Men's Hockey Resumes B1G Play at No. 17/16 Ohio State This WeekMen's Hockey Resumes B1G Play at No. 17/16 Ohio State This Week

Steven Walter

Men's Hockey Resumes B1G Play at No. 17/16 Ohio State This Week

Coming off a pre-Thanksgiving sweep of ECAC-leading Colgate, the Penn State Nittany Lions hit the road in search of their first Big Ten win as a Thursday-Friday series with No. 17/16 Ohio State awaits.

Penn State at No. 17/16 Ohio State
Value City Arena | Columbus, Ohio

Penn State at No. 17/16 Ohio State

Penn State
Penn State

6-7-0 | 0-6-0 B1G

At
No. 17/16 Ohio State
No. 17/16 Ohio State

9-4-1 | 2-2-0 B1G

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Coming off a pre-Thanksgiving sweep of ECAC-leading Colgate, the Penn State Nittany Lions hit the road in search of their first Big Ten win as a Thursday-Friday series with No. 17/16 Ohio State awaits.

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Dates: Thursday, December 5 | Friday, December 6
Place: Columbus, Ohio
Time: 7:30 p.m. | 7 p.m.

Series Breakdown

THIS WEEK’S MATCHUP

  • This weekend marks the 52nd and 53rd meetings all-time between Penn State and Ohio State with the Buckeyes being the second most common opponent all-time for the Nittany Lions behind Wisconsin.
  • Ohio State holds the 25-22-4 edge, including the slim 10-8-2 mark all-time in Columbus, however, Penn State swept the Buckeyes last season earning all 12 points in the season series.
  • The season sweep in 2023-24 marked just the third time in program history the Nittany Lions have won all four games of a season series against one opponent and the first time against the Buckeyes. It was the first time Penn State swept a season series since beating Michigan State all four games in 2016-17 with the other occurrence coming against Wisconsin during the 2014-15 campaign.
  • The sweep last season at Value City Arena marked the first time Penn State has ever swept the Buckeyes in Columbus.
  • Penn State has now won nine of the last 13 games between the two schools dating back to the 2022 Big Ten Quarterfinals including six of the last nine in Columbus.
  • Excluding empty net goals, 13 of the last 15 meetings between the Nittany Lions and Buckeyes have been one goal contests, including three of four last season, so expect some competitive action at The Schott this weekend.
  • Graduate student Jimmy Dowd Jr. leads all Nittany Lions with 14 points in his career against the Buckeyes scoring three goals while adding 11 assists in 20 career games. Those 14 points account for 20.5 percent of his career points.
  • Senior Danny Dzhaniyev paces all Nittany Lions with four goals in 18 games against Ohio State while adding a pair of assists for six points.

 

CHASING 400

  • Following last week’s sweep of Colgate, Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky moved past longtime Michigan State and Michigan Tech Bench Boss Amo Bessone for 34th on the college hockey all-time wins list with 388 for his career and he is just two wins shy of tying former Minnesota head man Doug Woog for 33rd.
  • Among active coaches, Gadowsky ranks 12th and sits behind only Jeff Jackson (Notre Dame) and Bob Motzko (Minnesota) in the Big Ten.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE

  • The Buckeyes opened the season on an eight-game unbeaten streak (7-0-1), but have faltered recently being swept twice in the past three series including last weekend at Princeton. Ohio State is 9-4-1 overall and ranked 17th and enter the weekend with an unblemished 4-0-1 mark on home ice.
  • Ohio State lost both of its double-digit goal scorers from a season ago in Stephen Halliday and Scooter Brickey who also paced the team with 36 and 26 points, respectively.
  • The Buckeyes are led this season by Alaska-Anchorage transfer Riley Thompson with 15 points on five goals and 10 assists in 14 games. Davis Burnside and Max Montes have each added a team-best six goals.
  • Between the pipes returns the goaltending duo of Logan Terness and Kristoffer Eberly who have split time this season with the latter posting a 5-1-0 record with a 1.60 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage, marks good for second and third in the Big Ten, respectively. Eberly’s GAA is the seventh-best in the nation.
  • Ohio State’s combined save percentage of .914 is the third best in the Big Ten behind only Michigan State (.942) and Minnesota (.917) and is tied for 15th in the nation. OSU is allowing just 2.2 goals per game to also rank third in the Big Ten and 16th nationally.
  • The Buckeyes have struggled mightily on the powerplay this season converting at just a 12.5 percent clip (6-for-48) to rank last in the Big Ten and 54th nationally. The PK on the other hand has fared better stopping 82.9 percent (34-for-41) of opponent chances to rank third in the Big Ten and 23rd nationally.
  • Ohio State’s solid defensive performances start right at the opening horn as the Buckeyes have allowed just six first period goals through 14 games this season and have a +7 first period goal differential and a +14 goal differential through two periods of play.
  • Airey, who has started each of the opening games this season with Souliere playing the finale, is 3-0-0 with a 2.33 goals-against average and an .892 save percentage.

OFF TO THE RACES

  • Early in the season Penn State struggled with sluggish starts, however, that has not been the case as of late as the Nittany Lions have opened the scoring in four-straight contests including goals in the opening 90 seconds in three of those games.
  • Two weeks ago, against Michigan, sophomore Dane Dowiak scored two goals just 22 seconds apart over the first 65 seconds of the game 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.
  • The Nittany Lions are averaging 4.67 goals per game over their last six after scoring just one goal in a series at Minnesota to open the month of November.
  • For the year, Penn State has raised its goals per game output to 3.54 which is good for ninth in the country and fourth in the Big Ten.

