Fifth-seeded Men's Hockey Travels to Ann Arbor for B1G Quarterfinal Series vs. No. 4 MichiganFifth-seeded Men's Hockey Travels to Ann Arbor for B1G Quarterfinal Series vs. No. 4 Michigan

Paul Barnick

Fifth-seeded Men's Hockey Travels to Ann Arbor for B1G Quarterfinal Series vs. No. 4 Michigan

The Nittany Lions look to secure NCAA Tournament positioning with a strong weekend in Ann Arbor

No. 15 Penn State at No. 11 Michigan
Yost Ice Arena | Ann Arbor, Mich.

No. 15 Penn State at No. 11 Michigan

No. 15 Penn State
No. 15 Penn State

18-12-4 | 9-11-4 B1G

at
No. 11 Michigan
No. 11 Michigan

18-13-3 | 12-10-2 B1G

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Fifth-seeded and No. 15 Penn State sets its sights on a strong weekend and NCAA Tournament push as they travel to No. 11 and fourth-seeded Michigan for a best-of-three B1G Quarterfinal series at Yost Ice Arena this weekend.

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Follow the Action

Dates: Friday, March 7 | Saturday, March 8 | Sunday, March 9 (if necessary)
Place: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Time: 7 p.m. | 7 p.m. | 7 p.m.
Streaming: B1G+

Series Breakdown

THIS WEEK’S MATCHUP

  • The two teams have met 50 times previously with Michigan holding the 31-18-1 edge including the commanding 16-5-0 mark at Yost Ice Arena, however, the teams have split the season series at Yost each of the past two seasons. Michigan earned the regular-season series win taking 9-of-12 points with three victories to Penn State’s one.
  • The two squads have met in the postseason three times previously, however, never have they met since the current playoff format was introduced for the 2017-18 season. Penn State has won two of the previous three postseason matchups, but this marks the first time these two teams will meet in the postseason since the first round of the 2017 Big Ten Tournament at Joe Louis Arena, a 4-1 Penn State win en route to its first Big Ten Championship.
  • Penn State concluded the regular-season 10-2-3 over its final 15 games winning each of the three ties in a shootout as the Nittany Lions secured 28-of-39 B1G points over that stretch to finish fifth in the standings just three points behind the Wolverines.
  • Last Friday Guy Gadowsky became just the 30th head coach in NCAA Division I history to hit the 400-win mark. Gadowsky ranks 12th among active coaches just one shy of Bemidji State Bench Boss Tom Serratore.
  • Excluding playoff games, the 11 second half wins are the most all-time. In 2016-17 when Penn State won the Big Ten Tournament advancing to its first-ever NCAA Tournament the Nittany Lions finished the second half that season 12-11-1 with four of those wins in the postseason.
  • The .722 winning percentage in the second half is leaps and bounds the best second half showing all-time for the Nittany Lions.
  • The Penn State sophomore class has had insane success in their young careers against Michigan as Aiden Fink is averaging 2.00 points per game in eight career games against the Wolverines with 10 goals and six assists while Reese Laubach is just under that averaging 1.63 points per game with seven goals and six assists for 13 points. Fellow sophomore Matt DiMarsico has nine points in eight games on three goals and six assists while Dane Dowiak has added four goals and two assists for six points in seven games.
  • As a group the class has 24 goals and 20 assists for 44 points in eight career games against Michigan averaging 3.00 goals and 5.50 points per game against the Wolverines.
  • Penn State and Michigan have the same average age of 21 years and 9 months tying as the 3rd-youngest team in the Big Ten and 12th nationally.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN

