No. 12 Men's Hockey Opens NCAA Tournament Against No. 4 Maine in Allentown on FridayNo. 12 Men's Hockey Opens NCAA Tournament Against No. 4 Maine in Allentown on Friday

No. 12 Men's Hockey Opens NCAA Tournament Against No. 4 Maine in Allentown on Friday

Penn State is making its second NCAA Tournament appearance in the past three seasons and fourth overall

No. 12 Penn State vs. No. 4 Maine
PPL Center | Allentown, Pennsylvania

No. 12 Penn State vs. No. 4 Maine

No. 12 Penn State
No. 12 Penn State

20-13-4 | 9-11-4 B1G

vs.
No. 4 Maine
No. 4 Maine

24-7-6 | 13-5-6 HEA

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The 12th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions are set to square off with fourth-ranked and No. 3 overall seed Maine for the first time ever in the NCAA Tournament Allentown Regional on Friday evening at the PPL Center.

The winner will face the winner of the first semifinal between No. 7 UConn and No. 11 Quinnipiac in the Allentown Regional final on Sunday evening at either 4:30 p.m. or 7 p.m.

Follow the Action

Follow the Action

Dates: Friday, March 28
Place: Allentown, Pennsylvania
Time: 8:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN2

Series Breakdown

THIS WEEK’S MATCHUP

  • Penn State is making its fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in its 13-year history each of which have come in the past nine seasons, including two in the past three years. It would have been five had the 2020 tournament not been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Friday’s game against Maine marks the first-ever meeting between the Nittany Lions and Black Bears. However, the teams were initially scheduled to meet for a weekend series at Pegula Ice Arena during New Year’s weekend in 2021-22, but the series was canceled due to Covid-19 protocols at Maine.
  • Penn State is the No. 4 seed for the first time after serving as the No. 3 seed during its first two NCAA Tournaments (2017 & 2018) and the No. 2 seed back in 2023. Maine is the top-seed in Allentown and the No. 3 overall seed in this year’s tournament.
  • The other semifinal in Allentown will showcase a Connecticut rivalry as No. 2 seed UConn, making its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance, will battle third-seeded and 2023 National Champion, Quinnipiac.
  • Penn State is 2-3 all-time in five NCAA Tournament games including a 10-3 shellacking of Union in its first-ever game back in 2017 and an 8-0 shutout over Michigan Tech in 2023, the largest shutout in the history of the NCAA Tournament.
  • In its previous five NCAA Tournament games Penn State is outscoring opponents 23-16 averaging 4.6 goals per game while allowing just 3.2 goals per game.
  • The Black Bears are making their second-straight NCAA tournament appearance, 20th overall, and their first-ever trip to Allentown after dropping the Springfield Regional Semifinal, 3-1, to Cornell last season. In its last five NCAA Tournament appearances dating back to 2005, Maine is 2-3 in opening round games. The 2025 Hockey East Tournament Champions’ last win in the big dance was in Rochester, N.Y., in 2007, when they beat UMass 3-1. The program has two NCAA National Championships (1993, 1999).
  • Maine is 30-21 all-time in NCAA Tournament games averaging 3.5 goals per game while allowing 3.2 goals per game.
  • Penn State has 11 returners from the 2022-23 squad that last made the tourney, however, only six appeared in each game. Graduate student Tyler Paquette scored the opening goal of the tournament against Michigan Tech just 2:12 in marking the fastest goal to open an NCAA game in program history. Defensemen Jimmy Dowd Jr., Simon Mack and Carter Schade each had a pair of assists in their last NCAA go around while Jarod Crespo added one goal and one assist.
  • Goaltender, and UConn transfer, Arsenii Sergeev is 2-0-0 in his career against the Black Bears pitching a 27-save shutout in a 2-0 victory over Maine last season and stopping 29 shots in a 3-2 win as a freshman back in 2022.

