No. 11/10 Men's Hockey Opens NCAA Tournament Against No. 13/13 Michigan Tech on Friday in AllentownNo. 11/10 Men's Hockey Opens NCAA Tournament Against No. 13/13 Michigan Tech on Friday in Allentown

No. 11/10 Men's Hockey Opens NCAA Tournament Against No. 13/13 Michigan Tech on Friday in Allentown

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The No. 11/10 Penn State Nittany Lions earned the No. 2 seed in the Allentown Regional and will battle No. 13/13 Michigan Tech on Friday evening at 5 p.m. in an NCAA regional semifinal at the PPL Center.

The winner will take on the winner of the second regional semifinal between No. 3 overall seed Michigan and Colgate for a chance to reach the Frozen Four. Puck drop for the regional championship on Sunday, March 26 is slated for 6:30 p.m.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates Friday, March 24
Place: PPL Center | Allentown, Pa.
Time: 5 p.m.
Tickets: Friday
Streaming Video: Friday
Listen: Friday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State | Michigan Tech

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • Penn State is making its third NCAA Tournament appearance in its 11-year history each of which have come in the past seven seasons, it would have been four had the 2020 tournament not been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Friday's game against Michigan Tech marks the first-ever meeting between the Nittany Lions and Huskies. Michigan Tech was, however, in the same regional as Penn State back in 2017 in Cincinnati, but lost to Denver, 5-2, in the semifinals that year.
  • The other semifinal in Allentown will showcase the third-overall seed and back-to-back Big Ten Tournament Champions the Michigan Wolverines against the ECAC Tournament Champions in Colgate.
  • Penn State is 15-25-1 all-time against the Wolverines in 41 previous meetings including a 1-3-0 record this season, however, the one victory did come when Michigan was ranked No. 1 in the nation. The Nittany Lions have not faced Colgate in the current era with the lone match-up between the two schools coming back in 1947, a 14-0 victory for the Red Raiders.
  • The Huskies are making their second-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament and first ever trip to Allentown after playing in the Loveland Regional last season dropping a 3-0 decision to Minnesota Duluth. Overall, Tech is making its 15th NCAA Tournament appearance, fifth in the last nine years, but are searching for its first victory in the big dance since 1981.
  • Penn State and Michigan Tech both did not play last weekend, which could be a factor in the outcome. It's the only region with two teams in that situation.
  • The Huskies have lost just four games since the calendar flipped to January posting a 12-4-1 record in the new year, while the Nittany Lions have won just four games in 2023 posting a 4-10-1 record since January 1, however, 11 of those 15 games have come against ranked opponents including nine teams in the top-10. Tech has played just one ranked opponent over its last 17 games, a 3-2 victory over No. 6 Boston University to win the Desert Classic in Tempe, Arizona.
  • The Nittany Lions are 1-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament games but have dropped two-straight after winning their first ever NCAA Tournament game with a 10-3 victory over Union on March 25, 2017, Penn State dropped its next two games, both to Denver, by a combined score of 11-4 including a 5-1 setback last time Penn State played in Allentown on March 24, 2018.
  • Graduate student Ashton Calder is making his third NCAA Tournament appearance in three years with his third different team after leading his hometown Lake Superior State Lakers to the dance in 2020-21 and then going back last season as a member of North Dakota. Calder is yet to experience an NCAA Tournament victory but did score the Lakers lone goal in a 5-1 defeat at the hands of eventual 2021 National Champion UMass.
  • Calder is the only current Nittany Lion with NCAA Tournament experience as Penn State is making its first appearance since the 2017-18 season. In 2018-19 Penn State was the last team out of the field after finishing No. 16 in the PairWise and then the 2020 tournament was canceled with Penn State sitting No. 7 in the PairWise.
  • With 177 career games played, Calder ranks tied for the third most games among active players only behind Bowling Green's Taylor Schneider (182) and Quinnipiac's Ethan de Jong (180).