  • Michigan enters the weekend 3-2-1 in its last six games since splitting the series against Penn State to open February. Aside from the 7-3 victory over Penn State and a 6-1 loss to Michigan State in the Duel in the D, eight of Michigan’s last 10 games have been decided by one goal or less including four overtime games.
  • The Wolverines are nearly perfect in extra sessions this season with a 6-1-3 overtime record, the lone loss coming last Thursday at Ohio State. Michigan is 10-4-3 in games decided by one-goal or less this season while Penn State is 9-4-4.
  • J.Hughes, who saw his career-best 15-game point streak snapped last Thursday at Ohio State, paces the Wolverine offense with 36 points on 15 goals and 21 assists to lead Michigan in each offensive category. Nine of Hughes’ 15 goals have come on the man-advantage as he leads the Big Ten and is tied for second in the nation for man-advantage scores. Hughes is tied for sixth in the Big Ten for scoring and tied for 20th nationally.
  • Michigan leads the Big Ten and ranks 11th nationally in powerplay percentage as the Wolverines convert at 25 percent (28-for-112), however, they have only scored two powerplay goals over the last five games. Michigan is 6-7-3 this season when not scoring a powerplay goal including a 1-5-2 mark in such games since December. The Wolverines are, however, 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) with the man-advantage with at least one PPG in each of the four games against Penn State this season.
  • Freshman Michael Hage is second on the team with 33 points on 13 goals and 20 assists as he paces all Big Ten rookies in scoring while ranking tied for second nationally among freshmen. Garrett Schifsky and Evan Werner have each added 11 goals while William Whitelaw has scored 10 as the other three Wolverines in double-digits. Schifsky is tied for the national lead with three shorthanded tallies on the season.
  • Between the pipes, Ferris State transfer Logan Stein has split time with freshman Cameron Korpi with 18 and 16 starts, respectively. Stein has started four-straight games after Korpi had started the previous four-straight including the last two against the Nittany Lions. Stein has the slightly better goals-against average at 2.99 while Korpi’s .904 save percentage is just above Stein’s .899
  • Michigan has struggled with discipline this season as they average nearly five penalties a game and 12.0 penalty minutes, the most in the Big Ten and the eighth-most nationally.
  • The Wolverines have struggled keeping the puck out of their net as they allow 3.15 goals per game, the second-most in the Big Ten and 19th in the nation.
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BRIGHT LIGHTS, B1G STAGE

  • Penn State and Michigan rank tied for second in Big Ten semifinal appearances with eight in the 11 previous tournaments while Minnesota leads the way with 10 semifinal appearances. The Wolverines have reached five-straight semifinals and three-straight championships with tournament wins in 2022 and 2023 and an overtime loss to Michigan State last season.
  • Penn State’s semifinal loss to Ohio State in 2023 snapped a conference-best streak of seven-straight semifinal appearances. With their loss to Minnesota last year the Nittany Lions have now failed to advance past the quarterfinals in two-straight seasons.
  • Penn State is 7-6-0 all-time in the best-of-three quarterfinals sweeping Minnesota in 2018, beating Wisconsin in three games in 2019 and then beating Ohio State in three games in 2022 prior to losing in three games to the Buckeyes in 2023 and getting swept by Minnesota last season.
  • The Nittany Lions have played the second-most Big Ten Tournament games with 27, behind only Michigan and Ohio State who have played 28 each. Penn State is 14-13-0 all-time in B1G Tournament contests, but have lost three in-a-row and four of the last five.
  • The 14 wins are tied for the third-most Big Ten Tournament wins all-time with Minnesota as Penn State trails just Ohio State (15) and Michigan (20). The Wolverines have a Big Ten Best three tournament championships to their credit (2016, 2022, 2023) and are one of only two teams to have won back-to-back titles (Notre Dame).
  • Penn State head coach Guy Gadowsky’s 14 Big Ten Tournament wins are the second-most all-time one shy of OSU’s Steve Rohlik with 15.
  • Penn State is 5-1 all-time in overtime games during the Big Ten Tournament with the lone loss coming in the 2020-21 semifinal round against Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions have also played in the three longest games in tournament history, including their first-ever B1G Tournament game against Michigan in 2014, a 2-1 double-overtime win.