SCOUTING MAINE

  • Like Penn State, Maine has just four losses since the calendar flipped to 2025. The Black Bears are 24-7-6 overall and defeated UConn 5-2 in the Hockey East Championship game last Friday.
  • Maine has the third-best defense in the country allowing just 1.90 goals per game paced by Richter Award Finalist Albin Boija between the pipes. Boija has started all but one game this season for the Black Bears posting a 23-7-6 record with a 1.76 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage ranking tied for fourth and eighth in the nation, respectively. Boija’s 23 wins are the fifth-most in the nation.
  • Boija was not in net during Maine’s 3-1 loss to Cornell in last year’s NCAA Tournament as he was out with an illness after having started 12 of the 13 games leading into the Tournament.
  • Offensively, the Black Bears rank slightly below the Nittany Lions averaging 3.32 goals per game, a mark good for 14th nationally, compared to Penn State’s 3.51 goals per game which rank seventh in the nation.
  • The third period has statistically been the best for Maine throughout the year as they are outscoring opponents by 24 goals (50-26) over the final 20 minutes of action.
  • Harrison Scott leads the team with 35 points on 18 goals and 17 assists as his goal total is tied for the top spot on the team with Taylor Makar who ranks second with 30 points. Thomas Freel has scored eight of his 11 goals on the powerplay, a mark tied for ninth in the nation.
  • A big part of the Black Bear success this season has been specialty teams as Maine’s penalty kill ranks 10th in the nation killing off 83.9 percent (99-for-118) of opponent chances while its powerplay unit is converting at 21.5 percent (29-for-135) a mark good for 25th nationally.
  • Maine also has seven shorthanded goals which is tied for fourth nationally just one behind Penn State’s eight and two behind UConn and St. Thomas who lead the nation with nine apiece. Taylor Makar and Owen Fowler each have two shortys on the year to tie Penn State’s Aiden Fink and Dane Dowiak for the eighth-most nationally.
  • Similarly to Penn State, Maine has been effective winning draws all season long ranking among the top teams in the nation in faceoff percentage as the Black Bears enter the weekend 12th in the nation (53.2 percent) with the Nittany Lions sitting eighth (54.1 percent). Nolan Renwick paces the Black Bears winning 56.8 percent of his draws while Dane Dowiak sits atop for the Nittany Lions at 58.3 percent and Charlie Cerrato at 57.4 percent.

SECOND HALF SURGE

  • Penn State rebounded after going winless in its first nine Big Ten games (0-8-1) to have the most successful second half in program history posting a 13-4-4 record (three shootout wins) since the calendar turned to 2025. The 13 wins are the most-ever for the Nittany Lions post-Christmas.
  • Penn State has lost in regulation just three times in the new year to the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 13 teams in the nation at the time. The Nittany Lions last seven games and 13 of the last 15 have all been against ranked foes. Penn State is 8-11-3 this season against ranked teams including an 8-4-3 mark in the second half with 4-3-3 mark against top-10 teams with each of the three ties becoming shootout wins.
  • Penn State has played 60 percent (22-of-37) of its games this season against ranked opponents including 71 percent (15-of-21) of its games in the second half. The week off last week for the Nittany Lions was the first break for the team all semester after having played games for 11-straight weeks.
  • The Nittany Lions opened the second half of the season No. 33 in the Pairwise and climbed all the way up to where they currently sit at No. 13 following the conclusion of postseason tournaments last week.
  • Penn State reached the 20-win mark for the sixth time in the 13-year history of the program with Guy Gadowsky securing career victory No. 400 back on February 28 against No. 2 Minnesota becoming just the 30th coach all-time to reach that milestone. Gadowsky’s 402 coaching victories rank as the 12th-most among active coaches.

WE’VE GOT THE POWER

  • Penn State has scored at least one powerplay goal in six straight games and nine of its last 10 going 11-for-33 (33 percent) during that stretch pushing its season total to 23.5 percent (31-for-132).
  • Taking things a step further, Penn State has scored at least one powerplay goal in 15 of its last 18 games.
  • While the Nittany Lions rank just fourth in the Big Ten in powerplay percentage, they rank 17th nationally.
  • Penn State’s 31 PPG’s this season are the most in the Big Ten and rank seventh nationally while ranking as the fourth-most in a single-season in Penn State history.

BLOCK PARTY

  • Penn State leads the Big Ten in blocks (537) and blocks per game (14.5) ranking ninth and fifth in the nation, respectively.
  • Freshman Cade Christenson leads the Big Ten averaging 1.97 blocks per game while his 71 blocks on the season are a Big Ten best and rank tied for 13th in the nation.
  • Christenson’s 71 blocks this season are the eighth-most in a single-season in Penn State history.
  • Senior Simon Mack is second on the team with 64 blocks. Mack moved into seventh on the Penn State all-time blocks list with a season-high six against Ohio State and now sits at 177 for his career just one shy of Cole Hults for sixth.