 

SEVENTH HEAVEN

  • Penn State scored seven or more goals for the 32nd time in program history last Wednesday and the first time this season after reaching that mark three times a season ago.
  • The Nittany Lions have now scored seven or more goals in a game at least once in 11 consecutive seasons with a record seven such games during the 2018-19 season when they paced the nation with 4.54 goals per game average.

 

POWERPLAY RESURGENCE

  • After just a 3-for-20 (15 percent) start to the season through the first seven games on the man-advantage the Nittany Lion powerplay has been on a role of late converting in four-straight games and five of the last six going 9-for-26 (35 percent) over that stretch with multiple powerplay tallies in four of those five games.
  • For the season, Penn State is now 12-for-46 (26.1 percent) on the man-advantage and rank second in the Big Ten and ninth in the nation. The 12 powerplay goals are the fourth-most in the Big Ten and tied for eighth nationally.
  • Sophomore Aiden Fink leads the way with three powerplay tallies to rank tied for third in the Big Ten while his nine powerplay points are good for the top spot in the conference.
  • On the other side of the puck the penalty kill rebounded against Colgate after a tough week against Michigan going 4-for-4 against the Raiders over the two games and moving back to 80 percent on the season including a perfect 27-for-27 in nonconference play. The Nittany Lion PK is back to the middle of the pack nationally and ranks fourth in the Big Ten.

 

SOPHOMORE SENSATION

  • Sophomore Aiden Fink is currently riding a six-game point streak, tying his career-long, with goals in five of the six games as he finished the month of November with six goals and six assists for 12 points, a mark good for the second-most in the Big Ten and tied for the fifth-most nationally.
  • Fink is currently leading the Big Ten and ranks third nationally averaging 1.62 points per game while his 21 points pace the conference and are tied for third in the nation. Fink’s eight goals are tied for the fourth-most in the Big Ten and 15th in the nation while his 13 helpers are the second-most in the conference and tied for 6th nationally.
  • Fink hit the 50-point mark for his career two weeks ago 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 21 points through 13 games this season are the most for a Nittany Lion at this point in the year since Alex Limoges had 22 points through 13 games during his record-breaking 2018-19 campaign where his finished the season with Penn State record for points (50) and goals (23) in a single-season.

 

JOHNNY B. GOODE

  • Junior goaltender John Seifarth was thrust into action last week against Colgate making the first two starts of his collegiate career since joining the Nittany Lions last spring after playing two seasons for the Penn State ACHA Division II club hockey program.
  • Seifarth was named Big Ten First Star of the Week after stopping 47-of-50 shots in the series sweep including a career-best 25 during a 3-2 victory on Tuesday before adding 22 in a 7-1 win the following night. Seifarth finished the week with a .940 save percentage and a 1.50 goals-against average and even appeared on Sportscenter’s Top-10 at No. 2 with a brilliant paddle save.
  • Seifarth, the fourth-different goaltender to be elevated from the club program since 2016, has appeared in three-straight games for Penn State following his two starts as he holds a 2-0-0 record with a 2.64 goals-against average and a .902 save percentage.
  • Prior to last week the previous three club goaltenders, Matt Erlichman, Will Holtforster and Doug Dorr, played just 16:05 of combined game action with no games started making just five saves on six shots faced, Seifarth passed that in just his first appearance against Michigan logging 16:36 with eight saves two Saturdays ago.

 

WHAT’S UP, DOC?

  • Senior Simon ‘Doc’ Mack registered a career-best three points on three assists last Wednesday against Colgate and now has 12 points (1G, 11A) for the year to rank tied for second in the Big Ten and seventh in the nation among defensemen while his 11 assists lead all Big Ten blueliners and are tied for second nationally.
  • Mack moved past Paul DeNaples ‘23 and into ninth on the Penn State all-time defenseman points list following the game as he now has 47 points for his career, five back of Vince Pedrie for eighth. He also moved past Pedrie and into eighth on the all-time defenseman assist list with 38 for his career.

 

THE GREAT DANE

  • Sophomore Dane Dowiak is currently riding a career-long four-game point streak and has three goals in his last three games. Dowiak has seven points (4G, 3A) in 13 games this season after registering just 11 points (6G, 5A) in 31 games a season ago.

 

GOOD LUCK CHUCK

  • Freshman Charlie Cerrato has scored a goal in five of his last six games while all six of his goals this season have come at Pegula Ice Arena.
  • Cerrato also leads the way for Penn State at the dot this season winning draws at a 62.4 percent (131-for-230) clip to rank second in the Big Ten. As a team, the Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten and rank second in the nation winning 55.8 percent of their draws on the season.

 

JJ ALL DAY

  • Coming off a career-best three-point effort last Wednesday, freshman JJ Wiebusch brings a career-long four-game point streak to Columbus this week. Wiebusch is one of seven players with double-digit points so far this season as he has 10 on three goals and seven assists.

 

NEXT UP

Penn State concludes the first semester with a single-game against Army West Point in Washington, D.C. as part of the first-ever Capital Hockey Classic at Capital One Arena.

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.

Follow the Nittany Lions

Follow the Nittany Lions

Visit GoPSUSports.com for more information on Penn State men's ice hockey. Fans can keep up to date with all things Hockey Valley on X and Instagram @PennStateMHKY, in addition to the team’s Facebook page at facebook.com/pennstatemenshockey.