 

START FAST, FINISH STRONG

  • Penn State has scored first in 21 of 34 games this season including 12 of its 18 games in the second half, and six of its last eight games. The Nittany Lions are 14-5-2 when lighting the lamp first this season.
  • The Nittany Lions are also a perfect 16-0-1 when leading after two periods of play with the only blemish being a tie followed by a shootout win two weeks ago against Michigan State.
MHKY-HobeyBaker-Fink

#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 23 goals are tied for the most in a single-season in Penn State history with Limoges while his 47 points are tied for second with Denis Smirnov and just three points back of Limoges’ program record of 50.
  • 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 last month.
  • Fink has 81 points in 68 career games for a 1.19 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.
  • Fink’s 47 points lead the Big Ten and are tied second nationally just one shy of Denver’s Jack Devine while his 1.38 points per game mark is also tied for second in the nation. His 23 goals are the best mark in the Big Ten and also rank tied for second in the nation.
  • Fink has eight powerplay tallies to go along with a pair of shorthanded markers to rank top-10 nationally in each category with his eight PPG’s tied for second in the Big Ten and sixth in the nation, just two off the national lead. His two shortys are one off the pace both in conference and nationally.
  • Fink’s eight man-advantage goals this season tie his own single-season record set last season while the 16 he has in his career continue to increase his own record which is now three clear of anyone else.

Vote for Hobey HERE!

WHAT’S UP, DOC?

  • Senior captain Simon Mack earned his third Big Ten weekly honor this past week being named the conference’s third star following a multi-goal weekend.
  • Mack moved into seventh on the Penn State all-time goals list for defensemen with 11 now in his career while his 61 career points are the fourth-most by a Nittany Lion blueliner all-time.
  • Mack’s 26 points this season are good for second in the Big Ten among defensemen and tied for eighth in the nation while his +20 rating is tied for fourth in the Big Ten and sixth nationally for d-men. His 26 points are also tied for the fifth-most for a defenseman in a single-season at Penn State.
  • His 23 assists lead the Big Ten for defensemen and are tied for third nationally while ranking tied with Trevor Hamilton ‘18 for the Penn State single-season program record for assists by a defenseman.

FRESHMAN PHENOM

  • Freshman Charlie Cerrato has burst onto the scene in Hockey Valley ranking second on the team with 31 points on 14 goals and 17 assists.
  • Following a four-point weekend against Minnesota, Cerrato became just the fourth Nittany Lion rookie all-time to eclipse 30 points in a season and it marks the first-time ever Penn State has had back-to-back seasons with at least one freshman reaching the 30-point mark following Fink’s 34 in 2023-24.
  • Cerrato’s 31 points are the second-most among Big Ten rookies and are tied for fifth-nationally while his 14 goals are the most in the conference for freshman and tied for second in the nation.
  • Cerrato’s 14 goals tie Casey Bailey for the sixth-most for a Penn State freshman all-time while his 17 assists rank as the fifth-most.
  • Cerrato has also been excellent at the dot winning 59.1 percent (326-for-552) of his draws on the year, a mark good for third in the Big Ten and 10th in the nation among true centermen.

A SPECIAL KIND OF SOMETHING

  • Penn State has scored at least one powerplay goal in 12 of the last 15 games while the 27 man-advantage tallies for the Nittany Lions are the second-most in the Big Ten just one behind Michigan and rank tied for 9th in the nation. The 27 powerplay goals are also the seventh-most in a single-season in Penn State history and one better than last year’s total of 26 which was the most in a season since 2019-20.
  • The Nittany Lions also lead the Big Ten with eight shorthanded tallies on the year, a mark good for second in the nation juts one shy of UConn’s nine.
  • The eight shorthanded tallies are the most in a season for Penn State in eight seasons and are the third most all-time behind the nine in 2016-17 and the 12 recorded during the 2015-16 season. Entering this year Penn State had just six shorthanded goals combined over the past five seasons.

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.