No. 18 Men's Hockey Resumes B1G Play Against No. 7 Minnesota in Hockey ValleyNo. 18 Men's Hockey Resumes B1G Play Against No. 7 Minnesota in Hockey Valley
Craig Houtz

No. 18 Men's Hockey Resumes B1G Play Against No. 7 Minnesota in Hockey Valley

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 18 Penn State Nittany Lions return to Big Ten Conference play this weekend as they welcome No. 7 Minnesota to Hockey Valley for a Friday-Saturday series at Pegula Ice Arena.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Dates: Friday, December 1 | Saturday, December 2
Place: University Park, Pa.
Time: 7 p.m. | 6 p.m.
Tickets: Friday | Saturday
Streaming Video: Friday | Saturday
Listen: Friday | Saturday
Live Statistics: Live Stats
Game Notes: Penn State | Minnesota

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUP

  • This weekend marks the 43rd and 44th meetings all-time between Penn State and Minnesota with the Gophers holding the 24-17-1 advantage including the slim 10-9-1 mark at Pegula Ice Arena following last year's sweep in Hockey Valley.
  • The Gophers have actually won the last four games at Pegula Ice Arena following a 7-0-1 stretch by Penn State from the 2017-18 season through 2019-20.
  • Senior Christian Sarlo leads all current Nittany Lions with five goals and three assists for eight points in 11 career games against the Gophers.
  • Minnesota is the ninth youngest team in the nation, but only the fourth youngest team in the Big Ten with an average age of 21 years and 7 months. Penn State is the oldest team in the Big Ten with an average age of 22 years 2 months.

TEDDY BEAR TOSS

  • Friday night's contest will serve as the annual Teddy Bear Toss presented by the Penn State Bookstore to benefit THON and other local hospitals and school districts.
  • Fans are encouraged to bring new or lightly used stuffed animals and toss them onto the ice during the first intermission.
  • The Hockey Valley Team Shop will have bears for sale as well.

SCOUTING MINNESOTA

  • The Gophers enter the weekend 7-4-3 and ranked seventh in the latest uscho.com poll following a tie and an overtime win last weekend against Michigan State.
  • Minnesota lost three of its top-5 scorers and two of its three 20-goal scorers from last season's Frozen Four team including Hobey Baker Finalist and leading scorer Logan Cooley who paced the Gophers in each offensive category with 22 goals and 38 assists for 60 points. The Gophers also lost Matthew Knies who potted 21 goals a season ago and is a former Big Ten Player of the Year. The Gophers also lost their top-three defensemen with the departures of Jackson LaCombe, Brock Faber and Ryan Johnson.
  • So far this season the Gophers are paced by Bryce Brodzinski with eight goals and eight assists for 16 points while Jimmy Snuggerud has also added eight goals and 11 points. Brody Lamb and Rhett Pitlick have each lit the lamp six times while Jaxson Nelson ranks second on the team with 13 points on five goals and eight assists.
  • Connor Kurth averaged a point pe-game during the month of November with eight points in eight outings, including multi-assist performances at Michigan (Nov. 10) and against Notre Dame (Nov. 18). The sophomore scored a goal in consecutive games versus Michigan State last weekend, the second time during his career with goals in backto-back games and first since Oct. 2-7, 2022. Kurth is currently riding a career-long, three-game point streak as he continues to showcase his skillset on the ice and is just two points shy of his freshman total of 11.
  • Justen Close returns between the pipes for the Gophers after posting a 26-10-1 record last season with a 2.02 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. So far this season Close has started all 14 games posting a 7-4-3 record with a 2.52 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.
  • Minnesota's powerplay has a goal in five of its last seven games, totaling seven goals in that span. A 3-for-5 effort on the man advantage against Michigan State last Sunday helped raise Minnesota's success rate five points to 23.8 percent, jumping up to 14th in the nation.
  • The Gophers have gone into three shootouts in 2023-24, and they've failed to convert any of their eight chances in a shootout this season, suffering losses to Minnesota Duluth (Nov. 4), Michigan (Nov. 11), and Michigan State (Nov. 26). Minnesota's all-time record stands at 4-17 in shootouts dating back to 1988, which includes a 2-13 mark against Big Ten opponents.

OFFENSIVE OUTBURST

  • Penn State put up 16 goals in a sweep over Lindenwood last weekend, the second-most in a single series in program history just two shy of the 18 they tallied in a home-and-home sweep of Robert Morris on November 9-10, 2018.
  • Last weekend also marked the third time Penn State has reached the seven-goal mark in both games of a series and first since that series against Bobby Mo in 2018. The Nittany Lions have scored seven or more goals in a game on 29 occasions.
  • Entering this series, Penn State now ranks third in the Big Ten and fifth in the nation averaging 4.1 goals per game. PSU's 61 goals scored this season rank third in the Big Ten and are tied for fourth in the nation. The Nittany Lions have scored five or more goals in each of their last three games, all victories.

