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No. 10 Men's Hockey Opens B1G Tournament with Quarterfinal Series at No. 9 Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 10th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions finished sixth in the tightly contested Big Ten Conference and will travel to third-seeded and No. 9 Ohio State this weekend for a best-of-three quarterfinal series in Columbus.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, March 3 | Saturday, March 4 | Sunday, March 5 (if necessary)
Place: Value City Arena | Columbus, Ohio
Time: FRI: 7 p.m. | SAT: 5 p.m. | SUN: 5 p.m.
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Listen: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • This weekend marks a rematch of last year's B1G quarterfinal round when Penn State defeated the host Buckeyes two games to one to become the first and only road team to win a best-of-three quarterfinal series since the three-week playoff format was adopted by the Big Ten prior to the 2017-18 season.
  • The Buckeyes finished the regular season third while Penn State finished sixth to set up this matchup. Teams two through six in the Big Ten this season were separated by just four points while Ohio State and Penn State had just a two-point difference between them.
  • Ohio State does hold the 23-17-4 edge in the all-time series entering the weekend including a slim 12-10-2 record in Columbus. The two teams split the four games earlier this season with Penn State winning the first game of each series and the Buckeyes responding to take the second both in Hockey Valley and last month in Columbus.
  • The Buckeyes won the season series last year taking 10 of the 12 possible points with a 3-0-1 record in the four regular season battles prior to Penn State's quarterfinal upset in Columbus last March.
  • Senior Kevin Wall leads all Nittany Lions with seven career goals against Ohio State including two in a 4-3 win last month at Value City Arena where he notched the game-winning tally with just 2:20 remaining in the game. Wall has added five assists for 12 points in 17 games against Ohio State while Jimmy Dowd Jr. has added 10 points on three goals and seven assists in 13 career games. Connor MacEachern also scored twice in a 4-3 victory last month in Columbus and enters the weekend with five goals and two assists for seven points in 17 games against the Buckeyes.
  • Junior Liam Souliere has eight career starts against the Buckeyes posting a 3-4-1 record with a 2.75 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage.
  • Both teams rank near the top of the NCAA in goals-against average with Ohio State ranking second in the Big Ten and tied for 15th in the nation allowing just 2.50 goals per game while Penn State is fourth in the Big Ten and tied for 27th nationally with opponents scoring just 2.79 goals per game.
  • Ohio State has allowed more than three goals just 11 times in 34 games this season and are just 2-9-0 when doing so. Penn State has allowed more than three goals just 10 times this season, posting just a 1-8-1 record in such games.
  • On the other hand, Ohio State is 12-3-1 this season when allowing two or fewer goals with one of those losses coming against Penn State back in December, a 2-1 Nittany Lion win. Penn State is 16-2-0 when allowing two or fewer goals including a 2-1 setback to Wisconsin last time out.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE

  • The Buckeyes enter the weekend with just one victory in their last six games since these two teams met last month going just 1-3-2 over the past three weeks including a sweep last weekend at the hands of Minnesota to close out the regular season.
  • Ohio State is ranked No. 9 in both polls this weekend and are currently right behind the Nittany Lions in the Pairwise at No. 9.
  • Goaltender Jakub Dobes has an 18-13-1 record this season with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage to rank second and third in the Big Ten, respectively.
  • Freshman Stephen Halliday leads the Buckeyes with 34 points on eight goals, seven of which have come with the man-advantage, and 26 assists while Davis Burnside paces Ohio State with 13 goals and Cam Thiesing and Jake Wise each have 11.Eight of Wise's 11 goals have come on the powerplay to lead the Big Ten and rank tied for seventh nationally.
  • Ohio State is 31-for-140 (22.1 percent) on the powerplay this season ranking third in the Big Ten and 20th nationally, compared to Penn State's Big Ten worst 15.4 percent powerplay which ranks 49th nationally.
  • The Buckeyes have been very undisciplined on the other end of the ice ranking second in the Big Ten and 11th in the nation averaging 12.8 penalty minutes per game, however, Ohio State boasts the best penalty kill in the nation at 89.4 percent (15-for-141).

SOME LEAGUE, EH?

  • This season the Big Ten Conference has had six teams ranked in the top-20 for the majority of the year including four top-10 teams as well as the No. 1 team in the country for the better part of four months. The league also represents the top-seven teams in the nation with the hardest strength of schedule during the 2022-23 campaign.

BRIGHT LIGHTS, B1G STAGE

  • Penn State has advanced to a conference-best, seven-straight tournament semifinal games and eight overall through the first nine years of the Big Ten Hockey Conference. With Minnesota earning a bye to the 2023 semifinals, the Gophers are currently ahead of the Nittany Lions for the most semifinal appearances in league history with nine. The only year the Gophers failed to reach the semifinals was when Penn State swept Minnesota during a best-of-three quarterfinal series at Pegula Ice Arena on March 2-3, 2018.
  • The only year Penn State failed to make the semifinals was in 2015 when the Nittany Lions fell 3-1 to these same Buckeyes in the quarterfinals.
  • Penn State has yet to lose a quarterfinal best-of-three series since the Big Ten made the switch to a three-week playoff format for the 2018 postseason. The Nittany Lions are 6-2-0 all-time in such games, sweeping Minnesota in 2018, beating Wisconsin in three games in 2019 and then beating Ohio State in three games last season. The Nittany Lions had a bye to the semifinals in 2020 and the 2021 tournament was reverted back to the one weekend, single-elimination format.
  • The Nittany Lions have played a Big Ten record 22 tournament games since the league's inception prior to the 2013-14 season and with a 13-9-0 record, Penn State holds the Big Ten Tournament record for most wins while Minnesota and Michigan each have 12 and Ohio State has 11. PSU is 11-6 in its last 17 Big Ten Tournament games dating back to the 2016-17 season.
  • Penn State is 4-1 all-time in overtime games during the Big Ten Tournament with the lone loss coming in the 2020-21 semifinal round against Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions have also played in the three longest games in tournament history.
  • The Buckeyes made the semifinals the first seven years of the conference before being bounced in the quarterfinals by Michigan in 2021 and Penn State last season.

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 five of his career-best seven goals while adding four assists for nine points in 14 games following the holiday break.
  • Dzhaniyev's line with transfers Ture Linden and Ashton Calder have combined for six goals and seven assists for 13 points over the past two weekends registering 55 percent of the all goals and 41 percent of all points scored by the Nittany Lions over the last four games.
  • In 14 games this semester since being paired together this line has tallied 13 goals with 16 assists for 29 points.

NEXT UP
Penn State will travel to top-seeded and No. 1 ranked Minnesota next Saturday for a Big Ten Semifinal rematch should they defeat the Buckeyes this 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.