Men's Hockey Battles Colgate in Pre-Thanksgiving Series
Penn State looks to snap a six-game skid as the welcome Colgate to Hockey Valley for a pair of games on Tuesday and Wednesday evening prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.
Penn State vs. Colgate
Penn State
4-7-0 | 0-6-0 B1G
Colgate
7-5-2 | 4-1-1 ECAC
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State looks to snap a six-game skid as the welcome Colgate to Hockey Valley for a pair of games on Tuesday and Wednesday evening prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.
Follow the Action
Brian Tripp returns to play-by-play duties this week as Eric Ohlson will sift back to color commentary.
Dates: Tuesday, November 26 | Wednesday, November 27
Place: University Park, Pa.
Time: 6 p.m. | 4:30 p.m.
THIS WEEK’S MATCHUP
- This marks the first-ever meetings between the two programs in the modern era. Penn State did play Colgate once during its initial varsity era in 1947 and the Red Raiders secured a commanding 14-0 win in one of just three games Penn State played that season before the Athletic Association dropped hockey for the second time in four years.
- Associate Head Coach Juliano Pagliero will face one of his former teams as he served as an assistant coach for the Red Raiders from 2015-18, the second stop on his Division I coaching path.
- Penn State’s average age of 21 years and 9 months is the 3rd-youngest in the Big Ten and 12th nationally while Colgate is nearly a full year older at 22 years and 7 months, the 25th oldest team in the nation.
NON-CONFERENCE DOMINATION
- Penn State concluded the 2023-24 non-conference slate with an 8-2-0 record.
- Penn State has now registered at least eight non-conference victories eight times and have a 75.2 percent all-time winning percentage in regular-season non-conference games since the Big Ten’s inception prior to the 2013-14 season.
- The Nittany Lions are an eye-popping 49-7-1 in regular-season non-conference games since the start of the 2018-19 season including a 22-3-0 mark over the past two-plus seasons.
SCOUTING COLGATE
- Colgate enters the series 6-1-1 in its last eight games after a slow start to the season. The Red Raiders won a pair of games over the weekend including a 3-2 overtime victory over No. 18 Quinnipiac on Saturday. Colgate is 7-5-2 overall this season after a 16-16-4 campaign a year ago.
- Colgate is paced on offense by Brett Chorske with eight goals and 14 assists. Chorske enters the series on a four-game heater while his eight goals are tied for the ECAC lead and rank tied for eighth in the nation. At 6-7, Chorske is one of the tallest players in the nation joining seven others at that height, just one inch shy of Clarkson’s Jack Sparkes who is the tallest player in the country.
- Daniel Panetta is second on the team with seven goals while Alex DiPaolo has five goals and his 13 points are good for second on the team. Simon Labelle leads the Red Raiders with 10 assists and ranks third with 11 points.
- In net Colgate has split time between Nick Haas and Andrew Takacs with the latter having started each of the past four games. Takacs has the slightly better numbers with a 6-2-1 record posting an .893 save percentage and a 2.97 goals-against average.
- Colgate has struggled on special teams early this season ranking 58th of 64 teams nationally on the penalty kill at just 73 percent (27-for-37). The powerplay hasn’t been much better ranking 45th in the nation converting at just 16.3 percent (7-for-43).
THE PHENOMENAL ONE
- Sophomore Aiden Fink is currently riding a four-game goal streak, one shy of his career-best from last season, following a three-goal, six-point weekend against Michigan. Fink’s six points tied for the national lead for the week.
- Fink tied his career-high with a four-point effort on Saturday night with two goals and two assists marking his first multi-goal game of the season and the fourth of his career. The four points also mark his fifth multi-point effort, second-straight and third in his last four games of the season and the 14th of his career.
- Fink is currently leading the Big Ten and ranks tied for third in the nation averaging 1.64 points per game while his 18 points are tied for second in the Big Ten and fifth nationally and his seven goals are tied for the fifth-most in the Big Ten and 17th in the nation. Fink’s 11 helpers are the third-most in the conference and tied for 11th nationally.
- Fink hit the 50-point mark for his career last Saturday becoming the second fastest Nittany Lion to reach that milestone doing it in just his 45th career game. Denis Smirnov ‘20 hit the 50-point mark in his 41st collegiate game back in 2017.
- Fink’s 18 points through 11 games this season are the most for a Nittany Lion at this point in the year since both Evan Barratt and Alex Limoges had 19 points through 11 games during the 2018-19 campaign.
REESE’S PIECES
- Sophomore Reese Laubach notched a career-best four points on Saturday with one goal and three assists against Michigan. He added a goal on Friday as well marking the third time in his career he has scored in back-to-back games. His six goals and 12 points this season are both second on the team behind Fink.
BANG-BANG
- Penn State scored early in both games over the weekend notching the opening goal on Friday night just 90 seconds into the game and shaved even more time off on Saturday as Dane Dowiak lit the lamp 43 seconds in.
- Just 22 ticks later Dowiak scored again marking the fastest back-to-back goals by a single player in program history shattering Casey Bailey’s record of 1:09 set against Ohio State on January 9, 2015.
LIGHT THE LAMP
- Penn State scored 11 goals in its series against Michigan over the weekend marking the most goals scored in a Big Ten series since a sweep against Wisconsin on January 21-22, 2022.
- The Nittany Lions raised their goals per game output by nearly a half a goal per game as they now rank fifth in the Big Ten and 13th nationally averaging 3.27 goals per game.
- The multi-goal effort for Dowiak was the second of his career and after adding an assist he set a new career-best with a three-point game. He is already halfway toward his goal output from last season.
BLUELINE BEAUTIES
- Both Simon Mack and Jimmy Dowd Jr. pushed their way closer to history over the weekend as Mack broke a tie with Paul DeNaples ’23 for ninth on the Penn State all-time assist list for defensemen with 35 for his career while pulling even with DeNaples for ninth on the all-time defenseman point list with 44 for his career.
- Dowd Jr. used his first multi-point effort of the season on Friday night to move closer to Cole Hults for the top spot on the all-time points and assists lists for defensemen with 67 and 56, respectively, sitting just 11 points and 6 assists shy of the 2020 Big Ten Player of the Year, Hults.
DOMINATING THE DOT
- Penn State leads the Big Ten and ranks second in the nation at faceoff winning percentage as the Nittany Lions are winning 56.3 percent of its draws less than one percent behind the national leader Northeastern at 57.2 percent.
- Charlie Cerrato leads the way for Penn State this season winning draws at a 62.7 percent (116-for-185) clip to rank second in the Big Ten while his classmate, Keaton Peters, sits third in the Big Ten at 58.6 percent (89-for-152).
- Cerrato’s 116 wins are the sixth-most in the Big Ten.
NEXT UP
Penn State hits the road to resume Big Ten play with a Thursday-Friday matchup in Columbus against the 14th-ranked Buckeyes.
For more information on the 2024-25 season, visit the men's hockey ticket page at GoPSUsports.com or call 1-800-NITTANY Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
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