No. 3 Men's Hockey Travels to Second-Seeded Michigan for B1G Semifinals

THIS WEEK’S MATCHUP

• This week marks the 57th meeting all-time between the two programs with Michigan holding the 33-21-2 edge in the series including the 17-7-7 mark at Yost Ice Arena, however, Penn State has won four of the last eight 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 this year with a 2-1-1 record taking 8 of 12 possible points in the regular season. Just last month the two teams met at Yost with Michigan securing the shootout point after a 4-4 tie during a back-and-forth affair in the opener before a 6-3 victory the following night.
• This marks the sixth postseason meeting between the two teams with Penn State holding the 4-1 advantage including three-straight victories. This is the first time the two are meeting in the semifinal or later as the previous five meetings have all been during the quarterfinal round.
• The Penn State junior class has had insane success in their young careers against Michigan with Aiden Fink averaging 1.67 points per game in 12 career games against the Wolverines with 10 goals and 10 assists.
• Reese Laubach is averaging 1.46 points per game with 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points in 13 games including a three-goal, four-point series last month. Matt DiMarsico has added four goals and 10 assists for 14 points in 14 games.
• As a trio they have 25 goals and 28 assists for 53 points in 14 career games against Michigan.
• Sophomore JJ Wiebusch has 11 points in 10 games against the Wolverines with six goals and five assists including the first-ever postseason hat-trick in Penn State history in the opening game of the B1G Quarterfinals last March.
• Fink (1G, 8A) and Ben Schoen (3G, 6A) pace the team with nine points in Big Ten Tournament play while Wiebusch (5G, 2A), DiMarsico (4G, 3A) and Charlie Cerrato (2G, 5A) each have seven points in tournament action with Wiebusch leading the way in goals with five to DiMarsico’s four.
• 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.

SCOUTING MICHIGAN

• The Wolverines enter the weekend as the No. 1-ranked team in the country and the second seed in the Big Ten Tournament. Michigan beat Notre Dame, 6-1, in Wednesday’s quarterfinal.
• 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 4.49 goals per game with 157 goals on the year. The Wolverines are also only allowing just 2.37 goals per game to rank second in the Big Ten, and 14th nationally. Their 2.12 goal differential is tops in the nation. The Wolverines are also the top scoring third-period team in the nation outscoring opponents 62-29 over the final frame this season. Michigan is also a perfect 5-0-1 in overtime games this season, the lone tie coming against these Nittany Lions last month.
• The Wolverine powerplay has also been exceptional leading the country with a 30.2 percent (38-for-126) success rate while the 38 PPG’s are tied with Penn State for second in the nation behind UMD’s 39.
• Michigan’s forward corps features college hockey’s active career scoring leader in captain TJ Hughes whose 170 points are the most among active players. Hughes ranks second on the team with 48 points, good for fourth in the nation, on 18 goals and 30 assists. Sophomore Michael Hage sits just ahead of Hughes with 49 points, to rank second in the Big Ten and third in the nation, on 12 goals and a national-best 37 helpers while classmate Will Horcoff is tied for the Big Ten and is tied for fourth in the nation with 23 goals on the year including 11 on the powerplay to tie for the national lead. Josh Eernisse (10G, 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 has started each of the past eight games after missing six-straight with a lower-body injury. Ivankovic ranks third in the Big Ten with a .923 save percentage, a mark good for 11th nationally while his 2.11 goals-against average is second in the Big Ten and 10th 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).

BLUELINE BEAUTIES

• Penn State’s defensemen have been more involved in the offense this season scoring 24 goals after accounting for just nine a season ago.
• Paced by freshman Jackson Smith with 11 goals and 26 points, the rookie leads the Big Ten in goals and points from the blueline while ranking tied for fourth and 10th in the nation, respectively.
• Smith’s 11 goals are a new Penn State single-season record for goals by a defenseman and rank tied for eighth all-time while his 26 points are currently tied with Trevor Hamilton for the sixth-most in a single-season by a Nittany Lion defenseman, just four off the record shared by three separate players.
• Senior Jarod Crespo has impressed alongside Smith for the majority of the season as defensive partners registering career-highs across the board with five goals and 12 assists for 17 points.
• Crespo has moved into a tie for fifth all-time for goals by a defenseman with his 12 while his 40 points place him just outside the top-10. The senior is also fourth on the all-time blocked shots list with 192 for his career.

WHITEHORSE WIZARD

• Freshman Gavin McKenna became just the third Nittany Lion all-time, and the first freshman, to reach 50 points in a single-season on Wednesday tying Alex Limoges ‘21 for the second-most points in a season just three shy of Aiden Fink’s program record for last season.
• McKenna’s 50 points are good for tops in the Big Ten and second nationally while his 36 assists are already a Penn State single-season record and rank second in the nation behind Hage’s 37.
• The freshman also became the first-ever Nittany Lion to win the Big Ten scoring title finishing the regular-season with 11 goals and 27 assists for 38 points in 24 games, two points clear of Michigan’s TJ Hughes and Michigan State’s Porter Martone.
• McKenna’s 1.52 points per game pace the Big Ten and rank second nationally and are currently the highest single-season mark in Penn State history.
• The freshman’s 14 goals are tied for the seventh-most by a Nittany Lion freshman all-time.
• McKenna was named the HCA National Rookie of the Month for the second time this season for his play in February and he is currently riding an eight-game point streak (3-15--18).

DYNAMIC DIMARSICO

• Junior Matt DiMarsico became just the 10th Nittany Lion all-time to reach 100 career points on Wednesday after becoming just the 11th Nittany Lion all-time to hit the 40-point mark in a season over the weekend. He currently has career highs across the board with 42 points on 18 goals and 24 assists this season ranking sixth in the Big Ten and tied for 14th in the nation in scoring.
• DiMarsico’s 42 points this season are tied for the sixth-most in a single-season in program history while his 18 goals are tied for seventh while ranking tied for fifth in the Big Ten and 22nd nationally.
• DiMarsico’s 42 career goals break a tie with Brandon Biro ‘20 and rank 11th all-time just one shy of Kevin Wall ‘23 for 10th.
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• PHENOMENAL FINK
• Fink is currently riding a seven-game point streak (5-11--16) of his own, tying his career-best from last season.
• Even after missing eight games with a thumb injury, Fink is up to third on the team in scoring with 38 points (10G, 28A) on the year including 29 points on eight goals and 21 assists in 19 games this semester after returning to the lineup.
• Fink is now tied with Limoges for third on the Penn State all-time scoring list with 125 points in his career while his 48 goals are tied with Liam Folkes ‘20 for sixth all-time and his 77 assists are good for third all-time.
• Fink became the fastest Nittany Lion to 100 career points earlier this season doing so in just his 87th career game and he is now one of three Nittany Lions all-time to have three 30+ point seasons and just the second to have three such seasons in-a-row joining David Goodwin ‘17 who concluded his career with three-straight 30+ point campaigns. Fink is the first to do it from the start of his career. Program points leader Nate Sucese ‘20 missed the 30-point mark by just a single-point during his sophomore season and is the only other Nittany Lion with three seasons of 30+ points.