YOUTH MOVEMENT

  • Penn State's "Kid Line" consisting of Aiden Fink, Reese Laubach and Matt DiMarsico came together eight games ago out of necessity due to injuries. In those eight games the trio has combined for 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points with a plus-16 rating.
  • Over the past two weeks the Kids have 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points. The 11 goals account for 44 percent of Penn State's goals over the past four games.
  • Fink, DiMarsico and Laubach are each riding career-best point streaks of five, four and three games, respectively. As a whole this season the five-member freshman class has 20 goals and 29 assists for 49 points. The 20 goals are 33 percent of Penn State's goal scoring this season.

PHENOMENAL FINK

  • Freshman Aiden Fink secured his second-straight B1G Hockey weekly accolade this past Tuesday following a six-point weekend in a sweep over Lindenwood. Fink's six points last weekend paced the Big Ten and tied for the national lead.
  • Fink has scored in six of his last seven games including five-straight and is riding a career-best five-game goal/point streak while having registered multiple points in four-straight contests.
  • Fink's 21 points this season are good for sixth in the nation and second in the Big Ten and rank tops in the conference for rookies and second nationally among first year players. His nine goals are good for third in the Big Ten, are tied for 11th nationally and rank tied for first in the nation among freshmen.
  • Fink has six of his nine goals this season in conference play ranking tied for the Big Ten lead while his eight points in six B1G games are tied for fourth.
  • The freshman's five-game goal streak is two shy of Evan Barratt's program record of seven-straight games from November 2, 2018, through November 23, 2018, while his four-consecutive games with multiple points is one game shy of the Penn State standard set by both Barratt and Alex Limoges '21 during that same November back in 2018.

JACQUES JAMS

  • Graduate transfer Jacques Bouquot is currently riding a career-long seven-game point streak (6-4--10) following a four-goal weekend in the series sweep of Lindenwood.
  • Three of his four goals last weekend came on the powerplay giving him four powerplay markers this season to tie for the Big Ten lead and tie for 10th nationally. Bouquot leads the team with seven powerplay points one ahead of Fink who has six (3G, 3A).
  • Bouquot's seven goals this season are already a career-best while his 15 points are just one shy of his career-high of 16 from last season.

POTENT POWERPLAY

  • After struggling mightily on the powerplay in 2022-23, Penn State has found success on the man-advantage this season and currently ranks second in the Big Ten and sixth in the nation converting at 26.8 percent (15-for-56) including an 8-for-18 clip (44.4 percent) over the past two weekends.
  • The Nittany Lions have scored at least one powerplay goal in 11 of 15 games this season posting an 8-2-1 record when converting on the man-advantage.

BLUE-LINE BEAUTIES

  • Defensive partners Simon Mack and Dylan Gratton combined for a stat line of one goal and six assists for seven points last weekend against Lindenwood while going a combined plus-14.
  • Both Mack and Gratton are currently riding career-long point streaks of four and three games, respectively, entering the weekend.
  • Collectively, the duo is a combined plus-22 in 15 games this season.

BIG JIM

  • Senior defenseman Jimmy Dowd Jr. tallied one assist in each game last weekend against Lindenwood giving him 46 assists and 55 points in his Nittany Lion career.
  • Dowd's 55 points are now tied with Trevor Hamilton '18 for sixth on the Penn State all-time list for points by defensemen while his 46 assists surpass Luke Juha '16 for fourth.
  • His nine goals rank as the seventh-most among defensemen all-time and are one shy of tying Clayton Phillips '22 and Paul DeNaples '23 for sixth.

A NEW SWISS ARMY KNIFE

  • Freshman defenseman Casey Aman has spent most of his time in Hockey Valley playing forward this season due to injuries sustained up front. Last Friday against Lindenwood, this was magnified as Aman took at least one shift at each of the five skating positions rotating between right defense, left defense, right wing, left wing and center.
  • Five-year player and former alternate captain Adam Pilewicz '22 spent most of his collegiate career shifting between forward and defense as the original Nittany Lion Swiss Army Knife.

HOCKEY VALLEY HAT-TRICKS

  • Over the past two weekends, Penn State has registered a pair of hat-tricks in back-to-back games for the first time ever as Fink scored a trio of goals at Michigan on Saturday, November 18 and Bouquot tipped the hat in the very next game against Lindenwood just six days later.
  • The hat-tricks marked the 11th and 12th in program history with Fink's being just the second-ever on the road and first on the road in Big Ten play. Fink's was also just the fourth all-time in conference play and first since Evan Barratt nearly five years ago to the day back on November 17, 2018.
  • Bouquot's hat-trick was the 10th all-time in Hockey Valley and first at Pegula Ice Arena since Kevin Wall '23 against Niagara on October 22, 2021.
  • The two hat-tricks mark just the third time the Nittany Lions have had multiple hat-tricks in the same season joining the 2017-18 and 2019-20 squads.

NEXT UP

  • Penn State hits the road to close out the first semester of play with a Big Ten series in Madison against No. 6 Wisconsin.

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.