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT

  • Freshman classmates Charlie Cerrato and JJ Wiebusch are just the second rookie duo in program history to both reach 30 points in a season joining Denis Smirnov (47) and Nate Sucese (36) who accomplished the same feat in 2016-17.
  • Cerrato is having one of the best rookie campaigns in Penn State history and recently passed Sucese for the second-most points by a Nittany Lion freshman with 37. His 37 points are tops in the Big Ten and third in the nation among first-year players.
  • Cerrato has 15 goals and 22 assists which rank first and second in the Big Ten for rookies and third and fifth nationally for freshmen. His assists are the second-most in a season by a Nittany Lion rookie all-time while his 15 goals tie Aiden Fink’s mark from a season ago for the fifth-most.
  • Wiebusch sent the hockey world into a frenzy during the B1G Quarterfinals with his behind-the-back, between-the-legs, overtime game-winning goal to record a hat-trick in a 6-5 victory over Michigan. The goal landed as the No. 1 play on SportsCenter’s Top-10 that night and was talked about and reposted throughout the hockey universe.
  • The hat-trick was the first of Wiebusch’s career and the 15th in Penn State history, second this season (Fink). It was also the first-ever postseason hat-trick scored by a Nittany Lion and just the third-ever on the road. Wiebusch added an assist in the game as well for a career-best four-point night.
  • The rookie was the only player not in the championship game to land on the B1G All-Tournament team after registering five goals and one assist for six points in three games.
  • Wiebusch’s 30 points this season are the fourth-most in the Big Ten among rookies while ranking tied for 10th nationally. He became just the fifth Nittany  Lion rookie all-time to reach 30 points in his first season in Hockey Valley while his 12 goals and 18 assists are good for 10th and sixth-most by a Penn State freshman.
  • Cerrato and Wiebusch have combined for 67 points on 27 goals and 40 assists marking the most points between a rookie duo since Smirnov and Sucese combined for 83 points on 36 goals and 47 assists during the 2016-17 season.
  • Both players also bring career-long six-game point streaks into the NCAA Tournament while Wiebusch (7-4--11) has goals in five of those six games including a career-best three-straight. Cerrato has three goals and nine assists for 12 points during his current six-game stretch and has registered 25 (9G, 16A) of his 37 points in 19 games played since the calendar turned to 2025. Similarly, Wiebusch has 19 (9G, 10A) of his 30 points in the second half of the season.

BEHIND-THE-BACK BOYS

  • Cerrato and Wiebusch have played on a line with Matt DiMarsico for most of the year skating in 29 games together the trio has combined for 37 goals and 48 assists for 85 points for an average of 2.93 points per game.
  • The trio has become the most dominate line for the Nittany Lions since the Evan Barratt - Alex Limoges - Liam Folkes line wreaked havoc across the nation for three seasons finishing with an eye-popping 109 goals, 145 assists and 254 points over 86 games (2.95 points per game) together including the 2018-19 season where they combined for 123 points in 31 games (3.97 points per game) on 53 goals and 70 assists.
  • DiMarsico was also part of another dominate trio last season the “Kid Line” as often referred to played 23 games together and finished with 24 goals and 37 assists for 61 points averaging 2.2.65 points per game.
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#FINKFORHOBEY

  • Aiden Fink is just the third Nittany Lion all time to reach 40 points and 20 goals in the same season joining Casey Bailey (22-18-40) in 2014-15) and Alex Limoges (23-27-50 in 2018-19).
  • Fink’s 52 points and 29 assists this season are new Penn State single-season records while his 23 goals and are tied for the Nittany Lion single-season standard. Fink’s point total is the top mark in the Big Ten and the third-most nationally while his 29 assists also top the conference and are tied for eighth nationally. His 23 goals are the second-most in the Big Ten and tied for seventh in the nation.
  • Fink is the only Nittany Lion to begin his career with back-to-back 30+-point seasons and becomes just the seventh all-time to have multiple such seasons following his 34-point freshman campaign. He is also the only Nittany Lion to record multiple hat-tricks in a career following his three-goal outing against Canisius in January.
  • The sophomore is tied for the team lead at +18 for the season while his eight powerplay tallies and two shorthanded scores both rank in the top-10 nationally with his man-advantage total tying his own PSU single-season record set last year. Fink leads the team with 15 multi-point efforts on the campaign and has only been kept off the scoresheet in eight of the 37 games this season.
  • Fink has 86 points in 71 career games for a 1.21 points per game average, currently the best mark all-time at Penn State as he sits just outside the top-10 for goals and points in Nittany Lion history.
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