No. 10 Men's Hockey Closes Regular Season With B1G Series Against WisconsinNo. 10 Men's Hockey Closes Regular Season With B1G Series Against Wisconsin
Sami Reilly

No. 10 Men's Hockey Closes Regular Season With B1G Series Against Wisconsin

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The 10th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions conclude the regular season with a pair of games against Wisconsin on Friday and Saturday evening at Pegula Ice Arena.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, February 24 | Saturday, February 25
Place: Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.
Time: FRI: 7 p.m. | SAT: 5 p.m.
Tickets: Friday | Saturday
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • This weekend marks the conclusion of regular season play and the 48th and 49th meetings all-time between Penn State and Wisconsin as the Badgers are the Nittany Lions' most common opponent over the first 11 years of the program. Penn State holds the 26-18-3 edge in the series and has won five-straight entering the weekend after taking 8-of-12 possible points last season with a 3-1-0 record against Wisconsin and sweeping the Badgers in Madison back in October.
  • The Nittany Lions are 14-6-1 against the Badgers at Pegula Ice Arena including wins in seven of the last eight matchups between the two teams in Hockey Valley. Penn State swept the Badgers at home last season outscoring Wisconsin 11-3 in the two games.
  • Senior Connor McMenamin leads Penn State with 12 points in 15 career games against the Badgers on five goals and seven assists. Five of those points came in the same game as McMenamin tied the Penn State single-game record for points and assists with five and four, respectively, back on January 22, 2021.
  • Senior Kevin Wall has added four goals and seven assists for 11 points in 14 career games against Wisconsin while sophomore Ryan Kirwan is averaging a point per game in six career contests against the Badgers with four goals and two assists.
  • Senior Paul DeNaples has played in 22 career games against Wisconsin with three of his 10 career goals coming against the Badgers while he has also added six assists for nine points.
  • Junior goaltender Liam Souliere has a 3-1-0 career record against the Badgers in his four starts which included an impressive career-best 40-save performance while allowing just a single goal in a 4-1 victory during his lone start against the Badgers last season. Souliere has a 2.02 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage in his four career starts against the Badgers.

SCOUTING WISCONSIN

  • The Badgers enter the weekend having split their past two series at home against No. 1 Minnesota and No. 17 Michigan State. The win against the Gophers two weeks ago snapped a six-game losing skid.
  • Wisconsin is just 12-20-0 this season including a 5-17-0 record in the Big Ten locking them in to the seventh seed in the upcoming conference tournament. The Badgers are just 2-10-0 on the road this season including an 0-10-0 mark in Big Ten road games entering the weekend in Hockey Valley.
  • Wisconsin is allowing 5.10 goals per game in Big Ten road games this season while only scoring 2.0 themselves being outscored 51-20.
  • The Badgers are paced offensively by freshman Cruz Lucius with 31 points on 10 goals and a team-best 21 helpers. Brock Caufield is tied with Lucius for the lead in goals with 10 while adding nine assists for 19 points, both marks are career highs for the fifth-year forward.
  • Sophomore Corson Ceulemans paces the back end for Wisconsin with 19 points on seven goals and 12 assists while blocking a team-high 44 shots.
  • Between the pipes Jared Moe and Kyle McClellan have split time in recent weeks with the former pacing the team with 26 starts this season posting a 10-15-0 record with a 3.05 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage.
  • Offensively the Badgers rank second to last in the Big Ten and tied for 42nd nationally averaging 2.56 goals per game. On the other side of the puck, Wisconsin is last in the Big Ten and tied for 51st nationally allowing 3.31 goals per game.
  • Wisconsin has been successful on special teams this season ranking middle of the pack nationally on the powerplay converting at 20.6 percent (27-for-131) a mark good for fourth in the Big Ten. On the PK the Badgers have killed off 101-of-129 (78.3 percent) of the opposition's man-advantage chances to rank fourth in the Big Ten and 40th nationally.

POSTSEASON SCENARIOS

  • Only two spots in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament, first and last, are locked up entering the final weekend of the regular season. Minnesota captured its sixth regular season championship earning a first round bye, while Wisconsin will finish the season in seventh. The other five spots are completely up in the air entering the weekend.
  • Penn State can finish anywhere from second to sixth barring the outcomes of this weekend's games. Top-seeded Minnesota hosts Ohio State who is currently tied with Michigan for second each just five points ahead of Penn State. The Wolverines host Notre Dame this weekend. Next week, seeds 2-4 will host 5-7, respectively, for a best of three quarterfinal round.
  • The easiest way for Penn State to lock up home ice in the quarterfinals is by winning both games this week, however, with five points currently separating second from sixth, the Nittany Lions can secure at least four points to leap idle Michigan State and then have Notre Dame earn four points or less in its series against Michigan this weekend in order to also host the quarterfinals at Pegula Ice Arena next weekend as entering the weekend the Nittany Lions own all tiebreakers over the Irish.
  • Penn State and Notre Dame split the season series evenly with each recording two regulation wins. Penn State owns both of the next two tiebreakers with nine regulation wins to Notre Dame's eight and only nine regulation losses to Notre Dame's 10. Both of these could change barring this weekend's outcomes. If things got pushed to the final tiebreaker, Penn State secured more points this season (four) against No. 1 Minnesota compared to just two for the Irish.

DUBS A PLENTY

  • Penn State is searching for its 20th victory of the season this weekend which would mark the fifth time in the 11-year history of the program and the first since 2019-20 that the Nittany Lions hit that milestone. Penn State's single-season win record is 25 achieved during the 2016-17 season.
  • With a pair of victories this weekend the Nittany Lions will achieve their second-most single-season conference victories in the 10-year history of the Big Ten and would fall just one win shy of its Big Ten best 12 from the 2019-20 season when they captured the regular season championship.
  • Penn State's 12 victories at home this season are tied for the fourth-most in program history and are three shy of the single-season record of 15 from the 2018-19 campaign. With two wins this weekend the Nittany Lions would tie the second most home victories in a season of 14 achieved in 2016-17.

OH DANNY BOY, DANNY BOY

  • Sophomore Danny Dzhaniyev has been playing the best hockey of his Nittany Lion career since the calendar flipped to January registering four of his six goals while adding three assists for seven points in 12 games following the holiday break.
  • Dzhaniyev's line with transfers Ture Linden and Ashton Calder had a strong weekend against Minnesota combining for 75 percent of Penn State's goals and 55 percent of total points against the Gophers with three goals and three assists for six points.
  • In 12 games this semester since being paired together this line has tallied 10 goals with 12 assists for 22 points. Dzhaniyev's six goals this season tie the total he had last year as a freshman.

 
YOU'RE MY WONDERWALL

  • Three 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 is tied for the team lead with 24 points. His 14 goals are tied for the seventh most in the Big Ten.

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 opens Big Ten Tournament action with a best-of-three quarterfinal series with the opponent and location to be determined following this weekend's games.
 
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.