No. 9 Men's Hockey Welcomes Minnesota for B1G Weekend BattleNo. 9 Men's Hockey Welcomes Minnesota for B1G Weekend Battle

No. 9 Men's Hockey Welcomes Minnesota for B1G Weekend Battle

The ninth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions remain home as part of a five-game homestand as they welcome Minnesota to Hockey Valley for a crucial conference clash on Friday and Saturday evening.

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No. 9 Penn State vs. Minnesota
Pegula Ice Arena | University Park, Pa.

No. 9 Penn State vs. Minnesota

No. 9 Penn State
No. 9 Penn State

12-6-0 | 4-4-0 B1G

Vs.
Minnesota
Minnesota

8-10-1 | 4-4-0 B1G

Follow the Action

Follow the Action

2025-26 AUDIO BROADCASTS

  • Audio broadcasts for all Penn State hockey games for the 2025-26 season are available on the Penn State Sports Network via radio affiliates and streaming oncom.
  • Former Nittany Lion goaltender Chris Funkey and 2017-18 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Trevor Hamilton will join play-by-play broadcaster Brian Tripp for most games throughout the season.
  • Funkey will be back in Hockey Valley to call the games this weekend alongside Tripp with pregame coverage beginning 20 minutes prior to puck drop each night.

Series Breakdown

THIS WEEK’S MATCHUP

  • This week marks the 55th and 56th meetings all-time between the two programs with Minnesota holding the 33-20-1 edge in the series with the slim 12-11-1 mark in Hockey Valley.
  • The teams split a series earlier this year in Minneapolis with the Gophers earning the 3-2 win on night one and Penn State taking the second game, 2-1. The two have also split each of the last two series at Pegula Ice Arena.
  • Overall, since the start of the 2020-21 season, Minnesota is 18-5-0 against Penn State following a similar stretch of 12-2-1 by the Nittany Lions during a three-year period from 2017-2020.
  • Penn State has just six current players who have lit the lamp against the Gophers led by junior Reese Laubach who has four goals and two assists for six points in 12 games while Matt DiMarsico has added three goals and three assists for six points in 12 career games. Sophomore Charlie Cerrato has added a pair of goals and three assists for five points in six games against the Gophers.
  • In their last meeting back in November, sophomore goaltender Kevin Reidler stood on his head stopping 23-of-24 shots including each of the final 21 he saw to secure the 2-1 victory.

THE YOUTH OF COLLEGE HOCKEY

  • Six of the seven programs in the Big Ten are ranked among the 20 youngest teams in the nation.
  • Penn State is the fourth youngest team in the Big Ten and 13th youngest in the nation this season with an average age of 21 years and eight months while Michigan is the second youngest team in the Big Ten and seventh youngest nationally with an average age of 21 years and three months.

START THE FIGHT

  • Penn State has scored first in only eight of its first 18 games, however, they have held on and won seven of those games. The lone loss came in its series opener last time out against Minnesota after jumping out to a 2-0 lead, they surrendered a trio of second period goals and fell 3-2.

SCOUTING MINNESOTA

  • Minnesota is beginning its second half of play this weekend after a 3-3 tie in an exhibition game last Friday at Bemidji State. The Gophers closed the first half of play with a 4-2-0 record over their last six games but still boast just an 8-10-1 record overall.
  • The Gophers are without the services of each of their top-five scorers from a season ago including Jimmy Snuggerud who paced the team with 24 goals and 27 assists for 51 points in 2024-25 and is currently playing with the St. Louis Blues in the NHL.
  • Minnesota is paced offensively by Brodie Ziemer who is operating at a point-per-game pace, tying for the team lead with 19 points in 19 games, and his team-leading seven power-play goals rank second nationally. The sophomore closed 2025 on a blistering run, lighting the lamp in six of the last seven outings including back-to-back multi-goal games against Ohio State as he piled up eight goals and 11 points across his last seven games.
  • Senior captain Brody Lamb has been a driving force behind the Gophers’ offense, tying Ziemer for the team’s scoring lead with 19 points on nine goals and 10 assists.
  • West Mifflin, Pennsylvania native LJ Mooney makes his first trip back to the Keystone State after finishing the first half of his freshman season very strong as he has 10 points in his last eight games and is tied for the team leas with 11 assists.
  • Between the pipes Nathan Airey returns after splitting time with Liam Souliere last season and he is joined by Michigan State transfer Luca Di Pasquo and the pair has split time evenly as Airey has 10 starts and Di Pasquo with nine and the slightly better numbers with a 5-4-0 record a 2.99 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage. Airey did play both games the first time these two teams met back in November.
  • The Gophers have struggled mightily on the penalty kill this season ranking only above Mercyhurst nationally killing off just 64.2 percent (34-for-53) of opponents powerplays.
  • The Gophers pace the Big Ten and rank third in the nation in blocked shots with 316 averaging a national best 16.6 per game led by Luke Mittelstadt and Cal Thomas who have 41 and 38 to rank first and second in the Big Ten, respectively.

