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Craig Houtz

No. 6 Men's Hockey Welcomes Notre Dame For B1G Series


UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The 6th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions welcome Notre Dame to Pegula Ice Arena this weekend for a Big Ten Conference series on Friday and Saturday evening. Saturday's contest will serve as the annual 'Wear White' Game.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, January 20 | Saturday, January 21
Place: Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.
Time: FRI: 6:30 p.m. | SAT: 5 p.m.
Tickets: Friday | Saturday
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State | Notre Dame

WEAR WHITE SATURDAY

  • Penn State's annual 'Wear White' game will return to Pegula Ice Arena on Saturday night. Penn State is just 2-5-1 in 'Wear White' games dating back to the 2013-14 season with Saturday's game being the ninth annual.
  • The Nittany Lions had lost five 'Wear White' games in-a-row entering last season before erupting for a 7-2 victory over Wisconsin on January 22, 2022. Both of Penn State's 'Wear White' victories have come against the Badgers while the Nittany Lions are 0-2-0 in 'Wear White' games against the Irish including a heartbreaking 4-2 setback in the Hockey Valley White Rush game back on February 1, 2020.
  • Penn State will debut a new white alternate uniform for this game and the jerseys will be auctioned off to the highest bidder on GoPSUsports.com with the proceeds benefiting a pair of organizations, Happy Valley Special Hockey and THON.

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • This weekend marks the 30th and 31st meetings in the all-time series with Notre Dame holding the commanding 18-8-3 record including a split in South Bend back in December with Penn State winning the opening game 5-2 and the Irish fighting back for a 5-3 victory the following night.
  • Unlike many teams, Notre Dame has found success at Pegula Ice Arena with a 7-3-2 record including three-straight victories, two of which have come in overtime as four of the last six games played between the two teams in Hockey Valley have needed extra time. The Irish are 4-1-1 in its last six games at Pegula Ice Arena.
  • 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. Including the December split in South Bend, the Nittany Lions are just 3-10-1 in the last 14 regular season contests against the Irish.
  • Penn State is 6-3-1 this season in games decided by one goal with five of the last eight games in this series being decided by a single goal, 13 of the previous 29 meetings all-time between Penn State and Notre Dame have been decided by one goal or less.
  • Senior Connor McMenamin leads all current Nittany Lions with 11 points on four goals and seven assists in 15 career games against the Irish including a goal in each game earlier this season in South Bend. Classmate Connor MacEachern has added 10 points on two goals and eight assists also in 15 games. Senior Paul DeNaples has also fared well against the Irish in an eye-popping 20 games he has six points on three goals and three assists including his first career multi-goal game during a 5-2 victory back in December.
  • Penn State dropped its first opening game of a series last weekend in East Lansing falling to 10-1-0 in such games with a 3-2 overtime loss to Michigan State. With a 4-4 tie the following night, the Nittany Lions remain unbeaten after losing a game this season with a 6-0-1 record after a loss.
  • Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson is the active leader in career victories with 568 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 362 wins.

SCOUTING NOTRE DAME

  • The Irish enter the weekend 10-11-3 following a loss and shootout win at home against Minnesota last week. Prior to last weekend Notre Dame had split each of its last six series and have fallen out of the national rankings, however, are still No. 18 in the pairwise.
  • Notre Dame is averaging just 2.38 goals per game to rank last in the Big Ten and 49th nationally. The Irish have failed to score more than two goals in 16 of their 24 games this season including five of the last six after a 5-3 victory over Penn State in South Bend back in December. Seven of their 10 victories have come when they have scored three or more goals while they have a 3-10-2 record when scoring two or fewer goals. Notre Dame has been shut out four times so far this season while recording four shutouts of its own.
  • ND is paced by senior goaltender Ryan Bischel whose .924 save percentage paces the Big Ten and is tied for eighth in the nation while his 2.56 goals-against average is good for fourth in the conference.
  • Offensively, Notre Dame has 20 players with at least one goal led by Trevor Janicke with seven. Janicke leads the team with 16 points while Ryder Rolston has added six goals and nine assists for 15 points. Defenseman Nick Leivermann missed last weekend's series against Minnesota after leaving the Wisconsin series with an injury and is questionable for this weekend in Hockey Valley. Leivermann is third on the team with 13 points on five goals and eighth assists in just 18 games this season. His 0.72 points per game leads the team.
  • Not even with the man-advantage have the Irish found success filling the net as they rank last in the Big Ten and 50th nationally converting just 14.5 percent (11-for-76) of its powerplay chances.
  • The Irish are just 2-10-2 this season when opponents score first and Penn State has done so in 18 of 24 games played so far with a 14-3-1 record when doing so. Notre Dame opened the scoring in both games back in South Bend earlier this season.

