UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The 7th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions resume play after their bye week as they begin a four-game homestand to close out the regular season with a pair of games against No. 2 Minnesota on Friday and Saturday evening.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, February 17 | Saturday, February 18
Place: Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.
Time: FRI: 6:30 p.m. | SAT: 6:30 p.m.
TV: B1G Network
Tickets: Friday | Saturday
Streaming Video: Fox Sports App
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State | Minnesota
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- This weekend marks the 41st and 42nd meetings all-time between the two programs with Minnesota holding the 22-17-1 edge, however, dating back to Penn State's 4-3 victory in double overtime of the 2017 Big Ten Tournament semifinals, the Nittany Lions are 14-9-1 in the last 24 meetings including a 7-2-1 mark at Pegula Ice Arena during that stretch. The Gophers sweep last season in Hockey Valley marked the first wins for Minnesota at Pegula Ice Arena in five years. The Nittany Lions are 9-8-1 all-time against Minnesota at Pegula Ice Arena.
- This weekend not only marks a top-10 matchup in rankings between No. 2 Minnesota and No. 7 Penn State, but it is a top-10 scoring matchup as well with Minnesota averaging 4.00 goals per game to rank second in the Big Ten and fourth in the nation and Penn State averaging 3.50 to rank third in the Big Ten and 10th in the nation.
- This week marks just the fourth such series where Penn State and Minnesota have faced each other with both teams ranked inside the top-10 including the series earlier this season in Minneapolis while the other four contests came during the 2016-17 season with Minnesota winning all four games. The Gophers are 5-1-0 against Penn State with both teams ranked in the top-10.
- Senior Kevin Wall leads all Nittany Lions with 10 points on five goals and five assists in 13 career games against Minnesota. Classmate Connor MacEachern has eight points on three goals and five assists in 13 games of his own against the Gophers including a multi-goal game and a career-best three-point effort in a 4-2 win earlier this season.
- Sophomore Ryan Kirwan registered three goals and one assist for four points in five games against the Gophers last year.
- Junior Liam Souliere has had success against the Gophers in his career and while he may only have one victory in five chances, he has a .910 save percentage and a 2.67 goals-against average in his career against Minnesota the second-best numbers against all Big Ten teams aside from his 2.02 and .939 in four games against Wisconsin.
SCOUTING MINNESOTA
- Minnesota enters the weekend No. 1 in the PairWise but have slipped to No. 2 in the national polls following a road split at Wisconsin last weekend winning the opening game 4-1 before dropping the finale 3-1 in Madison.
- The loss was only the fourth conference loss for the Gophers all season and the first in regulation over their last 15 Big Ten games dating back to a 4-2 loss to Penn State at Mariucci back in November. The Gophers are just 8-5-1 away from 3M Arena this season. Minnesota's 21 wins this season are tied for the third most in the nation behind Quinnipiac (24) and Denver (23).
- Minnesota is second in the Big Ten behind Michigan and fourth in the nation averaging exactly 4.00 goals per game through 30 games this season. The Gophers are paced by a pair of freshmen in Jimmy Snuggerud and Logan Cooley with 40 and 38 points, respectively.
- Snuggerud is tied with Matthew Knies for the team lead with 17 goals to rank second in the Big Ten and tied for eighth nationally. The freshman has added 23 assists for 40 points to rank second in the Big Ten and tied for fourth in the nation. Cooley's 24 helpers rank third in the conference and tied for eighth in the nation.
- Between the pipes, Justen Close has been solid all year posting an 18-8-1 record with a 2.09 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage. His GAA is good for tops in the conference and tied for 11th nationally while his save percentage places him second in the Big Ten and tied for 12th in the nation.
- The Gophers have been deadly on the powerplay this season leading the Big Ten with a 24.5 percent conversion rate (25-for-101) led by Knies and Snuggerud with six and five powerplay tallies, respectively.
- The penalty kill has also been widely successful ranking second in the Big Ten and 14th nationally killing off 65-of-78 (83.3 percent) of opponents powerplay chances including a 26-for-28 (92.9 percent) clip since the calendar flipped to 2023.
T. GRATTS
- Senior Tyler Gratton has registered points in three-straight games, one shy of his career-best four-game point streak achieved earlier this season.
- Gratton has six goals and a career-high eight assists this season for a career-best 14 points in 29 games, surpassing the 12 points he had last season as a junior when he scored a career-best nine goals.
YOU'RE MY WONDERWALL
- Senior Kevin Wall tallied his first career goal against Minnesota back on November 15, 2019 at Mariucci and later that year scored what proved to be the Big Ten regular-season championship clinching goal in a 3-2 victory at Pegula in February as Penn State took 11-of-12 points from the Gophers that season. Those were the only two goals Wall scored in 26 games as a freshman in 2019-20.
- Two weeks ago, against Ohio State, Wall registered the sixth multi-goal game of his career as he opened the scoring and closed the scoring in a 4-3 victory over the seventh-ranked Buckeyes in Columbus. Wall now has 40 goals in his Nittany Lion career to move into 10th on the all-time goals list. His 79 career points are also just one point shy of Casey Bailey for 10th on the Penn State all-time points list.
- Wall leads the team with 14 goals and 24 points. His 14 goals are tied for the sixth most in the Big Ten.
RECORD SETTING WEEKEND
- Not once, but twice Penn State broke its attendance record at Pegula Ice Arena last month against Notre Dame. After seeing 6,558 fans file in on Friday night, breaking the previous record by 83 patrons, eight additional fans attended Saturday's Wear White game for the current record which now stands at 6,566.
- In total this also meant Penn State saw a series record 13,124 fans across the two games including the 1,000,000th fan in the 9-plus year history of Pegula Ice Arena.
- Seven of the top-10 crowds all-time at Pegula Ice Arena have occurred this season as the Nittany Lions are averaging 6,078 fans through their first 16 home games, the fifth-most in the nation. Penn State's 106.6 percent average capacity this season tops the nation.
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 concludes the regular-season with a pair of home games against the Wisconsin Badgers next weekend.
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.