No. 6 Men's Hockey Travels to No. 2 Michigan for Third-Straight B1G Top-10 Battle

THIS WEEK’S MATCHUP

• This week marks the 55th and 56th meetings all-time between the two programs with Michigan holding the 32-21-1 edge in the series including the 16-7-0 mark at Yost Ice Arena, however, Penn State has won four of the last six games in Ann Arbor including three of four last season as the Nittany Lions swept the Wolverines in a best-of-three Big Ten Quarterfinal series bumping Michigan to the last team out of the 2025 NCAA Tournament in the process.
• The Wolverines won the season series last year with a 3-1-0 record taking nine of 12 possible points in the regular season. Back in November the two teams split a series at Pegula Ice Arena with Michigan winning the opener 7-1 before the Nittany Lions rebounded with a 4-2 victory in the finale.
• The Penn State junior class has had insane success in their young careers against Michigan with Aiden Fink averaging 2.00 points per game in 10 career games against the Wolverines with 10 goals and 10 assists. Fink missed the two games earlier this season with a thumb injury.
• Reese Laubach is averaging 1.36 points per game with eight goals and seven assists for 15 points in 11 games. Matt DiMarsico has added four goals and eight assists for 12 points in 12 games and Dane Dowiak has four goals and three assists for seven points in 11 games against the Wolverines.
• As a group the class has 26 goals and 28 assists for 54 points in 12 career games against Michigan averaging 2.17 goals and 4.50 points per game against the Wolverines.
• JJ Wiebusch has 10 points in eight games against the Wolverines with six goals and four assists including the first-ever postseason hat-trick in Penn State history in the opening game of the B1G Quarterfinals last March.
• 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 youngest team in the Big Ten and second youngest nationally with an average age of just 20 years and nine months.

THE B1G GADOWSKY

• Head Coach Guy Gadowsky ranks 28th all-time and 8th among active coaches with 422 career victories with 249 coming at Penn State. Gadowsky secured his 200th Penn State win at Yost Ice Arena back on November 18, 2023.
• Following Jeff Jackson’s retirement, Gadowsky is now the longest tenured coach in the Big Ten and the 13th longest tenured in the nation in his 14th season in Hockey Valley. He has led Penn State to six 20+-win seasons, all within the past 10 years, and four NCAA Tournaments (five if you include 2020) and the 2025 Frozen Four.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN

• The Wolverines enter the weekend coming off a split against No. 2 Michigan State winning in overtime Friday at Yost after erasing a two-goal deficit and falling 5-2 on Saturday in Detroit. The Spartans jumped the Wolverines in the national polls and in the Big Ten standings as Michigan slips to No. 2 in the polls and is now second in the Big Ten, a single point back of the Spartans.
• Despite being the second-youngest team in the country this season, the Wolverines boast a balanced roster. It’s nearly an even split between returners (13) & newcomers (14), and the returners are evenly distributed between seniors (5), juniors (5), and sophomores (6).
• Michigan is the highest scoring team in the nation averaging 4.68 goals per game with 131 goals on the year. The Wolverines are also only allowing just 2.29 goals per game to rank second in the Big Ten, and ninth nationally. Their 2.39 goal differential is tops in the nation.
• The Wolverines are also the top scoring third-period team in the nation outscoring opponents 51-21 over the final frame this season. Michigan is also a perfect 5-0-0 in overtime games this season following last Friday’s victory.
• The Wolverine powerplay has been exceptional this season leading the Big Ten and ranking second in the country with a 29.8 percent (31-for-104) success rate while the 31 PPG’s rank second in the nation behind UMD’s 33.
• Michigan’s forward corps features college hockey’s active career scoring leader in captain TJ Hughes whose 162 points are the most among active players. Hughes leads the team with conference-best 40 points, good for third in the nation, on 13 goals and 27 assists. Sophomore Michael Hage has added 37 points, to rank third in the Big Ten and tied for ninth in the nation, on 12 goals and 25 helpers while classmate Will Horcoff leads the Big Ten and is tied for third in the nation with 20 goals on the year including eight on the powerplay, the second-most PPG’s in the conference and tied for third nationally. Josh Eernisse (9G, 7A) ranks tied for second in the nation with three shorthanded tallies, one shy of Dane Dowiak’s national lead.
• Between the pipes freshman Jack Ivankovic returned from injury last Saturday against MSU. Ivankovic ranks third in the Big Ten with a .925 save percentage, a mark good for 11th nationally while his 2.02 goals-against average is tied with Josh Fleming for second in the Big Ten and seventh in the nation.
• Michigan has two first-round draft picks on this year’s team (Hage & Will) out of just 17 across all of college hockey. U-M is one of five programs that can claim multiple first-round selections; this marks the ninth straight year that U-M has had at least one first-rounder rostered. In total, 13 of Michigan’s skaters have been selected in the NHL Draft (compared to just seven last season).