DYNAMIC DEFENSE

  • Following a 7-3 setback at the hands of the Spartans back in November, Penn State has only allowed more than three goals three times in the last 10 games.
  • The Nittany Lions rank third in the Big Ten behind Minnesota and Ohio State and 15th nationally allowing just 2.46 goals per game this season as opponents have scored just 59 goals in 24 games.
  • Penn State is a perfect 14-0-0 this season when allowing less than three goals.

YOU'RE MY WONDERWALL

  • Wall saw his career-best six-game point streak come to an end last Friday at Michigan State, however, he opened the scoring the following night and has scored five goals over his last seven games. Wall's 12 goals and 21 points this season lead the team while ranking tied for third and tied for 11th, respectively, in the Big Ten. His 12 goals are tied for 15th nationally and just four shy of his career-best 16 from last season.
  • Wall's 38 career goals are just one shy of reaching the top-10 all-time at Penn State while his 76 points are four shy of the top-10 all-time.

MAC ATTACK

  • Senior Connor McMenamin has registered at least one point in seven of his last nine games. McMenamin's six goals this season tie his career high mark he last achieved as a sophomore in 2020-21 while his 19 points are already a new career-high surpassing the 16 he had last year.
  • McMenamin's eight career game-winning goals are tied for the second most all-time behind Denis Smirnov's 10.

SOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUL MAN

  • Junior net-minder Liam Souliere is tied for the Big Tenlead and ranks second in the nation with his 15 wins, a mark good for the fifth-most in a single-season in Penn State history.
  • Souliere's 2.22 GAA ranks third in the conference and 19th in the nation while his .921 save percentage is tied for third in the Big Ten and 18th nationally.

PARKING INFORMATION

  • Stadium West and Jordan East parking for the wrestling BJC Dual vs. Michigan and men's hockey game vs. Notre Dame scheduled for Friday, Jan. 20 is sold out.
  • Prepaid parking for these events at the East and Eisenhower decks is now available through ParkMobile. 
  • Limited parking at Stadium West and Jordan East will be available to fans with a valid Penn State parking permit on a first-come, first-served basis.
  • Day-of-event parking will be available at the Nittany Deck for $10.
  • ParkMobile prepayment will be available at a discounted rate of $5.50 through Thursday, Jan. 19 at 11:59 p.m.
  • Prepayment will also be available for $10 on Friday, Jan. 20 until 4:30 p.m. at psu.parkmobile.io. Fans who have not prepaid by that time and do not have a valid Penn State permit will be directed to park at the Nittany Deck.
  • For prepaid access to parking areas, fans must present their ParkMobile prepayment barcode on their mobile device or a permit printed from the ParkMobile website.
  • Men's Hockey premium parking areas at the Yellow H lots near the Shields and Wagner buildings will open at 4:30 p.m. and require the appropriate premium permit.

NEXT UP

  • Penn State hits the road to begin a four-game road swing with a pair of games at Michigan next Friday and Saturday. Puck drops both nights is set for 7 p.m. with the series finale airing live on B1G Network.

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.