SCOUTING MICHIGAN TECH

  • Led by CCHA Coach of the Year, Joe Shawhan, the Huskies are 24-10-4 on the year with their 24 wins tied for the seventh-most in the nation. Tech finished the year second in the CCHA just two points behind Minnesota State. MTU swept St. Thomas in the opening round of the CCHA Tournament with a pair of one-goal victories before falling 4-0 to Northern Michigan in the semifinals two weeks ago. Tech's 24 wins are the most since the 2014-15 season.
  • The Huskies are paced by goaltender and CCHA Player of the Year, Blake Pietila. Pietila leads the nation in shutouts with 10 while ranking second nationally with 23 wins, third in save percentage (.929), and fifth in goals-against average (1.99).Pietila is one of three finalists for the Mike Richter Award as well as being a Top-10 Hobey Baker Finalist. Pietila is tied for Michigan Tech's all-time goaltender win record with 58 for his career.
  • Offensively, Tech is paced by Ryland Mosley with 31 points on 12 goals and a team-high 19 assists. CCHA Freshman of the Year Kyle Kukkonen leads the Huskies with 18 goals and ranks second with 27 points while seniors Logan Pietila and Tristan Ashbrook have added 11 and 10 goals, respectively. Kukkonen is fifth nationally with five game-winning goals and sixth in shorthanded goals (3).
  • The Huskies have one of the best defenses in the country thanks in large part to the play between the pipes of Pietila. Tech is allowing just 2.08 goals per game this season to rank fourth in the nation. Tech has allowed more than three goals in just seven games this season posting a 1-6-0 record in such games.
  • Offensively, Tech is averaging 2.71 goals per game this season to rank 36th nationally. The Huskies are 17-1-1 this season when scoring three or more goals.
  • The Huskies also possess the fourth best penalty kill in the nation at 86 percent (117-for-136), however,their powerplay is the fifth worst in the nation converting at just a 13.3 percent (17-for-128) clip. Tech's 17 powerplay tallies are tied for 55th nationally.

START THE FIGHT

  • Both teams enjoy fast starts with Michigan Tech having scored the first goal in 28-of-38 games this season and Penn State not far behind netting the first goal in 25-of-37 games played.
  • The Nittany Lions have a 17-7-1 record when scoring first this season while the Huskies enjoy a 21-4-3 record when doing so.
  • For Penn State, nine of those opening goals have come in the first five minutes of the game with four coming within the first minute including the fastest goal to open a game in program history from Ture Linden against Mercyhurst back in October just seven seconds into the game.
  • The Nittany Lions also secured the fastest back-to-back tallies in program history this season against Michigan at Yost on January 28, scoring twice in a six second span just 44 ticks into the game.
  • Penn State has been held scoreless over the opening 20 minutes just 12 times this season, however, the Nittany Lions haven't scored a first period goal in seven of their last eight games including four-straight.

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

  • Junior goaltender Liam Souliere registered a program record 55 saves during a 2-1 overtime victory against No. 9 Ohio State on March 4. Souliere became just the third Nittany Lion goalie to hit the 50-save mark in a game breaking the previous record of 52 held by Matt Skoff since March 20, 2014, a 2-1 double-overtime victory also in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals against Michigan.
  • Souliere's 18 wins are tied with Peyton Jones '20 for the second-most in a single-season in program history while his 2.52 goals-against average and .913 save percentage currently rank second and third all-time for a single-season in program history.
  • His 2.79 goals-against average and .905 save percentage for his career currently rank second and third all-time as well.
  • Following the B1G quarterfinals Souliere has now logged over 3000 minutes played becoming just the third Nittany Lion goaltender in program history to hit that mark. His 26 victories are also good for the third-most all-time.

YOU'RE MY WONDERWALL

  • Senior Kevin Wall earned his second consecutive Big Ten postseason honor last week when he was named an All-B1G honorable mention alongside classmate Connor MacEachern.
  • Wall has identical numbers from a season ago where he set career-highs in each offensive category with 16 goals and 13 assists for 29 points.
  • Wall's 16 goals are tied for the sixth-most in the Big Ten and the ninth-most in a single-season in Penn State history.
  • In his career, Wall has now lit the lamp 42 times good for ninth all-time at Penn State while his 84 career points rank tenth.
  • Wall also has three game-winning goals this season to tie MacEachern for the team lead and sit just one shy of the single-season program record of four held by six different Nittany Lions and most recently achieved by Evan Barratt during the 2019-20 season.

BLACKJACK

  • Penn State has 21 victories this season marking the fifth time in the 11-year history of the program and the first since 2019-20 that the Nittany Lions hit the 20-win mark. Penn State's single-season win record is 25 achieved during the 2016-17 season.
  • Penn State's 13 victories at home this season are tied for the third-mostin program history.
  • The Nittany Lions have nine victories this season against ranked opponents more than doubling the amount they had last season. Penn State's record for wins against ranked teams is 11 from 2016-17.
  • Penn State has played 62 percent of its games this season against ranked opponents and that doesn't include a two-game sweep of Alaska back in November. The Nanooks are currently No. 15 in the polls and No. 15 in the PairWise and were the last at-large team out of the field as Colgate replaced them with the auto-bid for winning the ECAC.

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.