EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – The No. 16 Penn State Nittany Lions open the 2023-24 season on the road with a single non-conference contest at LIU on Saturday evening.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates Saturday, October 7
Place: Northwell Health Ice Center | East Meadow, N.Y.
Time: 7 p.m.
Streaming Video: Saturday
Listen: Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State
THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP
- Penn State is making its first trip to Long Island to battle LIU in a single contest to open the season. The Nittany Lions lead the all-time series 2-0-0 with a series sweep in Hockey Valley to open the 2021-22 campaign. This marks the second time in three seasons that Penn State opens the season against the Sharks.
- This is only the fourth time in 12 seasons that Penn State has opened play on the road and the first time since the 2020-21 campaign. The Nittany Lions are 7-3-1 all-time in season opening contests and have won four of the last five including two straight. Penn State is just 1-2-0 all-time in season openers on the road with losses in its last two in 2020 against Minnesota and 2017 at Clarkson. The lone victory came at Canisius in 2015.
- LIU begins its fourth season of NCAA Division I hockey and remains without a conference affiliation. The Sharks have an all-time record of 26-53-4. Penn State is 17-3-0 all-time against independent teams.
- Junior classmates Ryan Kirwan and Danny Dzhaniyev each potted their first career goals against LIU during that series sweep back in 2021.
SCOUTING LIU
- LIU is entering their fourth season as a program and coming off their winningest season finishing 13-22-1 in 2022-23. The Sharks were 1-5-0 against Big Ten opponents last season with their only win, a 3-2 victory over Ohio State at home. LIU is 1-10-0 all-time against the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions are the only B1G team the Sharks will face this season.
- LIU is without the services of its two leading goal scorers from last season in Anthony Vincent and Adam Goodsir who tallied 32 goals and 39 assists between them. The Sharks do return seven of their 10 leading goal scorers, who accounted for just about 50 percent of the team's goals last season, led by sophomore Josh Zary who finished third on the team with 12 goals as a freshman a season ago.
- Defenseman Cade Mason returns for his sophomore campaign after finishing third on the team in scoring last season with 32 points on seven goals and a team-best 25 assists.
- LIU graduated their starting goaltender, Vinnie Purpura, who played in 26 games for the Sharks posting a .893 save percentage and a 3.40 goals-against average with a 6-19-1 record, posting a 6-19-1 record. Their on-deck goalie, Brandon Perrone (transfer from Alaska Anchorage), returns for a graduate season after appearing in 14 games in 2022-23, going 7-3-0 with an .889 save percentage, and 2.84 goals-against average.
- LIU ranked 17th in the nation on the man-advantage last season converting 38-of-176 chances (22 percent). Those 38 power-play tallies ranked sixth in the nation last season and accounted for 31 percent of the Sharks total goals.
- On the flip side, LIU had the 12th worst penalty kill allowing 34 goals on 150 chances (77.3 percent kill). Penn State was the fifth-worst allowing 25 goals on 105 opponent power-plays (76.2 percent kill).
SOME LEAGUE, EH?
- To begin the 2023-24 season the Big Ten Conference has six teams ranked in the top-20 including three in the top-10 led by Minnesota and Michigan at No. 3 and No. 5, respectively, following their 2023 Frozen Four appearances while Michigan State (No. 9), Ohio State (No. 13), Penn State (No. 16) and Notre Dame (No. 20) round out the ranked teams with Wisconsin receiving votes.
GOOD BERGER
- Senior defenseman Christian Berger was voted the 10th captain in Penn State Hockey history earlier this month.
- Christian's brother, Chase Berger '19, also served as team captain for his senior season in 2018-19 and his oldest brother Jack, who Guy Gadowsky recruited to Princeton, served as team captain for two years with the Tigers following Gadowsky's departure to Penn State.
- Berger is Penn State's leading scorer returning in 2023-24 after finishing fifth on the team last year with 20 points on five goals and 15 assists, each career-high marks.
- Like his brother, Chase, Christian has yet to miss a game since stepping foot in Hockey Valley having played in 99 consecutive games with his 100th career game coming Saturday night on Long Island. Chase played in 154-consecutive games, an Iron Man streak that was surpassed last season by Paul DeNaples '23 who did not miss a game in his entire five-year Nittany Lion career playing in 172-straight.
ELDER STATESMEN
- With an average age of 22.1 years, Penn State boasts the oldest team in the Big Ten while LIU has the fourth oldest team in the nation with an average age of 22.8 years.
TRANSFER TALES
- Penn State landed two graduate transfers out of the portal this offseason with the additions of Tanner Palocsik and Jacques Bouquot, both of whom donned the 'C' last season at Dartmouth and Vermont, respectively.
- Despite missing the entire 2020-21 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the IVY League not participating in sports, Palocsik enters the year third among active defensemen in career points with 66 while his 53 assists place him second.
- Bouquot skated in 109 career games during his four seasons at Vermont and is coming off a career-best season with six goals and 10 assists for 16 points.
I CAN FEEL IT COMING IN THE SUUL-EE-AIR TONIGHT, HOLD ON
- Senior goaltender Liam Souliere had a breakthrough season as a junior in 2022-23 setting program records with a 2.43 goals-against average and three shutouts while ranking second all-time with 19 wins and third with a .917 save percentage. Souliere also set a single-game record with 55 saves in a 2-1 OT victory over Ohio State in the B1G Quarterfinals.
- Entering the 2023-24 campaign Souliere ranks first all-time with a 2.72 career goals-against average while his .908 save percentage and 27 victories are good for second and third, respectively.
- Souliere has also logged over 3000 minutes played becoming just the third Nittany Lion goaltender in program history to hit that mark while his three shutouts are one shy of the program record.
OFFENSIVE OPPORTUNITY
- A year after returning each of its top-12 scorers, Penn State enters the 2023-24 season without the services of six of its top-12 scorers including each of its top-4 from last season leaving opportunity for new faces to step up offensively.
- The Nittany Lions lost 45 percent of its scoring from last season's NCAA Tournament team including 54 percent of their goal scoring (70 goals).
DIMINUTIVE DANNY
- Standing just 5 foot 4 inches tall, junior Danny Dzhaniyev has the distinction as shortest player in college hockey for the second consecutive season. Dzhaniyev, who wears No. 13, is a full 16 inches shorter than the last player to don No. 13 for the Blue & White, Nikita Pavlychev, who at 6 foot 8 inches tall spent many years as the tallest player in college hockey.
THE B1G GADOWSKY
- Now in his 12th season in Hockey Valley, head coach Guy Gadowsky is 194-168-25 behind the Penn State bench.
- Gadowsky secured career win No. 350 last season against St. Thomas and currently ranks 36th among Division I coaches all-time and is 13th among active NCAA Division I coaches with 367 wins just one shy of Bemidji State head man, Tom Serratore.
NEXT UP
- Penn State remains on the road with a trip to the North Country to battle Clarkson and St. Lawrence next weekend.
For more information on the 2023-24 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.