TOSS THE HATS

• Penn State has registered a single-season program best seven hat-tricks this season by five different players following a pair of hattys in the same game from junior Dane Dowiak and McKenna at Wisconsin three weeks ago.
• Penn State now has 22 hat-tricks all-time with Dowiak and McKenna’s becoming just the fifth and sixth recorded away from Hockey Valley.
• The Nittany Lions have recorded two hat-tricks in their last five games at Yost Ice Arena as junior Aiden Fink secured his first hatty in a 5-3 win on November 18, 2023, and sophomore JJ Wiebusch tipped the hat with his overtime winner last March in game one of the B1G Quarterfinals.
• At the time Fink’s hat-trick was just the second for the Nittany Lions on the road and was the first-ever for Penn State in a road Big Ten contest.

DON’T GET SHORT WITH US

• Despite allowing three powerplay goals two weeks ago against Michigan State, Penn State has the top penalty kill in the Big Ten at 86.1 percent (83-for-108), a mark good for ninth in the nation.
• The Nittany Lions are also second in the Big Ten and tied for sixth in the nation with five shorthanded goals on the season with Michigan leading the Big Ten and one off the national lead with nine.
• Junior captain Dane Dowiak leads the nation with four shortys on the year, a new single-season Penn State record, and he now has six in his career, the second-most all-time and just three shy of assistant coach Andrew Sturtz’s program record of nine.
• Dowiak is fourth on the team with nine goals this season, seven of which have come in Big Ten play, as he ranks third on the team in conference scoring with 14 (7G, 7A) of his 18 points coming in 16 Big Ten games.

BLUELINE BEAUTY

• Freshman defenseman Jackson Smith has goals in half of his 10 games this semester giving him eight on the year to lead all Big Ten defensemen and rank tied for fourth nationally among blueliners and first among rookies.
• Smith’s eight goals also tie the Penn State single-season record for goals by a defenseman as he becomes the fifth different Nittany Lion blueliner to reach that mark as he joins current assistant coach Vince Pedrie who scored eight goals in both of his seasons as a player.
• Five of his goals have come on the powerplay as he is tied for the national lead for PPG’s among defensemen. His five man-advantage tallies are also tied for the 10th-most in a single-season in Penn State history and are the most-ever by a defenseman.
• Smith’s 17 points are good for fourth in the Big Ten for defensemen.

MOVIN’ ON UP

• Junior classmates Aiden Fink and Matt DiMarsico are two of the top goal scorers in Penn State history with 43 and 39 goals, respectively.
• Fink scored twice at Beaver Stadium a few weeks ago to move into a tie with Kevin Wall ‘23 for ninth on the all-time goal scoring list while DiMarsico tallied his team-best 15th goal the night before as he sits just two shy of cracking the top-10 all-time.
• DiMarsico, who played in his 100th career game at Beaver Stadium, ranks tied for fifth in the Big Ten with his 15 goals while his 32 points tie McKenna for the team lead. DiMarsico also ranks second on the team behind McKenna with 16 points in 16 conference games on eight goals and eight assists, good for 13th in league scoring.