten among defensemen and rank tied for 16th nationally.
  • Dowd's goal on Friday night was the eighth of his career putting him in a tie with four others for seventh on the all-time list for goals by a defenseman at Penn State. Dowd also moved into a tie with Vince Pedrie for seventh on the all-time defenseman assist list with 36 for his career while his 44 points are good for eighth.
  • Dowd is also a plus-14 on the ice this season to rank fourth in the Big Ten and tied for seventh in the nation, however, he ranks second among Big Ten defensemen behind only Minnesota's Brock Faber at plus-16 and tied for fourth among blue-liners nationally.

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

  • Junior Liam Souliere secured his 12th win of the season last Friday against Ohio State as he is now just one shy of Eamon McAdam for the fifth-most in a single-season in Penn State history. His 12 victories are also tied with Quinnipiac's Yaniv Perets for the national lead. Souliere now has 20 wins for his career which place him one shy of Oskar Autio '22 for the third-most all-time.
  • Souliere is currently tied for the Big Ten lead in goals-against average with Minnesota's Justen Close. Each net-minder has a GAA of 2.12 which is tied for the 15th best mark in the nation. Souliere's .923 save percentage is good for third in the Big Ten as he is just .001 back of Notre Dame's Ryan Bischel and Michigan State's Dylan St. Cyr while ranking 18th in the nation.

BLOCK PARTY

  • Junior Christian Berger registered nine blocked shots last weekend against Ohio State to move into the Big Ten lead with 36 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.

NEXT UP

  • Penn State takes the next three weeks off for the holidays before returning to action with a New Year's home-and-home series with RIT on December 30-31.
  • This marks just the third and fourth meetings between the two teams and the first ever true two-game series. The Nittany Lions and Tigers last met at Pegula Ice Arena on October 25, 2013, playing to a 3-3 draw in overtime. Penn State won the first ever meeting, 3-2, at Blue Cross Arena in Rochester back on October 20, 2012. The game on the 30th at RIT will be the first time the two teams meet at the Gene Polisseni Center.

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.