PARKING INFORMATION

  • Parking for all athletics events requires a valid university permit or payment of an applicable parking fee. Parking can be purchased in advance (by 11:59 p.m. the day prior to each event) at a discounted rate on ParkWhiz. Parking can also be purchased at full price on game day on ParkWhiz.
  • Parking for men’s ice hockey games at Pegula Ice Arena can be found in the Stadium West, Jordan East, and Porter North lots.
  • Parking for all non-football athletics events is managed by Penn State Transportation services.
MHKY-3Stars

SENIOR SURGE

  • Last Sunday senior defenseman Jarod Crespo collected the first multi-goal game of his career after registering a third period hat-trick including the eventual game-winning goal and earning B1G First Star of the Week.
  • The hat-trick is the 19th in program history and already the fourth this season, a new single-season team record. He joins junior Matt DiMarsico, who has two on the season, and sophomore JJ Wiebusch who added onto his with the first four-goal game in program history in Penn State’s home opener against Clarkson.
  • Crespo’s hat-trick is also just the second all-time by a Nittany Lion defenseman joining Cole Hults (10/11/19 vs. Sacred Heart) and gives him 11 career goals which is now tied with Simon Mack ‘25 for seventh on the Penn State defenseman goal scoring list.
  • Crespo’s four goals on the year are a career-best while his seven points are already tied with his point total from 36 games a season ago and three shy of his career-high 10 from his freshman season.

DEFENSIVE DANDIES

  • Of the seven goals scored by the Nittany Lions last Sunday, five came from defensemen, doubling their season total for goals by blueliners in just one game.
  • Penn State now has more goals by defensemen this season than they did all of last season when they had just nine total.
  • Freshman Jackson Smith is tied with Crespo for the d-man lead with four goals all of his coming on the powerplay as he ranks second on the team in powerplay goals behind Wiebusch with six.
  • Smith’s four powerplay tallies are the most by a Big Ten defenseman and tied for the national lead for blueliners.

WE’VE GOT THE POWER

  • Penn State’s powerplay has been consistent all year and while the Nittany Lions rank just sixth in the Big Ten they are 17th nationally converting at 23.5 percent (19-for-81) with their 19 goals ranking third in the Big Ten and 10th in the nation.
  • The Penn State PK has also impressed leading the Big Ten killing off 88.2 percent (67-for-76) of opponent man-advantage opportunities, a mark good for sixth in the nation, including a 5-for-5 showing last weekend against RIT.

PHENOMENAL FINK

  • Junior Aiden Fink missed nearly half of the 16 games in the first half after injuring his thumb in the opening period of Penn State’s Big Ten opener at Ohio State back in October.
  • Fink returned to action last week scoring once while adding an assist in a 7-3 victory over RIT on Sunday.
  • The junior has three goals and eight assists for 11 points in 11 games this season giving him 98 for his career as he now sits ninth on the Penn State all-time scoring list, just five points shy of Liam Folkes ‘20 for eighth.
  • Fink is now just two points shy of the century mark in just 85 total games as he looks to become the fastest Nittany Lion to 100 career points all-time, currently held by Alex Limoges who reached that milestone in his 102nd career game.
  • The junior’s 41 career goals are now tied with Brandon Biro ‘20 for 10th on the Penn State all-time goal scoring list while his 57 assists move past Evan Barratt for 10th all-time.
  • Over the holidays, Fink had an impressive showing with the U.S. Collegiate Selects at the Spengler Cup in Switzerland pacing the tournament in each offensive category with eight points on four goals and four assists including a semifinal hat-trick against HC Sparta Praha. Fink was named the Selects Player of the Game in both the semifinal and final along with being named one of their Three Stars of the Tournament and was selected as a member of the Spengler Cup All-Star Team.

WHAT’S UP CHUCK?

  • Sophomore Charlie Cerrato was named the B1G Second Star of the Week after a three-point effort against RIT with one goal and a pair of assists collecting his team-high seventh multi-point game of the season and the 22nd of his career.
  • Following his three-point outing, Cerrato is now fourth in the Big Ten with 24 points, tied for 14th nationally, while his 18 assists are tied for second in the conference and sixth in the nation.
  • Cerrato leads the team with seven multi-point games and has registered at least one point in 12-of-18 games so far this season.
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WHITEHORSE WIZARD

  • Penn State freshman phenom Gavin McKenna is returning for the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship where he helped Canada to a Bronze Medal with a 6-1-0 record.
  • McKenna becomes the third Nittany Lion to earn a medal at World Juniors joining Aarne Talvitie who captained Finland to the gold medal in 2019 and Evan Barratt who was on the losing side of that 2019 Gold Medal Game earning silver with Team USA.
  • McKenna shined in the tournament being named Player of the Game on a pair of occasions following a hat-trick against Denmark in the preliminary round and once again in the Bronze Medal Game after a four-point (1G, 3A) outing.
  • McKenna had at least one point in all seven games finishing second in tournament scoring with 14 points (4G, 10A), just one point shy of linemate Michael Hage’s 15.
  • His 14 points are tied for the seventh-most all-time by a draft-eligible player in World Junior Championship history and are the fourth-most among draft eligible Canadians all-time at World Juniors.
  • McKenna ranks second in the Big Ten and tied for eighth nationally for rookie scoring with 18 points including at least one point in six of his first eight Big Ten contests and points in all but four games so far this season with six multi-point efforts.
  • McKenna’s 14 assists are the most among freshmen in the Big Ten and rank third in the nation among rookies.

TERRIFIC TANDEM

  • Freshman Josh Fleming and sophomore transfer Kevin Reidler have split time between the pipes this season with each performing exceptionally well.
  • Fleming has the slightly better numbers statistically posting a 5-3-0 record with a .931 save percentage and a 2.15 goals-against average to rank second in the Big Ten and 10th nationally for save percentage while his GAA places him third in the conference and tied for 16th in the nation.
  • Reidler has a 7-3-0 record with a .907 save percentage and a 3.00 goals-against average and was exceptional his last two outings including a 2-1 victory at Minnesota where he stopped each of the final 21 shots he faced including 20 over the final two periods.

NEXT UP

  • Penn State remains home as Big Ten play rolls along with a series against Notre Dame next Friday and Saturday.

For more information on the 2025-26 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.